If you see me now, you would probably think I've been a dog lover for a long time because of the way I interact with this furry friend, just so you know, it hasn't been long since I started feeling more comfortable and becoming not just a friend and owner to one dog but two. This beautiful journey that cleared my dog phobia started in the early month of this year but before then, I'd carried this fear all my life especially due to the traumatizing experience I had with a dog as a child.
I think I was around the age of 10, or less than as I was still in primary school, usually, I'm the calm kid who doesn't look for extra adventure after school, and just walks straight home, but this day I decided to be influenced by my peers who wouldn't stop talking about a ripe mango tree they discovered and how sweet and juicy it's fruits were. The fact that the location where the tree is a different path from my house should have dissuaded me from following my classmates, but no, my obsession with mango fruit didn't let me think straight or even twice, I decided to follow them to the compound to execute our plan of having our school bags filled with mangoes and enjoy the sweet juicy fruit, I guess that was all I had in my head.
We arrived the compound, it had a little fence, so it was easy for my friends to climb over and also reach out to the tree with a stick as some of its branches were outside, but it seems they couldn't reach more fruits, my job was to stay down and help pick the fruits, I was doing my job alongside two others who were also picking while the rest climbed up with sticks, dropping as much as they could reach, since the fruits were now dropping inside the compound, we had no choice than to climb over too, I was scared for a bit, but seeing the confidence others used in climbing over, I followed, it wasn't until I was about to lean off the wall that I heard the growling sound of a dog followed by more barks.
I froze in fear, and almost loose grip of the wall, my friends who were already in the compound, and received a hot chase by the dog, I tried to climb back to the other side, but it also came for me with its mouth filled with sharp teeths and drools very close to my butt, the only thing I can remember doing was crying for my mum's help, it was as if my spirit left my body in fear, how I managed to hold onto the fence with a strong gang is what I don't know, luckily for us, the owner of the house and dog was at home, the continuous bark from the dog woke him up from sleep, he managed to call the dog to himself, and gathered us all mango thiev,es crying now i'm not sure whether from fear or being caught, he first threatened to take us to the police station, while we pleaded that we were sorry, so he gave us strict warning never to enter someone's compound without their permission, that we might not be lucky next time, he even gave us two mangoes each, by this time, we didn't even want the mangoes anymore and just want to leave the compound.
From that day I developed a phobia for dogs and also made sure to confirm if you had a dog at home before entering any of my friend's compound. I never gave any dog a chance at becoming closer not until my dad got us one did that phobia fade away with time and I discovered that they were friendly to have around and also loyal companions.
All images are mine