ASRWU - part five

It’s not an exaggeration to say that I used to have a dog phobia. Whenever I encountered canis familiaris I used to get the works – sweaty palms, palpitations, intense fear, chest tightness. I couldn’t go near a dog, let alone touch one. I used to cross streets or change direction to avoid coming into close proximity with a dog. To me, they were ugly, vicious furballs with big sharp teeth and a craving for human flesh. And yet here I was in the same car with not one, but two – yes TWO! – of them.

But then I’m better around dogs than I used to be. These days I can bear to pass them on the street, without having to run squealing to hide behind some handy bystander. I even took the huge leap of stroking my friend’s dog 2 years ago. True, I was intoxicated at the time, but still, what an accomplishment! These days when on housecalls, I don’t even shout through the letterbox to warn patients that I won’t enter their domicile unless the dog is locked away. That’s progress.

People often ask me if I had a bad experience with dogs as a child – I can’t recollect such an incident. But that’s the thing with phobias isn’t it? They’re totally irrational by definition. Mind you, is it so unreasonable to be scared of creatures that are responsible for 5 hospital admissions per day?

In Australia 1,671 A+E admissions occurred in one year for dog-bite related injuries.
From 1979 to 1994, attacks by dogs resulted in 279 human deaths in the United States.
In January 1995, a 2-year-old boy in South Dakota wandered onto his neighbour's property, where he was attacked and killed by two wolf-German shepherd hybrids.
In September 1995, a 3-week-old baby in Pennsylvania was killed in her crib by the family Chow Chow while her parents slept in the next room.
In March 1996, an 86-year-old woman in Tennessee went outside her house to check the weather and was fatally mauled by her neighbour’s two rottweilers; the dogs had attacked and injured the woman 1 month before the fatal attack.

This isn’t slipping away peacefully in your sleep. These are all painful, flesh-ripping, terrifying deaths.

Most large dogs are capable of bone-snapping jaw pressures of 200 to 450 pounds per square inch. Pit bull jaws can exert nearly 1,500 pounds/sq inch of pressure.
NOW tell me I’m crazy for being scared.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.