Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi all,
I’ve been a bit hesitant to post this as we seem to live in a society where saying you’re not keen on dogs is viewed on the same level as saying you enjoy burning children’s Christmas presents, but here goes.
I’ve always been very wary around dogs, and have never understood the growing fascination with owning/taking pictures of/talking about them. It’s not a fear as such - I just don’t really get it and I find them unpredictable. Particularly when their owners have them off the lead, and think shouting “It’s okay - he’s harmless!” as their four-legged friend bounds up to you is a substitute for being in control. This is exacerbated by the fact that I like running, and whenever I’m running towards someone walking a dog off the lead I automatically get anxious because I don’t know if it will keep calm or suddenly bolt and get under my feet as I run past. I even under up slowing down as I approach these situations as it causes me to hesitate!
I always just figured I was a bit miserable, but in the light of my ASD diagnosis I thought I’d put it out there to see if anyone felt similar? I see a lot about autistic people having a love of animals but not too much of the opposite, so I don’t have high hopes!
I am definitely a cat person. We once had a quite enormous (not fat, just unusually large) Siamese tom, who would eyeball the neighbourhood dogs, get them totally rattled, then chase them.
Like the author James Joyce, on long walks I carry a walking stick, not because my legs are bad, but as a means of deterring dogs. I understand cat body language, but dogs seem to be hugely more unpredictable. Plus they make sudden loud noises, which make my sensory problems with sound go off-scale.