Due to our experiences with different animals, we either tend to love them, or stay as away as possible from them. Bad experiences sometimes lead people to be scared of animals that others find cute and loving. Teresa Hwang, 51 years old Special Education teacher from Canada has a similar story to tell.
Teresa has been bitten by a dog twice, when she was 10 and 20, on the forehead and the leg.Since then she developed an immense fear of dogs throughout her life. I’m pretty sure you can imagine what it feels like to even see a dog in the far when you’ve been bitten not just once but twice. You’ll run for your dear life!
However, Teresa’s fate wasn’t written to live fearing dogs all her life. It had a silver lining at the end.
When your siblings ask for your help, it’s hard to say no, right? Just the same way, when her sister asked her to dogsit 16-year old mutt, Cola, for two weeks, she couldn’t say no. Because of the way things turned out, I’m pretty sure she is glad she didn’t refuse to dog sit that day. After this experience, with her fear of dogs slightly gone away and her boyfriend having been asking her to have a dog for years, she finally thought about adopting a dog.
What’s special about this relationship is that both of them have something in common. Her fear of dogs, and Boo’s fear of humans. This let both of them understand how each other feel, and take step by step in making their relationship work.
When they first adopted Boo, he was shy and didn’t interact much. However, with love, care, patience, and kind treatment, Boo finally came out of his dark hole.
“People also ask if I have gotten over my dog phobia. Well, I’m not afraid of Boo―even when he barks or growls to communicate excitement or discomfort. But I’m still nervous around other dogs I don’t know. But it’s better. And I know that if a dog came after Boo, I would protect him. Because Boo isn’t the only one who has changed. Seeing Boo heal and grow has changed the way I see myself. Just as with my own children, taking care of Boo has taught me patience and unconditional love.”
Image credits: ketophoria
I have been a passionate reader, writer and language learner since a child, and I ended up graduating from University of Peradeniya with a BA (Hons) in English. I am also a JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) Level N2 holder. I have 5+ years experience in content writing/editing, and also 5+ months experience in official/business translation in Sinhala Japanese and English Japanese.
Anyway, the boring stuff aside, during my free time, I sing, play a little bit of guitar, read, draw/paint, bake and play video games.
