Katy, I'm glad your just coming out and saying it, there's nothing wrong with that and nobody should judge you, or place their likes and dislikes on your shoulders. I'm sorry you were bitten by a dog as a child, that would give someone a different outlook. I applaud you for sharing your feelings, you need make no excuses.
In my case, I never had a dog or a cat as a child. We lived in an apartment, and nobody in my family had any desire to have an animal in the house. I was deathly afraid of dogs as a child, and I had no excuse, I was never bitten. Even the smallest dogs in the neighborhood would send me running and crying.
There was an older lady in our building whose Chihuahua was always getting out of her apartment and running loose in the hallway. It frightened me to death, and would aggressively bark at me while I tried to climb the 2 staircases to get to my mother's apartment. I remember screaming and crying, only to have my mother come into the hallway to shoo me into the house, and then scold me for making such a fuss and being so scared.
In my adult life, I've owned both dogs and cats with my husband. We now have a dog and a cat. Although I like both, I can definitely consider myself as a cat person. If there's an aggressive dog around, I still am not comfortable in approaching, so some of my fear is still with me...and that may have saved me from being bitten.
I've gone to a dog park for over 30 years now with my dogs, and many different kinds of dogs run loose there. Most of them are friendly and mind their own business. I never grew up with that "lovin' feeling" either Katy, so you're not alone. I still fear any dogs that may act in an intimidating manner, and try to stay away from them.
My cat is my baby, he sleeps with me, and we take him camping with us...he and the dog are good friends. I've told my husband in the past, that if he wasn't around, I'd probably just have one or two cats for company, and still visit the park for my dog fix. He laughs and tells me that I'd probably become one of those "crazy" cat ladies, lol. :love_heart: Here's my little guy...
