I am not a dog person (so maybe that is not my son over there – but it is my son). Come to think about it, maybe I have not held a dog in my arms. EVER. Don’t get me wrong, I do not hate dogs and in fact, I do have a dream dog to have as a pet – the Labrador. Dogs are awesome and I believe that sometimes, they are better than human beings. They’re not called “man’s best friend” for nothing.

But I am scared of dogs. When you grow up in a place with lots of stray dogs in the street, some just chase you out of nowhere and it’s either fight or flight, trauma builds up. When you hear horror stories of people dying after being bitten by stray dogs, you get paranoid. That stuff is scary.

Fast forward, I left that place and lived in places where dogs are not stray – they are actually PETS who live inside the house, *only* eat dog food (and not morsels of garbage they can find), go to for vaccines like human babies or visit an animal doctor regularly! But still – I can prove to you that childhood trauma can linger way well into adulthood. Once we visited a house with a small dog who ran around, barking and had a habit of licking visitor’s heels…I had to put up my feet in the sofa all the time. (I hate hyperactive dogs!)

My children on the other hand are not afraid of dogs. This and so many other characters/behaviors that make me question if they are indeed my children.

Maybe because they have not seen vicious stray dogs and the only dogs they know are tame and cute ones as pets? They would readily stroke a dog whenever they see one – I always have mini heart attacks when I see them doing that.

Now, we have a dog in our house. He is our friend’s dog we could be fostering for about 3 months. They are going back to Japan soon but their dog is with us now “on trial” because of dog travel related stuff, Chataro (the Shiba dog) is not allowed to enter Japan yet.

Why did I agree to this arrangement, being dog-phobic that I am?

The dog is unbelievably tame. He never even barks and do not have that fetish to lick human feet. It’s because he is already 13 years old, almost 14 so if he is human, he is between 68 to 72 years old! He moves slow but still engage in short play sessions of throw-and-fetch which the children loves.

It’s been 4 days since Chataro came to live with us and it looks like he can stay with us longer. Our children are very hands on with the dog (one almost don’t know how to keep his hands off!)…Pristine wakes up earlier than usual in the morning to take Chataro out for a walk before she goes to school and Benjamin is always keen to go with us when we take the dog out in the evening.

As for me, I am still very cautious with the dog around…there’s still that fear that he might lick my heels and I might scream…and the old dog will die of heart attack! *knock on wood*