#The fact that she regularly fought coyotes and won but was TERRIFIED of my grandmother’s grouchy old housecat also helped lmao

[hamletthedane]

How did you conquer your fear of dogs?

That’s actually SUCH a sweet story - a dog saved my life.

My grandparents (who are farmers/ranchers) got a dog to help them with herding livestock and she was the calmest, sweetest, most well-trained dog who ever lived. She absolutely adored me but could tell I was petrified of her, so she always stayed in my orbit without ever touching me or coming too near.

One summer day when I was ~10yo, I’m walking back to their house for some lunch and she’s trotting a few yards behind me. Suddenly, she does something she’s never done before: she growls all deep and scary then races forward at top speed and knocks me to the ground.

I’m obviously terrified, but then I hear a rattling sound, a loud yelp, then another growl. Scrambling backwards, I look up to see a dead rattlesnake right where I was about to walk, with my grandparent’s dog whimpering and licking at her leg.

I go FLYING back to the house sobbing and hollering that we have to go get her, but just as we’re running back out the door, she comes limping up the road behind me as fast as she can, beelining straight for me to make sure I’m alright

Rattlesnake venom can kill a grown man and WILL kill a 10yo 50lb girl or a 2yo 50lb dog, so I spent the whole night laying on the kitchen floor with her, worriedly petting at her head and pressing my face into her soft fur as an IV dripped antivenom into her.

(and fifteen years later - only two years ago - I helped my grandad bury her under the live oak tree by the creek that she used to chase squirrels into. She died of old age)

…and honestly how can you be scared of dogs after something like THAT??