I've been bitten twice but they don't scare me.

First time was a little terrier that bit my ankle when I was 9. It didn't hurt and I kicked the little aunt in the face afterwards for a bit of revenge

Second time was much worse. I was 11 and had gone round at a friends house with another friend. He asked us to come into his back garden where they had a massive alsation. He'd tied the dog up before we walked through the gate but the lead snapped and the dog went for us. I got bitten once on the left hand between my thumb and index finger and once on the back of my left leg. My friend actually hit his own dog on the head with a shovel to get it away from us!! Was most scary at the time and I've still got the scars.

when i was about 4, i was waiting outside my sister's school with my mum. I went to go stroke i dog (well this is what i'm told anyway) and it bit me, really close to my eye, i was lucky it didn't take it out after that i steered clear from them for years. Though now although i'm wary i like them again lol

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by SPIKE
sometimes I wish owners would do a better job of controlling their pets.

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Not saying that this is the case with you Spike (or any of you others who've replied), but sometimes it's other people and not the dog owners that cause the problem - for instance I have a Labrador who is really well behaved but is terrified of, and therefore hates, children (we think he was terrorised by his previous owner's kids) and I am forever having to haul him away from kids whose parents just let them walk up to him and start poking/attempting to stroke him... obviously they would be furious if he did actually manage to bite their precious darlings, but why should I have to hurt him to stop him when they don't even have the decency to ask if it's okay for the kids to approach my dog in the first place? I've even had one small boy try to hug and kiss my dog after I've told him to go away as the dog is frightend of children and will bite him! The onus is on me to control my dog - if he did bite I'd have to have him destroyed as he would be a "dangerous dog" - but people who don't own dogs also have to be responsible for their actions around them.

Obviously, as with everything, there are a number of dog owners who aren't responsible and don't care what their dogs do or how it affects other people, and they do give dogs and dog owners a bad name. But responsible owners are out there and we do our best to control unpredictable animals, but other people need to do their part to help us too.

Sorry, I'll get off my soap box now.

well, when i was about 7, this MASSIVE dog, i really don't know what type it was, but it was very wide and tall and evil! it just stood and growled at me and i was petrified because i've always been pretty tiny, and this dog was about twice my size! my mum and a neighbours son were standing a short way away shouting instructions at me and i just moved really really slowly back towards my house until i got close enough and i just legged it!! it ran after me but we slammed the door in its face! i'll always remember it, it was really really scary! that dog could have killed me!
im not at all scared of dogs though, in fact i love them, althoguh you'd think i'd be scared after that!

I was chased by a dog when I was pretty young, not sure how old. Ive never loked dogs since, at least the bigger ones, I assume the two are connected. Fortunately I have enough love of cats to make up for it!

I hate dogs, I hate them, hate them, hate them.

I've been bitten by dogs, chased by them, they make me terrified now. My mate was bitten by a dog and spent months in hospital and will have to have plastic surgery once she is properly healed.

I think it's just that I don't trust animals and therefore do not think it's a good idea to "domesticate" them because it can't be completely done.

Hope you're not too badly cut, Spike

Coolkat I love you! can I still call you Coolkat? But yeah, you understand how I feel about dogs I'm terriffied of them and hate them. I know not all dogs are bad, but they are my biggest fear. Personally I love cats. I really need to pee now!

Unfortunately it's often idiots who cause dogs to be the way they are either due to mistreatment by owners who don't care what their dogs do or because other people have no common sense on how to approach them.

I understand that it can be very frightening to be chased by a dog and there are times that people have done nothing for the dog to react in that way, but all to often the animal has been provoked.

That said, I'm presuming SPIKE did nothing that could have provoked it and offering my sympathies.

I love dogs even though I was chased by this massive hound whilst in Boston, USA when I was 6. In the end it circled me and I ran away, the more I ran the more it caught up with me! In the end I passed out.

But I don't have a fear of dogs, I was a child and rightly so scared. But with animals you just need to show them who's boss.

Apparently when i was three years old, i was playing at a small park right beside my nana's house. My dad was keeping half an eye on me. He had our black lab Jet with us when all of a sudden Jet sat up and was watching something intensely. Then he headed towards me (I was on a slide at the time)This attracted my dad's attention because normally Jet was a very obedient dog and did what he was told. All of a sudden he took off running. My dad followed and apparently (i don't remember this) a huge German Shepherd was climbing up the steps of the slide (the steps were built into a mound/small hill, if that makes any sense) and he was just about to get hold of me when Jet realised and chased him off. I was none the wiser.

I used to have a German Shepherd, we lost her two years ago and she was a beautiful, placid dog but when we were out with her, we always kept her on a leash and if a child came up to pet her i used to tell them not to even though i knew she wouldn't harm them. If they asked then i would let them and she loved the attention. She loved kids and was devoted to my two nephews and loved my two too though she preferred to stay out of their way when they got too rambunctious. I still miss her to this day

Wow, that's a really cool story Keeny. Almost like the Littlest Hobo or something.

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by SPIKE
Coolkat I love you! can I still call you Coolkat?

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If you so wish I agree, there are some dogs that probably wouldn't hurt anyone, but there are also some that would attack people unprovoked and with no reason to harm anyone (such as being abused in the past)

I'm definately a cat person too

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by Miss Corrupt
(quotes)

If you so wish I agree, there are some dogs that probably wouldn't hurt anyone, but there are also some that would attack people unprovoked and with no reason to harm anyone (such as being abused in the past)

I'm definately a cat person too

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I'd hardly call an animal having been abused in the past as having no reason to harm anyone... they've just got to the point where they are going to get you before you can get them. It is incredibly rare to get an animal that is just out & out vicious - 99.9% of the time someone has done something to the animal at some point in its life to make it like that. And I'm talking *any* animal, not just dogs... cats attack people too you just don't tend to hear about it as they don't do so much damage.

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by angelwolfsbane
(quotes)

I'd hardly call an animal having been abused in the past as having no reason to harm anyone... they've just got to the point where they are going to get you before you can get them. It is incredibly rare to get an animal that is just out & out vicious - 99.9% of the time someone has done something to the animal at some point in its life to make it like that. And I'm talking *any* animal, not just dogs... cats attack people too you just don't tend to hear about it as they don't do so much damage.

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I kinda dissagree with that. I mean when yuo think about it the majority of animals (humans included) will attack other animals or creatures without being provoked. For example, bugs we'll go around killing just cuz we hate them. Also when you think about it, dogs, and cats for that matter were not made to be human pets, dogs are meat eaters and theya re supposed to attack other animals to eat (originally anyway before we started to domesticate them). However I admit i've not heard of many dogs nowadays who'd attack a human cuz it was hungry, but surely that part of them must still be in their nature. Same with cats, and they still attack such things as birds and rodents.

I too despise dogs with a passion and have... erm... cynophobia, apparently... (that's what phobialist.com calls 'fear of dogs or rabies')

I've been chased by dogs quite a few times when I was younger (just generally walking across the street to school or whatever and being ambushed, so-to-speak, by big ticked-off dogs jumping over garden fences or from behind parked cars, etc.) but luckily I've never been bitten, but having said that, I did lose one of my best mates to a pack of rottweilers when I was in my last year at primary school - I wasn't there and didn't see it, but I was scared witless of the pet rottweiler next door (even though he was just a big softie, so I'm told) until he died...