Dogs

Atti is afraid of dogs. When he was about 7.5 months old we went to visit family on the east coast, and there were two dogs - mum's little shoe-buffer dog, whom he loved (and stole all his toys) and my brother's staffy - whom he most decidedly did not. He burst into tears every time he was in the same room.

I mean I get it, while a lovely dog, the staffy is all muscle and wriggles and energy - all power and fury and bigger than him. He would knock him over bouncing round the room. 

It was funny actually, our friends who had a baby about the same age had a dog and Atti was fine with him, and he was actually bigger than the staffy, but when we came home from that trip he was terrified of him too.

So we try to get him to pat nice calm dogs in parks - we used to visit our local parks at 7am each morning, and I got to know all the local dogs being walked, so we knew who had a dog who would be fine. But it hasn't really improved. My neighbour had her mum's little Chihuahua come and stay in the flats quite a bit, and he got used to her just fine, but you know, chihuahua - I'm not sure he thought it was a dog.

All this is by way of saying that we had a playdate at a friends place today, and the way I got Atti to get it together and put down the trains and get into the car to go to the playdate was by telling him they had a dog - he was so excited about it. Until it got within about 3 feet of him at any point in the day - they he would burst into tears. He forgets he doesn't like dogs til he is near them - he sees them across the park and runs over to them, then bursts into tears in fear when they are actually near him. Totally, hilariously bizarre.

My mum is coming to visit next week, and I kind of wish she was bringing her dog. Maybe that would help. I also kind of wish we had gotten a dog when our cat died, instead of another cat (a creepily identical cat). Only in that it might have helped him get over it. But we live in a flat, and dogs are hard in a flat - and I would have to walk it (and when would I do that). Also, it is harder to rent with a dog, so I don't need that stress either. But I wish he liked dogs - none of the other kids in our playgroup was freaked out by the dog. And he is such a fearless little thing in almost all other ways.