Dog Owners

[GreyStars]

To be fair I'm uncomfortable around large dogs, i am very scared of them

Today in vets I walk in see vet in consulting room is looking after a large dog.

Vet closes door

As I'm not good with dogs and I have a cat in basket who doesn't like dogs I put ourselves as far away as possible so when dog and owner walk out we are as far away from the paying counter as possible

Dog owner walks past, towards counter I say to him " sure your dog is lovely but i don't like dogs"

He rolls his eyes at me, his dog is on a rope, he lets it get closer to me

I say again "please keep your dog away from me"

Fifth time I tell him please move your dog and I'm feeling horrible, embarrassed and I want to burst into tears

The receptionist even asked him to move. Two foot towards the counter would have helped

His answer - well I had hands my full

I'm sure the actual dog was lovely, but shouldn't dog owners understand not everyone is comfortable with their dogs?

Don't feel embarrassed - you reacted in fear. You can't control that.

Was less than a few feet :)

I totally own that this is not a normal reaction, and that I somehow have to work out why :) I also know that the dog was just being a dog.

But I do think that owner should have pulled him towards him, when I said what I said and he certainly should not have let him continue to come towards me. It is difficult to explain because it did happen quickly, but I didn't just stand and announce my dislike of dogs in a Brian Blessed type voice :) I really was just trying to ask not to let his dog keep coming towards me without being horrible. I know people get very defensive over their pets, and by saying he was lovely I was trying to say "it's me not him" and not upset anybody.

Despite me feeling all this, next to me were two cat boxes one with a very poorly cat in and the dog was inches from them, by the time the bloke moved his dog. So even if he thought I was a crazy person possibly I am, you think he would keep his dog away from them out of respect for another pet owner.

I may have to draw a diagram

Thank you theymade it was fear, took a lot not to burst into tears and I am not someone who cries

I didn't just stand and announce my dislike of dogs in a Brian Blessed type voice :)

That made me chuckle! And I think you're right about a diagram! We're all speculating wildly on something we didn't witness, don't know how big the waiting room is, where people were etc. We're all projecting our own viewpoints/experiences onto a situation we can't possibly judge.

But I really do hope you can get over your anxiety about dogs. And that the difficult time you are having generally passes soon

I thought some mood lightening was in order :)

I did think I was doing better with dogs since my mums new friend arrived, took me a while but he's a lovely middle sized thing really.

I shall find my pens and do a diagram :) I agree people will be comparing to their vet setup.

And thank you, I was coping quite well yesterday, so this threw me a bit