“Hey boy, come here. Good boy! now go fetch!”
In the UK, those nice gentle phrases are not usually directed at a cute little boy or girl who is trying to ride a bike or chasing a ball, no. Most likely they are directed at a dog. It amazes me how much British people adore their dogs, to the extent that you think they are actually their children and not merely pets.
Honestly, while I won’t go for a walk and play my child in sub-freezing weather, they would with their dogs. But to be fair, dogs are better than cats when it comes to discipline and they know their minders and never forget them.
However, the biggest problem arises from our Saudi perception of dogs as monsters that will jump and bite us the moment they see us. Generally Saudis don’t have dogs as pets; some do keep cats, fish, parrots and even hamsters, but dogs are usually monsters that we run away from in terror if we heard them barking.
So while in Britain, how can I suddenly perceive them as friends? Well it’s hard, extremely hard. In fact, Muslims usually refrain from petting dogs due to religious and cultural reasons, and dogs are mostly used for guarding or hunting purposes. Well OK yes, some “cool” people keep pet dogs, but it’s very uncommon to see someone walking a dog in the streets, or having them ride with them in their cars for any purpose other than showing them off and this happens rarely.
But the problem is how can we adopt and accept dogs as friendly creatures that preserve the right to use the streets exactly like us human beings? Oh God only knows how hard I tried. When I first came in to live in the UK, I went through different stages. At first, I used to really panic and may start running when I saw a dog, especially if it was unleashed and walking freely. But then I realized that this strategy will never work. Come on Hatoon, you are a sophisticated Ph.D. student and shame on you for being scared from those cute harmless dogs, (ah yes they think they are cute and harmless), and as if my fear is not enough, is the confused and hurt look on the face of the person with the dog, who says, “this is a good dog, he won’t hurt you…” Of course I could tell they almost said “you idiot!”
But while they try to be as polite as possible, the look on their face is enough to make me burst in cold sweat and feel so ashamed. Thereafter, I started a self-motivational strategy; when I see a dog approaching me, all I do is keep on telling myself is, “it’s cute, its a pet, not a monster, it’s on a leash and once their minder calls them, they will back off. Come on Hatoon you are brave, so smile!”
Now that strategy worked well for a while, so I whenever I saw a dog I used to smile and keep on walking despite my racing heart, cold sweat and my obvious panic. But I managed to disguise my fear really well, until that awful incident.
I was walking down the street when I spotted a dog. I followed my new strategy and smiled, but to my astonishment, the dog thought I was being friendly, so he rushed in my direction with his tongue lolling out of his mouth and started barking at me excitedly as he approached me, wanting me to play with him. I was bewildered and scared and could not spot his minder. I started reciting the Shahada when finally his minder appeared and I started murmuring with a shaky voice, “Please ask him to move away, please! I know he is a good boy but it’s me, its me, I’m allergic to dogs.”
Of course I had to come up with this excuse so the minder wouldn’t think I was a complete unfriendly idiot, but thank God he was understanding and did not give me that “you’re a dog-hater you!” look.
After that incident I started to adopt a new strategy; I would avoid dogs completely, this “I am-a-brave-cute-dog-lover” strategy wasn’t working. And now I started to doubt anyone walking alone in the dark, not just because it’s not safe, its because that no one will walk alone in the dark especially during Winter unless they were insane (OK, I do it), or are out walking their dogs.
So if you see an innocent looking man or woman walking in the dark change your way immediately and don’t look back, for to be sure their dog will be following them. Don’t even waste a second staring because you don’t want them to spot you changing your way over a dog and be given that “you idiot dog-hater” look, so its better to be silly than sorry.
Well, the irony is that my children love all animals, they walk and play with our neighbor’s dog and I don’t stop them. Our neighbor’s dog knows when my children are approaching and he will start barking in excitement wanting them to play with him, and my children would have that adoring look on their faces; the look of “awww! It’s only a cute puppy.”
So now I know why people here love dogs so much, and maybe one day I will be convinced that they won’t bite me. Maybe.
