The 'friendly' Golden Retriever

Rewind --
 I must have been 7 or 8 years old. Cinika and I played in front of 'F' block on a lazy Sunday evening as we normally did. From far off, we could see a dog running towards where we were playing. We looked around hoping to see someone older who could rescue us if there was a need, but there was no one in sight. I was a tall kid back then too, but not big enough to handle a dog. As the wretched animal got closer, we saw it grow in size and it seemed to be coming faster encouraged by the fear on our faces. It took us two minutes, but soon we were screaming and running in opposite directions. Now obviously the dog took off too and unfortunately for me, it decided to let her go and take me on instead. I was absolutely petrified, I yelled as loudly as I could while I ran for my life.The tears began to flow. I don' remember how long this running and chasing happened. I must have been quite fast because it never caught up with me to bite. I vaguely remember getting saved by some random uncle on the road after what seemed like an eternity. He chased the dog away, made me sit down and waited for my crying to subside. When I was done, he told me never to run from a dog and that if I was too afraid of it when it came near me, all I had to do was 'shoo' it away. I went back home wiser, but more afraid.

Back in the Present --

CYNOPHOBIA??

I always feared dogs, but I realized that it was much worse than just fear yesterday. Singapore is not a country I love, but I have many nice things to say about this place, one of it being the absence of stray dogs on the road. Having been here for a year, I have gotten used to tame well behaved dogs being walked by their owners. Of course, I never dared to go closer than was necessary, but that is not the point. Last evening as I stepped out of my room to go out, I saw this big furry creature run out at me from the lobby. I panicked, my heart was beating so fast I thought it would burst open spilling blood everywhere. I tried to ignore it, after all dogs are well behaved in this country. But no, not this one. He ran straight at me, beige in color, apparently a golden retriever ( as I found out later, but I couldn't care lesser). When he was within inches from me, as I saw no responsible owner, it felt like I was 7 again, I started to run. Maybe I have gotten slow over the years,this time the stupid dog did catch up and though he did not bite, he kept running around my legs and trying to reach up to my hand ( No, I did not have any food). I wanted to scream, but it seemed like I had lost my voice. I remembered the wisdom I had acquired as a young kid, I tried to 'shoo' him away. But my feeble 'shoos' were not enough to scare the big boy. Then suddenly I found my voice and I screamed, screamed so loud, but once again there was not a soul who could do anything. I started to cry again, I could not breathe properly, it was the most awful feeling in the world. The dog had not left me yet, it was still there rubbing its stupid nose and fur on my legs unperturbed by the screaming and racket I was causing. Then a friend came to my rescue and tried to calm me as he asked some random person to lead the dog away. I sobbed for 15 minutes afterwards. Not a thing has changed in 15 years,I complained to the manager her and she told me it was a friendly dog and that it came by on Saturdays. I don't care if its friendly, I don't care who it belongs to, just don't ever bring it in front of me again.