By VANDANA DAS
DDB Mudra Group Well, you've got cynophobia. I’m glad at least you haven't got anthropophobia," my friends consoled me the first time they noticed it. Cynophobia, in case you don't know, is abnormal fear of dogs (anthropophobia being fear of human beings). My friends have been quite perplexed as to how someone who loves human beings so enormously can fear dogs.
Allow me to admit that I am shocked at my own self many times. I can handle the toughest of situations and can manage close encounters of many kinds with people, but when it comes to dogs, I am a bheegi billi.
I was bitten by a dog when I was a kid and since then, I haven’t managed to overcome that fear. I still remember walking to the school bus stop in the mornings, if ever I saw a dog without a leash, I’d do an about-turn halfway and miss my bus. My Dad then had to take me to school.
If I visited someone for the first time and on ringing the doorbell, heard barking, I would quickly bolt the door from outside and start shouting. Unless the dog was tied up, I’d not let myself in.
Sitting through the evening would be a punishment as I would imagine the door of the room in which the dog was kept to be unbolted by someone unknowingly, and the dog attacking me. Pounce. Pounce.
Best is when people keep reassuring me: ‘Don’t worry… kaatega nahi (won’t bite). I feel like telling them: who the hell is scared of being bitten by that beast? I am scared of the very touch and feel of anything that can be classified as canine. I freeze. It gives me the creeps. But who is to understand? Not dog lovers, surely.
They will never ever be able to relate to or empathize with such feelings. (Any idea how very many dog lover websites there are?!) Once I went to a family friend’s house for dinner. A pup emerged from somewhere (God! they always do!). I shouted my lungs out and asked for it to be put on a leash. When I looked around, everyone in the room had a perplexed look, an expression that said maybe I needed to be tied up instead. It was as if they were saying, “For dog’s sake, enough!” And then one of them quipped, “This is how a US proverb goes: every dog is allowed one bite! Ha! Ha! Ha!”
I still remember when I had just joined Advertising, I went for an interview to a relatively small agency housed in a residential complex. Since it was an office, there was no anticipated danger. While I was waiting in the drawing room, lo and behold, there came trotting along a small dog. But a dog is a dog! I started shouting and with my shoes on, climbed on top of the sofa. Once I drew total public attention, I walked out. Needless to say, there was no interview and it was a job opportunity lost, thanks to my phobia.
The situation seems irredeemable. My cousin told me, in vivo or exposure therapy is considered the most effective treatment for cynophobia and involves systematic and prolonged exposure to a dog. I am sorry that hasn’t helped. A very kind neighbour lent me a video of the movie ‘Hachiko, A Dog’s Story’. She was confident that I’d be transformed. “How did you like the movie?” she asked me, hoping to garner some support for the protagonist dog. But she was rather shocked when I said I loved Richard Gere in the movie. Who let the… woof, woof, woof!
Feedback: vandana.das@ddbmudragroup.com
