My dog and I  have had an interesting relationship. It all started when I made a decision as a ten year-old, I didn’t know it at the time, but I would later come to regret this decision. My family has a dog named Mac, and he is probably the fluffiest dog in the world. He is a small, 20 pound Lhasa Apso who loves nothing more than to sit on the couch and cuddle. One Saturday, when I was enjoying a wonderful morning with my family, my dad went to pick up Mac. The dog began to growl at him. I was taken aback by this, because it had never been a problem before. Prior to this, Mac always seemed fine with us picking him up or giving him a hug.. I felt a little nervous after I saw this, but eventually I forgot the incident had happened at all. A few days later, my dog started growling again, because someone was trying to pick him up. This occurred a few more times when we tried to interact with him, and my parents warned me to be careful around Mac, so I didn’t get hurt. Unfortunately, my ten year-old self was not receptive to this vital warning, and my ignorance led to a painful accident that could have been avoided if I had taken their advice.

I was walking down the stairs on a Saturday morning. I saw my dog lying on the top of the couch, looking rather content. I decided I would give him a hug and say, “Good morning”, forgetting that my parents had warned me about his recent aggressiveness. As I began to hug him, a great snarl rang out, and he bit me with such force that my ear began to sting with pain. I yelped and ran upstairs, shocked and dismayed by what had occurred. As I ran to find my parents, I realized my ear really hurt. My parents examined my ear and they saw it was badly injured. I started to get really nervous at this point, because I had never experienced an injury like this before. My parents decided that I was going to need stitches, and this news terrified me. 

My dad drove me to the urgent care center immediately, and I was getting very concerned about how badly my ear was injured. The pain at that point was quite bad, and I began to fear what might happen when the doctor examined it. I thought perhaps I would have long term damage, or it could mean I couldn’t live my life normally for the next 6 weeks. I was also concerned the stitches would hurt a lot. As we arrived in the urgent care center waiting room, I just sat there and felt stupid for not listening to my parents’ instuctions. After a few minutes, my name was called, and I walked into the exam room, where the doctor was waiting to stitch me up. After he finished with the stitches, I went home to my family, they comforted me, and I took some medicine for the pain. The wound on my ear eventually healed, but it definitely hurt a lot in the first few days. I also learned a couple great lessons that day about heeding advice.

I am so glad to have parents who looked out for me and tried to give me advice on what to do and what not to do. Unfortunately, in this situation, I didn’t really take their advice seriously, but it was still a valuable reminder for me to have. Another lesson that I learned was that I needed to be more careful around Mac. We later learned he had a chronic problem with his back, and it had been giving him pain when we hugged him. Since he was starting to get older, this issue was becoming more prevalent. My painful accident  eventually became a helpful reminder for our entire family to be careful around Mac, and in that sense, it was a lesson worth learning.

All in all, this was a valuable experience in my life. This was a good example of what happens when I don’t listen to those around me who are wiser and have more life experience than I do. Even though the outcome of the situation may have not been comfortable for me, the dog bite is something I will always remember. Listening to those who are leaders in my life is a lesson I will take away from this difficult experience, and my relationship with Mac is better because of it.