Iriska is a shelter dog who cured her phobia

When I was a child, a neighbor’s boy set a sheepdog on me, and it tore my leg to the bone. And since then I have been afraid of all dogs, even tiny Yorkshire terriers. It seemed to me that if the dog approached me, something terrible would happen. It was not only scary, but even disgusting to some extent.

But the daughter all her life asked for a dog or a cat. From year to year, when we asked what to give for her birthday, she invariably answered: “A dog or a cat.” I even agreed and convinced that I would pull myself together and get used to it. They set a condition: if he enters the lyceum, we will buy a dog. And so Anya entered the lyceum, she studied there for a year – but the dogs are still missing. My friend and her daughter are volunteers at the House of Dog Hope – this is a dog shelter. They talked about a new dog – Iriska. She underwent a sterilization operation, she is so submissive, so unhappy and frightened … In general, as they began to talk about this poor Iriska, whom the mistress tied to a tree and did not feed, I decided to try. They brought Iriska, and in the evening Anya says: “Maybe we can leave her forever? How can we give it away? She already believed us!” We decided to leave. And I’m afraid! At night, you have to get up and walk past the hall where Iriska lies – and I become covered in perspiration and tremble with a small shiver. And she’s just as afraid of me! She chose my husband as her master. It misses you very much if he leaves – and this feeling is mutual. When we return from vacation, he immediately goes for a walk with her – and they leave for several hours behind the ring road, wandering through the fields and forests there. With the advent of Iriska, life has changed a lot. We vacuum now every other day, because wool is everywhere. Vaccinations, anti-tick treatment. And how many nuances with food! What dogs eat, what they can, what they can’t, what she likes, how much to walk with her … Toffee practically cured me of my phobia. Now I am completely calm about small dogs. I’m still afraid of big ones, and if we meet a large dog on a walk, Iriska and I go the other way.Then we got another cat. We found him on the road. The husband tried to transplant him to the grass, and the cat ran out onto the road again. Then the husband called Anya and said: “Let’s take another cat?” Anya, of course, agreed. Of course, I had to treat him, remove the parasites. And, despite the fact that Anya treated him, the cat loves her most of all: if she is upset, he pities her. I called myself a dog and cat hater all the time, and when my staff found out that we have animals, they were shocked. This is how a person can change. Previously, everything in our lives was somehow superficial, even boring, but with the advent of animals, the world has become deeper. God bless her, with wool – emotions are more important!

 And when Iriska, seeing me, joyfully runs towards me – it’s so nice!