Hi Guys, Welcome!!

Back in 2012, I decided to stop being a Dog Hater. I am Azhar Kaleel, by the way.

I remember when I was a little boy, I used to be fascinated by animals. We lived in a big house along with two dogs, few cats, and at least a dozen hens. My parents allowed me to play, pet and feed the hens and the cats. But the dogs were off-limits.

You see, no one in my family had ever had a dog. It was not very common in those days for Muslims to have dogs. But due to frequent burglaries in our neighbourhood, we decided to get a guard dog, a Doberman named Caeser.

His purpose was to guard the house and that was the only reason he was kept. He was caged during the day and let out only in the night.

I wanted to pet him, see what he was like up close. But the moment I went anywhere near his cage he would lunge and bark. It scared the hell out of me. I began to believe that he was dangerous. Little did I know at that time that he was calling out for help.

Though I still liked being around other animals, I decided to stay away from dogs.

Years passed and I grew up feeling scared of dogs. When I saw a dog on the street, my whole body would tremble. Sensing my fear these dogs would follow me and not knowing how to react to an approaching dog, I would run and be chased by an otherwise harmless pooch.

I thought that they simply hated me. I felt this way about dogs for years.

Fear slowly turned to hatred. (Well, isn’t that what happens to most of the things we fear?)

Several more years passed and one day as I was going through my childhood photographs, I saw a picture of one of our dogs, Whitey, a Pomeranian. (Till this day, I wonder why we got a Pomeranian to guard our house). He didn’t look very dangerous. In fact, he looked sad.

This picture, for some reason, disturbed me. I felt sorry for the dog. He had lived with us for several years but I did not know him.

Was he friendly? What did he eat? Did he like to play? Was he happy?

I did not know 

After all these years, I began to ponder with the idea of getting a dog again.

I started watching dog training videos all day. I read every dog related blog I could get my hands on. I didn’t feel like hating dogs anymore. I wanted to understand them. Somehow, I felt that they can’t be as dangerous as I imagined.

In the year 2012, I decided to face my fears and more importantly I decided to stop hating. I got myself a dog. This was quite simply one of the most important, life-changing decisions I made. And looking back at that decision after all these years, I feel my perception about dogs, people, and life, in general, has changed.

I have learnt so much, and I know there is much more to learn. This is where I share my experiences and learn from yours. I am not an expert, but I understand your anxiety, fear, and expectations.

So let’s start this wonderful journey of building a Pawful relationship with your dog.