Our poor little Anya.  She is just so afraid of dogs, or at the very least, big dogs.  Last week she was at Grandma and Grandpa Campbell’s, happily playing in the family room with Kailan, and Grandpa came into the house followed by Jake the dog.  Jake hadn’t even approached the girl and she started screaming “NOOOOOOOO!!!!” and crying.  The poor dog didn’t know what he had done!

Grandpa went up to her and said, “Yes!” and she screamed “NOOOOOO!!!!” back to him.  This back and forth exchange went on for about a minute or so.  She was not happy about the situation.  Not happy AT ALL.  She got up and ran over to me to get away from the big scary dog and she was shaking again.  She had the death grip hold on her mommy and wasn’t going to let go…EVER.  She just doesn’t like dogs sharing the same air as her…it is just not allowed in the world that she rules!

We are thinking about taking the stray kitty that aunt Stephy has at her house right now.  She’s a nice kitty, likes to be held and didn’t shy away from the kids.  She looks to be hairy and needs to be doctored up before she comes to our house though. 

Anya needs to be exposed to animals, so we think we should get a pet for the kids.  She is so afraid of dogs that it would be really traumatic to her to get one, so it would be best to just ease her into the whole live animal thing.  She tolerates cats being in the same room as her, she just doesn’t want them touching her. 

It is pretty funny that she is just fine with all the DEAD animals hanging on Grandpa and Grandma’s walls.  He is a taxidermist after all, so there are all sorts of dead things that are hanging about.  She has even petted a big ‘ole bear with a gaping maw, but if their eyes move apparently they are pretty frightening.

She is a funny one, our girl.