I was born in 1982, the year of the dog, and I think that is – in part – to blame…
I had a fear of dogs, I would have recurring dreams about huge alsatians chasing me around a deserted church that I’d imagined existed on Claremont Road, Redruth.
I was chased by a dog once, some friends of my sister had a greyhound – or maybe a whippet, or just a skinny dog – and it took an interest in me. I fled, the dog pursued, and we started doing laps around the small circular garden path out front of their house, and I’m sure that my Dad, sister and my sister’s friend just watched us complete circuit after circuit. I have no memory of how this pursuit ended, which leads me to wonder if it might have been a dream.
Dogs seemed to perk up as I walked by them, as if I had biscuits in my pocket (I may have), but in my imaginative youthful mind I thought it was either because I was secretly the (bar)king of the dogs, or because I was a werewolf…
Though it may have been that they sensed my fear and thought it’d be fun to terrify me.
I can’t quite remember what my first exposure to the lycanthrope legend was, part of me likes to think that it was a cheeky, sneaky late night viewing of An American Werewolf In London, but, in actuality I’d imagine it was the children’s television show Woof!.
Regardless, sometimes when it was late and I was up I’d writhe around the front room pretending I was transforming into a werewolf, in much the same way David Naughton did as David Kessler in An American Werewolf In London (1981), and to a lesser extent Tom Everett Scott in Anthony Waller’s muddled sequel An American Werewolf In Paris (1997) that, for some reason, I have a guilty soft spot for.
This faux transformation would usually end with me scurrying upstairs on all fours to bed.
Since then I’ve managed to overcome my fear of dogs; probably because my Dad got a dog, so that foiled his plan to keep me out of the house. This has allowed me to discover a newfound appreciation for pooches, and I can see why people seem to like having them around, it was with this in mind that I created this Valentine’s Day card, available from my Etsy shop, exposing the truth kept secret in many a relationship about who might be the actual love of some people’s lives.
Thanks for reading!
Have you ever been convinced that you were another creature? Are you still convinced? If you could turn into any animal which one would you turn into and why? (I’d be a squirrel)
Owain. x
owainpaciuszko.com 