Sharp teeth
At the age of 7 I was attacked by my best friend’s huge shepherd dog. A long lasting phobia started then. I would always feel fear in the proximity of any dog. They say that dogs smell your fear and I completely agree with that. At the age of 33 and while in Andaman islands, India, I was again attacked by a huge dog. Still remember the dog’s teeth entering my flesh. Luckily no artery was damaged so I made it.
Coming back from that India trip, I made a new friend, Orestis, who had a black Labrador, Fidel. The most loving creature I ever met. It was the first time I felt I want to play with a dog. Fidel took a lot of my fear away. And he prepared me for another big challenge. My trip back to India in 2012 for 4 months, being among thousands of stray dogs. I obviously needed so much to be in India and make photos, that I could survive my fear for dogs. But I still remember that every time I passed close to a dog I was holding my breath, to hold the ‘’fear particles’’ inside me, so that it would not smell my fear 
Being now 45, I have succeeded being comfortable with most domestic dogs. Stray dogs still give me high heart rate and not only, especially when I meet them in groups. I have not been back to India since 2014 and it is one of the main reasons.
Fear can not change though the fact that I consider them lovely animals. And I look forward to more dog photos in the years to come.