I was eight years old. My family and I were on our summer vacation in Guadalajara, Jalisco Mexico. I was the first born grandchild on my dad’s side of the family, and we were visiting my uncle and aunt. They had invited us to stay at their house. The houses in their neighborhood were all connected, and my uncle’s house was a tri-level home, and their roof was connected to the neighbors’ roofs. Up on the 3rd level was where the laundry room was, as well as the roof access, known as the “azotea.” My uncle’s neighbor had their dog house up there, and they had a white Chihuahua dog, who liked to bark at me, as soon as it would hear my voice, as I would go upstairs. Twice this dog tried to chase me, but I had yelled so hard that it scared the owner, so the owner had put the dog inside whenever they knew we were going to be upstairs.
On this particular day, my mother and I were going upstairs to get our laundry, because we had to start packing. We were going to go visit some more relatives in Mexico City and my mom had asked me to help her with the packing of all our suitcases. I didn’t want to go up to the laundry room because of the neighbor’s dog, but being the eldest, it was my duty to help my mom out. I also was to help her with my brother and sisters suitcases, since they were a lot younger than I was. I was happy to leave my uncle’s house, because at our next stop I had cousins that I was going to meet for the first time.
As we were going upstairs, the first thing I hear is the neighbor’s dog barking. I had
taken with me some cookies to throw to the dog, hoping that it would be occupied with the cookie and not bark at me; maybe even like me a little so as not to continue to scare me. When I reached the top of the roof I dropped a cookie and I bent down to pick it up quickly, because I did not want the dog to get it before I could bribe her. As I was getting up I looked to see where my mom was and the dog crossed over to my uncle’s roof. At that same moment my mom warned me not to get so close to the sun room that was about a yard away from me. If I fell into it, I would be flying down 3 floors!
The sun room was where my aunt’s Jacuzzi room was, and it measured about 12x12 of open air space. You could see from the first floor to the rooms surrounding the sun room whose walls were French doors all around. You could see the entrance to the house, the living room and the patio, and of course it was 3 stories tall. There was nothing covering this space from the roof top. It was just a big opening.
I remember I looked towards where my mom’s voice was coming from, and I saw her standing with a rope in her hand, and I could not understand why she was holding it. Then, all of a sudden the look on her face made me turn around. All I can remember is hearing my mom’s scream! I know I tried to hold onto the floor, but my fingers slipped. I remember feeling the burn on my arms as I scraped my way down the wall. I also remember hearing my dad’s voice asking me to answer him. “Susie! Susie! Are you okay? Susie, what happened? Susie, answer me!” Next thing I remember is I was in a hospital, and I wanted to get out of bed.
I know I probably panicked when I saw my mom’s face, because that’s how much
I am afraid of dogs. I should have just ran to my mom; she had a rope in her hand and probably could have shooed away the dog. But, no, I probably wanted to throw the cookie to the dog, hoping it would stop barking at me.
Once I had woken up I remember seeing my uncle who had come to visit me that night. He told me I had been in a coma for 2 days. All I knew was that I wanted to get out of bed by myself, but I was not allowed to. I felt terrible that I had ruined our vacation. I even had two big black eyes and a huge bruise on my forehead. My uncle had always wanted what was best for me, and being his first niece, I was his favorite. He kept telling me how he would rather have the pain than see me go through this. But not all the pain I was feeling compared to my guilt when my uncle showed me the gun he had used to put the little dog out of its misery; I felt so awful. Why couldn’t I just be like my siblings and get along with dogs? I cried all night, just thinking of that poor little dog. My uncle told the neighbor that the dog bit me, but I knew it wasn’t true. And the worse part was that the dog had just had puppies, and maybe that’s why it was being so protective. Now, there were some orphan puppies, and I was to blame!
I have two dogs of my own, but I continue to be afraid of dogs. To this day, even when my own dogs are barking their heads off, I know they are only doing it because they are doing their job and protecting our home. I have a better understanding of a dog’s perspective and their feelings towards strangers. If I know that a dog has had a litter, I make it a point not to visit. A life lesson learned.
