Befriending Spice the Samoyed

Spice belongs to my friends the Ekanems . She’s playful, and she loves to greet visitors. Or maybe she just loves to greet me.

She wags her tail and pushes her tongue out in excitement when I cross the backyard despite me not Sparing her a glance or even emotion.

To be fair, my reaction isn’t exclusive to her. Maybe she really does like me, but I am not necessarily the biggest fan of dogs- or animals in general, so all her efforts to get me to notice her usually ends in her owners carrying her away from me.

Which is tough luck for her, but I don’t think she’s one to give up easily. I mean,

One evening, I was outside with her owners. It got really chilly so I made to go inside and get my cardigan. Suddenly, Spice jumped on me to lick me. I have no idea if she thought I wouldn’t recognize her(because it was 8pm), but I did, and I let out the loudest scream I’ve ever heard in my life.

so maybe it’s not that I don’t Like animals, maybe I’m just afraid of them. I was scared and in shock and offended. How did she want me to catch her AND accept her licks? It was too much for my brain.

My scream was followed by tears and hyperventilating, and Edmund and Cece carried me back outside while I squatted and tried to get some air. My vision became blurry as I blinked to get the tears out.

“Bad Spice!” Cyril chided, chasing her back inside.

You would most likely say I was over reacting, but that was because she didn’t jump on you. Has a dog licked your hand before? Exactly.

I said I did not like animals. But Spice probably didn’t hear me mention that, because she still liked to greet me regardless of that event.

She would sit and stare at me often, as if trying to assure me that she was a really good girl and she just wanted me to pat her head.

As an empath, I finally gave in.

It was obviously the day I was leaving, so she wouldn’t think she would see me in the evening and run to ‘greet’ me like she did that night.

“Spice!” I called.

She turned to look, probably doing a double take to be sure I was the one that had just called out.

Then she ran towards me.

My heart clutched as she rested her head on my lap. It was too late to run away from the scene, so I gently patted her head.

She relaxed and got off, as if to say, “See? That wasn’t so bad.”

It was.

But at least we’ve gotten to step one, befriending Spice the Samoyed.