It's a dog's world

I have a friend who is mortally scared of dogs. She is convinced that every dog that ever there was, was born with one aim in, life - to bite her. And she has lots of proof to prove this. So naturally, when she and i go for a walk, I am the hero. I walk on the doggie side, i even shoo away the beast, if need be.
Now, my friend has gone to Bangalore. And how i miss her. Walking and talking with her, I discovered many things about myself, but NOT walking with with her has also taught me something. That I am no hero :(. I am probably not as afraid of dogs as she is, but I'm not much better.
My morning walk path is "infested" with dogs. All the stray dogs for miles around come out to wish each other good morning. Out of good manners, a few greetings are thrown my way too. And this almost makes me wish i had no legs, cause then i would not have to walk. There is one dog in particular, who simply loves to bark and growl. He (or she) will stand at the same point everyday, and start his barking-growling sequence the moment he spies anything remotely human. This used to send shivers all the way to the bottom of my spine every time i passed that point. But now, i have sort of got used to him. I can see that he comes in peace. This is not to say that i don't get shivers down my spine, but they don't go all the way down.
Who knows, some day, I might be even be singing "Me and you and a dog named Boo".