Morbid proclivities

There is this strange (or not so strange) inclination of some pets especially dogs which have a tendency to go on the defensive when some people appear. This has happened to me sometime ago in my rural village. A pet dog from a certain homestead used to be all over me as a puppy. But with time, this morphed into a morbid hatred without any prompt on my part. I assumed that it was just the normal playfulness of the now bigger dog only to realize that it was serious when it almost bit me. I have also seen dogs in my uncle's develop a morbid fear of him without fail. I was intrigued and I decided to investigate the predisposing factors for this with respect to him. I realized that it was his tone of voice which is usually loud and bellicose. I didn't realize that dogs can decipher one's character, tendencies and idiosyncracies. For example, my mother usually could not suffer their playful pestering when she was busy with chores around the house and view learnt to keep a healthy distance. Another dog which is now dead used to have a morbid fear and hatred for someone wearing colour black despite the fact that it was black in colour.

I know that quite often, pets will acquire certain preferences. We humans usually have a gut instinct about certain people too. Perhaps we don't like that someone never smiles, or perhaps he talks too much, or not enough... whatever the cause, we get a weird feeling about that person. Over time that feeling could change, either for the better or for the worse. But pets don't have the instinctual option to instantly change their minds about someone because doing so could be a matter of life or death.

My mom has a new kitten right now, who was apparently abandoned by her former owners. She is deathly afraid of strangers until she gets to know them as friend or foe. She doesn't like tall, large men with loud voices either, which tells me that her abusive former owner probably fit that description. I guess what I'm trying to say is that animals make first impressions about people too... some good and some bad. An animal might change his mind about a person he hates over time, but it takes a while. Sometimes those first impressions never really change, because it's hard to change yourself.