Can a boy who was bitten badly as a baby get beyond his fear of dogs?
Ricky had been attacked by a big dog when he was just a little kid in St. Louis. He had to have sixty-three stitches to patch him up and, later, had to have a painful series of rabies shots. Now they had moved to a 160 acre farm in Oklahoma, and, even though he was older, Ricky had a total fear of any dogs, even little ones. He freaked out when one came near him. There were a lot of cats that hung around the barn. Ricky noticed one day that a skinny stray of a dog was trying to eat with the cats when his mom put out food for them in the evening. The cats turned on the little dog and ran him off to hide somewhere away from the barn. Later on the next evening, Ricky was stacking hay bales in the barn when he saw the puppy. He was so frightened at the dog that he climbed up out of the way and was about to miss his supper because he was afraid to move. When his mom called “kitty, kitty,” the pup ran to try to get some food. Ricky was able to slip out of the barn and go in to the house. Of
