Link: https://old.reddit.com/r/tifu/comments/1utuj68/tifu_by_conditioning_myself_into_being_terrified/

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The original was posted on /r/tifu by /u/MyDeerHart on 2026-07-11 20:18:43+00:00.

So I am very allergic to animals. I am allergic to dander, but I am far more allergic to something in animal saliva. I'm not scared of dogs per se, but I'm afraid of the horrible allergic reaction that comes with them. (Hives/breathing/eyes swelling shut kind of reaction. I wish they just made me sneeze). I usually just tell people I'm afraid of dogs, and they just leave it at that, I don't go into any detail on why. But I've been saying that for a very long time.

Last week, someone came into my workplace with a dog, and I started shaking. It kept barking at people too. I was lucky it was an overlap shift so my co-worker did the transaction. I told him about the shaking, joking that I might have conditioned myself to be afraid of dogs. Laughed and went on with my day.

Today, someone came in, barking dog again (I don't know if it was the same person or not). A customer that knew me well saw that I wasn't doing to hot, and I told her what was up. She kindly told the guy that I'm terrified of dogs. He starts saying how viscous and mean the dog is, and loves to bite people. Obviously he was joking, but that made it worse. I started to cry and freak out. I had to deal with 3 more customers before it was this guys turn, and I was crying and shaking through all of them. When he came up I felt like I was going to hurl. Once he left I just went into the back and burst into tears.

The no pets allowed sign goes up first thing Monday.

TLDR: Told people that I'm terrified of dogs even though I'm not, ended up Pavloving myself into actually crying when they are around.