Do you know those stuffed animals that you can win as prizes from carnivals? Those large, annoying ones that are the same size of a small child? Well when I was 5 years old, my aunt would babysit me once or twice a week, and she had one of those gigantic, stuffed carnival animals. It was a beige colored dog that was permanently in the ‘sit’ position, and I was terrified of it!
Now I’m sure this stuffed carnival dog was only about 2 feet tall, but to a little 5 year old me, it was MASSIVE! I was the only one scared of it, and my cousins never let me down live it down. They kept it hidden in their basement and they constantly threatened to to pull it out and chase me around with it. If I knew it was out of its ‘home,’ I would refuse to go in the house. I was a bit neurotic.
I was so scared of this monster that I had nightmares about it. Nightmares that I still remember today. The most horrific one involved my older cousin tying me to the basement wall and dancing the frightening beast in front of my while I cried. I vividly remember waking up in tears because I was so sure that had actually happened.
I haven’t seen that dog in 25 years, and to this day, my cousin still asks me if I am scared of his huge, stuffed, carnival dog.
Learning Through Living 
Wow, we have a big one in our house that my nephew won and gave to my son. It’s name is Chris the dog. We treated it like a dog so my kids have never been afraid. I’m sorry you’ve been terrorized by yours for so long.
Is it wrong that this made me laugh? 😉 Family can be such jerks sometimes.:-) I can still remember some nightmares from when I was little. It lets you know just how traumatizing things can be. Hopefully you can find the humor now.