Do animals have a high affinity for you?

[Streetwise]

youre quicker than me and IM perimenopausal so my short term memory is almost non existent

Typos tend to stop me in my tracks.
I have to figure out what the word is
or else......I don't understand.

 

[RiverSong]

I've had a lot of different pets over the years so I guess I really like animals. Animals really seem to like me too, especially cats. Which is funny because I'm actually allergic to cats and, sadly, horses.

I can be in a room with quite a few other people and if there's a cat there, it will come right over to me instead of other people. I've had a few times where I had to ask the owner to please take their cat away from me because I'm allergic.

I remember one time, I was over someone's house and this person had the biggest cat I have ever seen. I mean, this cat was around the size of a large dog. So this cat comes into the room, sees me, and bounds over towards me. I started freaking out and saying, "No, no, no!" Partly because of the allergy thing and also because that was one scary-big cat. Thankfully, the owner caught him in time and told the cat to keep away from me, which he did. But funnily, the cat just sat across the room from me sulking and giving me looks like I had offended him, lol.

I've also had dogs take an immense liking to me too. I remember one time, I was at a family friend's house and their dog came over and sat by me. I petted him and he instantly became my best friend, so much so that he wouldn't leave me alone. He put his head on my lap, stared at me with sad puppy eyes and wouldn't move. The owners were like... "Wow, he really likes you." I was like... "Yeah, but can you please get him? I'd like to go home at some point."

I would like to know if the animal thing is aspie related or not. It would be interesting if there was a study on this.

 

[JamesBon92007]

I remember one time when I was at an animal hospital a women was telling me how her dog didn't like anyone, especially men, while the dog was licking my face.

 

[Judge]

Dogs? Most certainly, IMO. They just seem to sense those who love dogs. Without necessarily a word or gesture from us.

 

[Mr Allen]

I don't have any Pets, but I do like certain smaller breeds of Dogs, such as West Highland White Terriers, used to be a cute little one came in our local Pub a couple of years back, sadly the poor thing died about 2 years ago, the poor lad was quite old in Dog years, RIP Sam, his owner had another little "Westie" called Meg, not sure what happened to her.

 

[Thursday]

I've never heard anything about it before but does anyone know of a correlation between aspergers and a connection to animals?

Animals have keener senses than humans so I imagine they know when a human might be too panicky or excitable. Animals don't respond well to people who lunge towards them and talk in loud, squeaky voices...some of the NTs I know do that. There are even some who tease dogs (I hate these types) and then get upset when the dogs stay away from them.

Perhaps animals deem us non-threatening as compared to more emotionally-charged NTs?

Unless they're in danger or are stressed themselves, I've always been calmed by animals so I find it easier to approach them compared to people. Once, I hugged a street dog bigger than me when I was a kid, not knowing of the potential danger. The dog seemed to appreciate it.

 

[Pariah Dog]

It looks like this may be enough replies to show some kind of correlation. Researchers in the asperger and autistic field look at this forum. It would be interesting if someone started a formal study.

 

[SusanLR]

I can never ever relax, or just be myself around people, but around my dogs, I can be myself without judgement or ridicule and they accept me for who I am. Overall, what you see is what you get - with dogs especially. With my dogs I find I can ditch my "personality pack" - pretending to be 'normal' is so exhausting..

I understand exactly. I can be me and feel comfortable with the animals. The daily pretense is so tiring. I am feeling it tonight after a day of conflicting ideas on a subject with my NT that I share a house with. Trying to get info and reasons out of him is impossible and tonight I am tired and frustratingly burnt out.

Did Baby Fuzzer also like Poe's poems? Such as The Raven, perhaps?

I think all present liked The Raven. It was a paperback of short stories of Poe's.
I have ponds and some wooded sections behind where I live and we have coyotes. Every year there seems to be a pack with young ones that come to the closest pond in the night. Always get a kick out of hearing them yipping. Twice a mother Bay Lynx with babies came walking by within just a few feet to go to the pond. Loved watching them. Oh, and a pack of baby armadillos were gathered around my feet in the daylight once. One kept smelling my shoe!
Just a couple of miles on up the road the woods get thick enough there are a lot of deer. I love to park the car there at dusk they just seem to appear like ghosts from nowhere. I can get out and walk with the herd. Once a large buck came prancing over. For just a second I wondered what would happen with me in his harem of does...he stopped a few feet in front of me and just looked me up and down and things were OK.

 

[Fridgemagnetman]

I do find animals come up to me.

Part of the reason is that i am quiet and still and i do not talk to them as if they were a baby
Clue : animals dont understand long sentences and baby talk.

Its letting them make the decision to check you out.

Unless its a bear.

 

[WereBear]

Animals are more body language than verbal language. We might be sending out friendly signals and not be aware of it.

This is how I manage to speak Cat with my pet cats.

 

[Calibar]

I think they do and the feeling is mutual. I am nicer to animals than most people. Will give them a lot of attention and respect. E.g. will walk around birds when they are on the sidewalk rather than walk straight towards them forcing them to move. I would rather spend time with animals than most people. Particularly like cows, they're very sweet.

 

[Jet Weiss]

On this same subject, I want to share a special experience I had today

I was out going for a walk, and a woman was walking her dog nearby. The dog saw me and just locked eyes with me and stopped in his tracks, wagging his tail, and would not move until I went over and played with him.
The woman seemed quite surprised and asked me if I work with dogs, to which I responded that in fact I do. She said her dog is very friendly, though he would not normally react to a person in that manner. She told me I have a special gift
This happens to me quite often, especially with dogs that are labeled as "aggressive," "standoffish," or "shy."
Dogs are not infatuated with me in the same way that they seem to be with my mum, though there is definitely a special connection there.

 

[Pariah Dog]

I just remembered another scenario a few months back. While visiting a friend's hobby farm, their not yet fully grown cow (future steak) came right up to me out of a group of people. I was petting her and then she grabbed onto the loose end of my belt on my pants and tried to pull me along somewhere. I freed myself pretty quick but thought that was funny. She then kept licking my pant legs for some reason.

 

[JamesBon92007]

This one is about my daughter, who might very well be an Aspie.

We were at the animal shelter looking for our dog who got scared by hot air balloons and ran off. They had a bull there that looked like it weighed about 3000 pounds. It was very intimidating-looking. Everyone was keeping there distance, including me. The bull was licking my daughter's hand through the fence. Next thing I know I'm trying to figure out where to keep a bull that big. It was up for adoption and we did have 20 acres...

 

[Pariah Dog]

I just remembered an odd one and quite possibly meaningless, but...

Last year I was mowing my lawn and found a big red dragonfly stuck in a spiders web and frantically trying to get out. The web was attached to my gas meter. I broke the web and the dragonfly was able to fly free. It didn't go very far though. It landed on the thigh of my jeans and just sat facing upwards towards me for quite a long time before eventually flying away.

I wouldn't imagine a dragonfly to be intelligent enough to recognize me as it's savior, but then who knows. More likely I was just a convenient object near by for it to rest a bit and regather it's strength after the struggle before flying away. It was an interesting bit of imagery never the less.

EDIT:
On a side note I didn't cheat the spider out of the meal. This dragonfly would have been way out of the spider's league.

 

[Streetwise]

glad yyou did a lot of dragonflies are on the cites endangered list
Hine emerald dragonfly in the us

I just remembered an odd one and quite possibly meaningless, but...

Last year I was mowing my lawn and found a big red dragonfly stuck in a spiders web and frantically trying to get out. The web was attached to my gas meter. I broke the web and the dragonfly was able to fly free. It didn't go very far though. It landed on the thigh of my jeans and just sat facing upwards towards me for quite a long time before eventually flying away.

I wouldn't imagine a dragonfly to be intelligent enough to recognize me as it's savior, but then who knows. More likely I was just a convenient object near by for it to rest a bit and regather it's strength after the struggle before flying away. It was an interesting bit of imagery never the less.

EDIT:
On a side note I didn't cheat the spider out of the meal. This dragonfly would have been way out of the spider's league.

 

[Pariah Dog]

Interesting. Dragon flies seem as common as dog doo around my parts. I couldn't tell one species from another of course. I see them in black, red, brown, sky blue, black with some yellow on them, some other black ones that are giant compared to all the rest... and so on. I wouldn't doubt that some are having a struggle considering how the environment is killing off bees and other creatures.

 

[Streetwise]

maternal instinct !!!!!animals perceive psychological energy

 

[Gracey]

Mainly dogs and cats and a few horses...oh, and the potential for a hedgehog I've been leaving food for.
Wait...some birds too, parrots mainly.

To date I can remember only two dogs that haven't liked me and if I'm honest, I didn't much care for them either. Both were minature breeds, treated like human baby replacements. Those dogs called the shots in their environments and their owners (or slaves) pandered to the dogs whims.

I am very quiet but think a great deal. Quite an intense thinker. Probably quite serious socially. Those dogs had a problem with me when space and interaction meant I was facing the owners and probably talking to them in a serious tone. I have to wonder if they were guarding their owners? As if my speech and mannerisms presented; in their tiny mind's, some sort of threat?
Because it's happened twice with similar babyfied dogs it feels like more than just a coincidence. I'm not willing to risk upsetting an animal or slightly ripped clothes and skin just to prove a theory or pattern.

In general, I am more relaxed amongst animals and nature than my own species.

 

[WereBear]

It was an interesting bit of imagery never the less.

It certainly is. I once bought a fountain pen because as I was enjoying its handcrafted loveliness at an outdoor stall and when I picked it up a butterfly landed on my finger and lingered there.

I bought the pen. Of course I did!