Question Posted Wednesday January 21 2009, 6:58 am
Me and my boyfriend are going to buy a puppy, on saturday (it's now wednesday), we are going to someones house to look at their 4 week old labrador puppies to see if we want one.
Now this is very exciting and it's something i desperately want, there's a problem though...
I suffer terribly with my health and panic attacks, i have panic attacks because i have extremely terrible social phobia, my mum came to my house yesterday and i was nearly sik with nerves, thats how bad i am.
I'll be ok with a puppy, we'll be able to take care of it, get it to the vets, plenty of walk ect, but the htought of going to someones house is making me sik and have panick attacks.
Would it be rude to ring the lady before hand and explain a little about my social phobia, not go into details, just tell her how i have panic attacks in new situations and ask if we could be shown the puppys with just one person in the room rather than her family?
Ideally i'd want her to say she would bring us a puppy to have a look at but they are a 25 minute drive away and i've never spoken to the lady so i don;t know if she's nice or understanding, and i know how rude and arogant people can be when it comes to mental health.
What do you think? and how do you think you/your parents would react if they had the same phonecall?
I would call the lady saying I had a few questions in regards to the puppies (make sure you think of some first...ex; temperament, health of parents, size of parents) as becuase it is a bit of a drive, you just wanted to ask ahead of time. This will give you the chance to feel her personality out.
If she makes you feel comfortable in her responses and tone, then just explain to her, I would say something simple like, I am really excited to come and meet these puppies, and maybe even bring one home with me, but if I could just mention that when meeting new people in unfamiliar settings I tend to get a bit nervous and if you don't mind my asking, would it be ok if when viewing the puppies if it could just be yourself, my boyfriend and I?
She will either say, of course, no problem or no. If she says no, then she obviously she isn't much of a caring or understanding person and I wouldn't want to buy a puppy from her anyhow!
Disconnected answered Wednesday January 21 2009, 1:48 pm: I think calling her and explaining her your condition is the best thing to do.
Just ask if it could be you, your boyfriend and her in the room.
I'm sure that she will be very understanding, after all, you can't help it.
My brother has a slight problem with being in a room by himself with people he doesn't know, so when he changed dentists, he called in advance and asked if his checkup could be done without the assistant, and the dentist was fine with this.
I'm sure that she's a lovely person, and she will not have a problem with this.
:)
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