A fateful train ride when we were coming out of lockdown this year taught me to question long-held opinions
I have been a cat lover my whole life. That is to say, I have never liked dogs. Or at least, this was the case until earlier this year. There was no conscious desire to beat the aversion – it just happened, and all it took was a puppy in an orange jacket, shortly after the end of lockdown.
But before that, my low opinion of dogs. I decided at a young age that they were dangerous and uncouth – the pirates of the pet world who would cock their legs shamelessly on street corners and had great big wet dishcloths for tongues.
Arifa Akbar is the Guardian’s chief theatre critic