The dear little dog pictured above was brought out of the pouring rainstorms today and into Social Tees (http://socialtees.com/). Robert had me work on her right away, as she was wet, scared and a little growly. I worked on her in a quiet little corner of the shelter, speaking to her quietly all the while. She dried off as I worked on her, shaking off every once in a while. A few times I felt a rumble of a growl inside her, but it never manifested in an attempt to bite or a more building type of growl. I did strokes down her back with the back of my hand, and abalone touch on her body, along with some hair slides, some ear strokes, and some touches where I did a chimp touch circle, then slid my hand down the back, then continued with another chimp touch. Little by little I felt her stress level come down, and within about 15 minutes she was sitting on the floor as you see her. I had to go to a different part of the shelter, then I came back a couple of times to do a few more TTouches. The last time, she growled a bit, so before I left, I explained to Robert how to do strokes on the dog using the back of the hand and how to do abalone TTouch, so hopefully that will be helpful in further calming this dog. Next time I see her, I will try a wrap, which I would have tried today but this all happened in such a spontaneous rush that I felt it was more important to begin work on her rather than walk away from her to find a wrap. I also have had occasional experiences of these types dogs becoming more agitated when you try to put a wrap on them and I did not want this to happen. Sending her good thoughts tonight!
No comments:
Post a Comment