This little Chihuahua pictured above has become very bonded with me lately, following me around and checking out what I'm up to. He is very endearing, but he does have some issues! He can get jealous sometimes if you are paying attention to another animal, so sometimes when I am doing TTouch on one of the cats who is loose in the shelter, he comes up and starts barking or lunging at the cat. Most recently, when he does this, I will do TTouch on him with one hand and on the cat with the other. This settles both animals down pretty well, reassuring both of them. I am hoping I will have a chance to do this enough to give Jesse some more confidence so he does not feel like he is being neglected when someone else is being paid attention to.
Below is a picture of Jesse and Jigsaw Sr. (he was brought back to the shelter recently -- as we are a no-kill shelter, we assure adopters that they may bring back their animal if for any reason it doesn't work out in their home). Jigsaw cannot use his front left leg, so he cannot run as quickly as the other cats, though he can get going at a pretty good clip and can jump out or reach if need be. However, I was particularly concerned about getting Jesse and Jigsaw off to a better start with each other so they are the two that I worked on first with this concept. After TTouch, Jesse is still watching me as I am nearer to Jigsaw but he didn't feel the need to come over and bark and threaten this time. I know it will take time for Jesse to become more peaceful and comfortable when he is around cats, but we're off to a good start.
No comments:
Post a Comment