Meet Willow, a Kelpie (Willow’s humans: Stefan & Melissa)
SETTLING A NEW NERVOUS RESCUE DOG
FAYE’S VALIDATION
Note: the ‘Validation’ process in Faye’s sessions is evidence that Faye is genuinely communicating with the animal. She knows nothing about the animal except breed and age – and only has a photo to refer to.
Willow is very unsettled. She follows you around, or at least follows you with her eyes, always trying to gauge what’s required of her in her new home. She LOVES her new soft dog bed and being allowed indoors – she didn’t have a bed in the past and wasn’t allowed indoors. Willow loves to walk but has been abandoned in the past – so she is looking to you for signs that this will NOT be repeated. Water is an issue for Willow. She’s tentative at the beach.
(Stefan – Willow’s human – confirmed the above)
THE PROBLEM (STEFAN’S PERSPECTIVE)
Willow has been with us for about 2 weeks. She comes from a Rescue Centre. We don’t know about her past. We would like to know
• Why does she come into our bedroom at night and wake us up?
• Why won’t she drink out of her water bowl?
• Why won’t she come when she’s called?
• Why she is scared of our stairs?
• Why is she afraid of large bodies of water?
• Where would she prefer to be when we leave the house, outside or inside?
WILLOW’S CONVERSATION WITH FAYE
INSECURITIES
Willow is unsure of her new home “will they want her” or send her back. She isn’t quite sure how to behave. In the past, she had to please a male who expected her to be more proactive and aggressive (like a working dog). Willow wasn’t given any loving attention. Because of the lack of attention, she started craving it, overly seeking it, and got into trouble for being needy. To feel secure, she wanders into the bedroom just to make sure her humans are STILL there.
FOOD AND WATER
Willow didn’t have a dedicated water bowl before. And there was lack of accessible water. So she isn’t sure what her water bowl is for. Previously, she would just drink out of some kind of old ‘bath tub looking” option which wasn’t always full nor clean. Her food in the past consisted of basic, “less than thrilling” dry food and on rare occasions would see a bone. She requested bones to chew.
BEHAVIORAL ISSUES
Her recollection of being “called to come back” only led to being hit so she is now wary when she’s called to return. When Willow was young she got her leg caught in the type of stairs that are not closed in so her leg slipped through and now she panics when presented with stairs. As a young dog she was teased/thrown in a large body of water and is now afraid so when she sees the beach, it brings back these memories.
WILLOW’S SOLUTIONS
• PHYSICAL COMFORT
“Please let me be inside more than outside – especially when you leave me.”
• PATIENCE PLEASE
“I need time and patience to accept that I can go outside without being shut out of the house and be patient with me while getting to know what to do with the ‘water bowl”.
• ANXIETY
“Give me time to feel loved and wanted, that I have a ‘forever home’, then I won’t need to visit your bedroom. I just need time to learn my place here and that when I’m called I won’t be mistreated”.
THE OUTCOME
“Willow has been with us for seven weeks now. She has adjusted well to her life with us and since the communication. She is now doing well with “coming when she’s called”. She also drinks water from her bowl more often – and is loving her soft bed. We now give her bones to chew outside and pig’s ear inside, this seems to make her happy. We regularly take her to the beach where she now loves to run and play with other dogs. We are very pleased with the changes in her.”
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