How to help a nervous rescued dog know they are okay
If your rescued dog still feels nervous most of the time, despite the heaps of love, time, and reassurance you've given them...
I'd love to offer a glimpse into what they may be experiencing through the lens of animal communication, and why they may need more than simply hearing that they are okay to truly know they are safe with you.
Dear Intuitive One,
For just a moment, let’s use our empathic powers to put ourselves into the paws of a newly rescued dog…
Not too long ago, you experienced a life-changing event where everyone and everything you thought you understood about life just vanished.
But somehow, with a little luck and perhaps a touch of fate, you landed in a safe, yet completely foreign environment. The people around you are lovely but very different, and they come with new routines, unfamiliar fragrances and food, scary new sounds, and a host of new expectations of you that you can’t quite get the hang of yet.
And you still are not totally certain how to find your way to the bathroom.
Even though all these new faces regularly tell you how much they love you and that everything is okay, you can only figure out how to communicate with them using your body language; everything else you have to say, like what you are feeling, or are afraid of, or need to feel safe goes unspoken widening the growing gap between hearing that everything is okay and actually feeling okay.
Maybe to cope, you start skipping meals or chewing on your nails.
Perhaps you take to hiding under the covers during the day, and coming out in the quiet safety of the darkness of nighttime to scope out your new environment.
And let’s not even get into how unsure you feel anytime someone new comes near you and tries to touch your head, or you are put into a car to go who knows where…
But… imagine in the middle of all of this stress and change, you had the chance to have a monthly conversation with those around you to voice things like…
What you feel will help you feel safe
What familiar aspects of your previous life would you like access to so you feel more comfortable
What kinds of activities you feel would help you adjust
What games or play you feel will bring out your best self
And the chance to talk about your skills and gifts to help you figure out how to carve out a new purpose for yourself in your new environment going forward
This is what animal communication does for rescued dogs.
It gives them the chance to voice what they need so they can adjust, adapt, and believe you when you tell them everything is okay.
Why rescued dogs need more than time to heal
It makes sense that rescued dogs need a lot of time to not only settle into their new home but also to open their heart to someone new.
In conversations with these special dogs, some have shared that the people in their past, even at their best, struggled to communicate clearly with them. Others have shared that they were treated like an object without a mind, feelings, or preferences. In these first conversations, some dogs have felt so shut down from their previous life that they are afraid to share at first. Relaying only the bare-bone basics, reluctantly, as they scan their new family, making sure that they are safe to voice their feelings.
For many rescued dogs, the experience of being seen, listened to, and understood is brand new.
To give them the space they need to share and adjust to what it even means to voice their needs, and for it to be well received, can be so far out of their comprehension that single-hour animal communication sessions just don’t give these dogs enough time.
Dogs who come with suitcases full of mistrust and hurt need more time to feel safe to share everything they really, really want you to know about their past, their emotions, what they feel in their body and what kind of life they would love to create with you.
And when we give them that time, more often than not, they absolutely bloom into the amazing dogs they were meant to be.
When dogs come to us carrying fear, worry, and trauma, they need more than time. They need to feel heard, understood, and safe enough to tell their story in their own way, without being retraumatized, so they can learn it’s safe to come out of their shell.
And when we give them that chance, healing begins. Not just for them, but for both of you as you build your new life together.
Give your rescued dog the chance to be heard
My Rescued Dog Support Package includes four animal communication sessions over four months, giving your dog the time and space to share what they're feeling, what they need, and how you can best support them as they settle into their new life with you.
Click the bright yellow button below to learn more
“I felt completely disconnected with Mimi before we started working together. I now feel like I understand her, where she came from, what it is like being her, what she craves, and more about her personality.
She is much more confident since working with you. She comes out of her safe space more, she wags her tail more, she is less scared of everything, and just seems like she gets that she belongs in our family now.
-Alicia (Rescued dog package client)
