We keep hearing from people that we're doing so well with Chester, or that Chester is making such good progress. Actually we don't know that we're doing all the right things and we have no clue as to whether it's necessarily the correct way to rehab a rescue dog. Is there a correct procedure? Are there proven guidelines other than time, patience and love? Each dog is unique and the trauma they faced would cause them to react in a variety of ways. I wish I had all the answers.
Although we try to anticipate Chester's fear of some situations, at times we're surprised by his actual response. Last night I started working on a cross-stitch project. I was doing the prep work needed before actual stitching; washing the fabric, marking the pattern and spooling threads onto cards and labeling them with the appropriate symbols. As I raised a plastic bag of colored pencils, Chester jerked and looked as if he was going to run from the room. The bag crinkled a bit and the noise from the shuffling of pencils startled him. I stopped him from running and brought the bag down to him. I let him sniff the bag and its contents. Then I rattled it around a bit so he could equate the noise with the object. The next time I picked up the pencil bag, he flinched a bit so I brought it to him again and told him it was "okay". Later, when I needed to use the colored pencils, he simply looked up at me in acknowledgement. Conditioning. It works. My Dad would be so proud of me (personal moment).
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