Ranch Hand Magic

By Syd Sullins

One of our biggest challenges at The Ranch is coping with dogs who are so frightened by people that they don’t want anything to do with us. Dogs like this aren’t really adoptable so many of our volunteers make it a priority to work with these dogs to slowly prove to them that we are worthy of their trust.

Recently we received two dogs, Buddy and Cooper. We did their intake and put them in a kennel and then we didn’t see them for a week. They remained huddled inside their dog house and only would come out to eat after we’d left for the day. Eventually we decided we needed to push them a bit. We stood their dogs house on end, which forced them to come out in the run. Then our volunteer, Julie Wittmann, waited patiently for them to allow her to approach. Signs of improvement were almost immediate. Within a day, they would allow Julie to sit near them with gentle pets. A day later we could hold them on our lap.

We’re not fooling ourselves, they still have a long way to go. But with patience and love we hope to have them ready for adoption.

Another Ranch Hand, Corrine Kelly, has been working with a couple of frightened dogs. Her approach is to sit quietly in their run and offer them treats. The dogs will eventually approach her for the treats and then linger. It’s obvious they want human contact, we just have to convince them they’re safe. I recently witnessed Corrine working with one of our frightened dogs. It was feeding time and she had Whiskey’s food bowl on her lap. He hesitated a bit but eventually began to eat and allowed her to gently touch his face.

Ranch hands are a vital part of the success of The Ranch. Some people feel they’re not physically capable of handling large dogs on walks, but almost anyone is able to quietly sit with a frightened dog and help them learn trust.