Animal Healing with Teaching
Therapies
Benji is
an 8 year old Collie Retriever Cross, who came to live with us 4 years ago.
As with most rescue dogs, we didn't choose him, in fact on our first look
around the kennels at the NCDL in Canterbury, we didn't even notice him.
He was sharing a cage with a rather loud Staffordshire Bull terrier, and he
was sitting in the background, bolt upright as quiet as he could be. It was
our Aunt who first pointed him out, by
remarking on his long thick golden
coat. As I clapped
eyes on him, he stared at me intently with his big brown
eyes, and just hung his head slightly. As my heart
melted, I
asked one of the workers if he could be let
out so I could get to know him a
bit better. Benji we
were warned is a strong minded and
hyperactive dog. But looking at his
sad face, I guessed
the NCDL worker had got him mixed up with another
dog.
Benji played with us a bit, but didn't seem that
fussed, and I noticed
barely wagged his tail. We
arranged to come up the following weekend
to
introduce him to our other dog Bosley (At that time Benji
became a member of the pack!! I knew
potentially we would have a hard task ahead of us, as we were told of
Benji's history. He had been rescued from a family who had decided
that he was too boisterous for them. In an attempt to calm him down he
was fed human tablets, Diazepam being one of the main ones, but this had
just resulted in him becoming slightly brain damaged and even more
hyperactive. As this failed to calm him down his then owners tried
beating the spirit out of him, even tying him up in the garden in all
weathers. Benji had become a damaged dog! I set to
work immediately, telling him off gently whenever he used to scale our 6
foot fences and run recklessly around the neighbourhood, pleading with him
when his barking became persistent, sometimes he would bark a soft gentle
bark almost all day and night. For some reason, every time I tried to
give him hands on healing, he would back away. After 6
months, I eventually decided that he had become too much, and I needed to
find somewhere else for him to live. I couldn't face giving him back
to the NCDL so spent the night at my PC looking up people who wanted a
rescue dog. I knew the place had to be perfect for him, but nowhere
appeared. I went to bed exhausted. In the
morning I decided that he would get 2 weeks of intensive healing.
First distant healing, then I would hopefully be able to get my hands on him
properly. After a few days of distant healing, I noticed he would come
up to me and just nudge my hand with his head until it was resting on him.
This was my cue, and I began healing. That was
four years ago. That intensive healing lasted for the equivalent of 8
sessions. Now Benji is a calm and confident dog. Due to some
complications from his past, he still has his moments, and becomes insecure,
but all he needs is a quick top up session to reassure him all is well and
he is truly loved. PS: He's
tail now almost constantly wags!!
Benji's Story
we only had 1 other
dog) and luckily the two of them
got on brilliantly.