Hands on

Patch

Maddie

Sunday was a VGSR adoption event up in Fairfax, a new venue for me and relatively new for VGSR.  I have so many dogs now that I needed to take a chance, so we went.  I took Patch, Ochie, Natalie, Chloe, and Maddie.  Maddie rode next to me in the front passenger's seat and was the perfect traveler.  Ochie was a bit anxious, but no one barfed in spite of having been fed in the morning.

It was a good experience for all the dogs I took.  It was the first adoption event for everyone other than Maddie and they all handled it very well.  It was a surburban strip mall in a high traffic area and I was paranoid of a dog slipping a collar and bolting, so I double leashed everyone for my own peace of mind.  Ochie met someone who may be interested in him.  I hope to meet him again next weekend in Gainesville.






 



Ochie

Chloe

Patch

Going over the pictures this morning, the ones I'm most drawn to are those showing people with their hands on the dogs.  I've written about this before, I realize, in "The Power of Touch" April 24, 2011, and again on January 22, 2012, in "The Laying on of Hands."  Maybe it's because I'm part Rottweiler, but I am always struck by the power of this simple gesture.  I know it's the best thing we can do for an ailing person when we are really pretty powerless to do anything else.  It's also the best thing we can do to calm an anxious dog, to relieve stress, to allay fear.  Dogs do it with their nose more than their paws, but they do it.  They reach out and touch.  It's a simple thing but it's truly intimate.  There's no better way to say "I love you" or "It's all right" than to simply say "I'm here" with the touch of the nose or the hand.