Every day he gets a little bit braver.

When Stewie first arrived at a California shelter earlier this month, he had no idea how to act. The new, noisy environment terrified the 1-year-old dog almost as much as leashes did. Staff couldn’t figure out how to connect with Stewie, until one day, he showed them.

Stewie reached out with his front paw and grabbed onto a staff member’s arm.

This seemed to calm him a bit. Then, he began walking on his hind legs.

“If the staff member dropped his paws, Stewie would go right back to panicking and bucking,” Savanna Palmer, lead behaviorist at Orange County Animal Services, told The Dodo. “The moment he was held hand to paw, Stewie felt more comfortable walking.”

This was a brave step forward for frightened Stewie and a joy for shelter staff, who’d never seen anything like it. “It’s adorable,” Orange County Animal Services wrote in a post on Facebook. “And truly a first for us.”

Before ending up at the shelter, Stewie eluded Orange County Animal Services officers responding to a call about a dog who might be sick roaming along a highway. Stewie wasn’t sick; he was afraid.

“He was very scared in [the] field and difficult to catch,” Palmer said. Officers eventually lured Stewie into a humane trap with some food.

Right away, shelter staff realized that Stewie’s nerves made him a flight risk. Everyone and everything frightened him, so he tried to hide against the wall of his kennel. If staff got close, he’d paw at them to get back.

At the shelter, staff tried putting a leash on Stewie for a walk around the play yard. He panicked and rolled around on the ground to escape it. Wearing a harness was worse. “[He] was willing to self-injure to get away,” Palmer said.

While it’s impossible to know what Stewie’s life was like before officers found him, it became clear he hadn’t had much socialization, if any.

As a staff member and behaviorist, Palmer said her role is to understand each individual animal and identify what they need to thrive as best they can in a loud, chaotic shelter environment.

When things got tough with Stewie, it was almost as if he asked staff to guide him into the play yard and to reassure him that he was safe every step of the way.

So that’s what they did.

Palmer said that since Stewie arrived at the shelter in early August, he’s progressed “leaps and bounds.” He trusts people more and manages to take walks — while holding hands, of course.

If this connection is what Stewie needs to feel comfortable during his shelter stay, then Palmer and her staff will continue doing it. Along with positive reinforcement and confidence-boosting exercises, the timid dog makes a little more progress every day.

Eventually, he’ll need a loving home with a dedicated family who can really bring him out of his shell.

“Ultimately, the most beneficial outcome for Stewie would be with a rescue organization that can help set him up for success,” Palmer said, adding that anyone interested in fostering or adopting him must do a behavior consultation to see if they’re a good match for this sweet dog.

“We love and adore all of our animals, [and] we want to make sure that once they leave, we won’t have to see them enter the shelter doors again,” Palmer said.

Whatever Stewie’s past, he’s got his whole future ahead of him. As Orange County Animal Services put it: “We know he has the potential to be an amazing dog.”