{"id":85440,"date":"2025-08-30T00:52:35","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T00:52:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=85440"},"modified":"2025-08-30T00:52:35","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T00:52:35","slug":"frightened-puppy-will-only-leave-shelter-kennel-if-someone-is-holding-his-paws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=85440","title":{"rendered":"Frightened Puppy Will Only Leave Shelter Kennel If Someone Is Holding His Paws"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Every day he gets a little bit braver.<\/h2>\n
\n

\n

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\u2019t figure out how to connect with Stewie, until one day, he showed them.<\/p>\n

Stewie reached out with his front paw and grabbed onto a staff member\u2019s arm.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Frightened<\/picture>
Orange County Animal Services<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

This seemed to calm him a bit. Then, he began walking on his hind legs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the staff member dropped his paws, Stewie would go right back to panicking and bucking,\u201d Savanna Palmer, lead behaviorist at Orange County Animal Services, told The Dodo. \u201cThe moment he was held hand to paw, Stewie felt more comfortable walking.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was a brave step forward for frightened Stewie and a joy for shelter staff, who\u2019d never seen anything like it. \u201cIt\u2019s adorable,\u201d Orange County Animal Services wrote in a post on Facebook. \u201cAnd truly a first for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Orange County Animal Services<\/div>\n
\n

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\u2019t sick; he was afraid.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was very scared in [the] field and difficult to catch,\u201d Palmer said. Officers eventually lured Stewie into a humane trap with some food.<\/p>\n

Right away, shelter staff realized that Stewie\u2019s 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\u2019d paw at them to get back.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Frightened<\/picture>
Orange County Animal Services<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

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. \u201c[He] was willing to self-injure to get away,\u201d Palmer said.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s impossible to know what Stewie\u2019s life was like before officers found him, it became clear he hadn\u2019t had much socialization, if any.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Frightened<\/picture>
Orange County Animal Services<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

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.<\/p>\n

So that’s what they did.<\/p>\n

Palmer said that since Stewie arrived at the shelter in early August, he\u2019s progressed \u201cleaps and bounds.\u201d He trusts people more and manages to take walks \u2014 while holding hands, of course.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Frightened<\/picture>
Orange County Animal Services<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

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.<\/p>\n

Eventually, he\u2019ll need a loving home with a dedicated family who can really bring him out of his shell.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Frightened<\/picture>
Orange County Animal Services<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

\u201cUltimately, the most beneficial outcome for Stewie would be with a rescue organization that can help set him up for success,\u201d Palmer said, adding that anyone interested in fostering or adopting him must do a behavior consultation to see if they\u2019re a good match for this sweet dog.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe love and adore all of our animals, [and] we want to make sure that once they leave, we won\u2019t have to see them enter the shelter doors again,\u201d Palmer said.<\/p>\n

Whatever Stewie\u2019s past, he\u2019s got his whole future ahead of him. As Orange County Animal Services put it: \u201cWe know he has the potential to be an amazing dog.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every day he gets a little bit braver.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":85441,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2869,2874,2868,2866],"class_list":["post-85440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hot-news","tag-daily-dodo","tag-sarah-ashley","tag-standard","tag-the-dodo"],"yoast_head":"\nFrightened Puppy Will Only Leave Shelter Kennel If Someone Is Holding His Paws - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=85440\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Frightened Puppy Will Only Leave Shelter Kennel If Someone Is Holding His Paws - 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