Thank you for sharing such a personal, touching story.
I too believe that these dogs will have the ability to get those they come in contact with to “open up”. Many are probably suppressing emotions and these dogs just may help them to break down the barriers and make a start toward healing. At the very least, they’re sure to provide comfort in the midst of an experience no one should have to endure.
My first Dobermann heard all the things that my parents refused to hear about the uncle.
[”family politics” or somesuch crap...*I* was the ‘problem’ for trying to create ‘trouble’ so the it was buried and no one ever did a single thing about or to him for it]
The dog may not have been a shrink who could answer me but he sure saved me from the self-imposed exile I’d been living in.
Until he came into my life, I wouldn’t go out of the house except to go to school or be dragged to the mandatory family gatherings which the uncle was *always* at....and waiting.
For four years, I stayed inside, fearful of venturing out because that uncle was always around, somewhere.
After the dog, I slowly started back to my old life of playing outside, riding my horse in the woods and being a kid again.
To this day, my dogs hear the things nobody else will listen to.
If I didn’t have them, I don’t like to think about what might happen.
They used to do this sort of ‘emotional coaxing’ thing with kids and stuffed animals.
Kids aren’t stupid.
They’re not gonna spill their guts to a teddy bear.
Dogs are now being used in courtrooms to help child abuse victims make it through their testimonies without fear or hesitation.
A child ~may~ understand and believe that “God is with them” but it’s much easier for them if they can see and feel that Dog is with them, too.