Earning Robin's trust
- John Braid
- Jun 22, 2016
- 4 min read
None of the animals at SABRC move me quite like Robin. Robin is a collie who was rescued from a home in Cumbria just under two years ago. He was rescued after a friend of the centre called up to say they had seen a dog who was malnourished and visibly terrified. They said that the dog was so scared that he was wetting himself every time someone looked at him.
Lauren and Anita - co-founders of SABRC - drove down to the North of England to pick Robin up and give him a new start. They found that Robin was living in a household where a young mum, although doing her best, had none of the resources, knowledge or time to look after Robin properly.
Robin sometimes displays what is known as "fear-aggression". This is a condition which dogs can suffer from, particularly when they haven't been appropriately socialised in early life. Because of this, new situations, people and animals will be scary to the dog because they haven't been taught to take these things in their stride. Although Robin displays this less now than he did two years ago, it still affects him nonetheless; especially towards men.
So when I first approached Lauren and Anita about volunteering with SABRC, it was understandable that they were cautious about having a new person - particularly a man - on site.
I went up to visit them for the day to see how Robin got on with me around. Lauren kept him on the lead at first and I was advised not to look at him, as eye contact could cause him stress. He was visibly wary of me, but didn't bark or growl. When Lauren first started letting him off the lead, he would come up to me to investigate; I was told that it was best to continue ignoring him for the time-being. Although this went against my natural impulse to pet and talk to every dog that I ever see (in token ridiculous dog-voice, of course), I managed to stay strong.
Meeting number 1 went well enough that I arranged to come back and stay at the centre. During my first week, Robin became gradually more trusting of me. After a couple of days of completely ignoring him, I started to pet him when he approached me - just for a few seconds - then I'd stop and wait to see whether he nuzzled my hand for more (which he did with increasing frequency as time passed). Gradually, he would come over to me more, sitting next to me first on the floor, then the sofa. After a few days, I started taking him for walks - playing fetch with him, calling him back to put his lead on, petting and talking to him gently if he ever started to get over-excited.
Needless to say, now, after a couple of weeks, I'm often woken up in the mornings by Robin running into my room, jumping onto my bed and lying next to me. Whenever I come back into the cottage, whether from two minutes or two days away, he greets me excitedly. When I have to leave, it breaks my heart a little to see him staring at me through the window, and it breaks my heart even more when he pokes his head out of the cat flap to watch as I drive away. Every time I see Robin's handsome face looking up at me, it moves me in a way that is hard to describe.
I just want to explain to him that I'll be back and that everything will be OK.
The progress he has made in two years is remarkable. When he was new to the centre, he was stressed so much of the time that spending an evening in the living room with a group of people would have been impossible.
The reason I wanted to share Robin's story is that on Sunday night, six people including myself were having a few drinks in the living room of the cottage. Robin was lying on the floor, occasionally approaching somebody with his tennis ball for a play or for scratches, but in a calm and contented way. It was hard not to be moved by the thought that this beautiful boy was happily spending his evening in a situation which, just 2 years ago, would have caused him a lot of stress and fear.
I feel like a lot of people would instinctively condemn a dog like Robin for any aggressive behaviour, as though humans aren't responsible for the well-being of the dogs we breed and raise. However, SABRC recognise the patience and compassion Robin needs and deserves, having had such a bad start to life. Although he'll probably never be suited to certain busy situations and groups of new people, the sanctuary provides the perfect environment for him to feel safe and learn to trust the humans that are around him. And, as I've found out in even the short space of time I've known him, once you are in Robin's circle of trust, he is the most faithful, lovable, eager-to-please dog you could ever meet.
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