SpanishRed

Sometimes Loneliness Makes You Scary

Added 2024-07-17 06:49:19 +0000 UTC

George is a hulking pooch who loves rough-and-tumble play. He’s big enough to kill you and unpredictable enough to suggest he might do exactly that, so most of the volunteers do little more than walk him. George has been at the shelter since he was a pup. He’s too scary to adopt, and that’s true of all our “long stayers”: People are scared of them.

In recent weeks, a few of the volunteers have created a cuddle crew. We noticed that walks were the only human contact these dogs receive, so we’ve been spending our time sitting quietly with the scary pooches. We’ve learned that our dear, sweet Georgie is really a lapdog in disguise. Once he’s worked out his loneliness energy, he sprawls over your lap, puts his smooshy face over your shoulder, and gives you the best doggo hug you’ve ever had. Georgie snuggles are so good I’ll go all the way to the shelter just for them.

Nobody knew George was a cuddlebug. Nobody had ever taken the time to get to know him because he was exhausted from loneliness. When a human walked into his kennel, he lost his mind and became completely unmanagable.

But with regular cuddles, he’s a lot less lonely and a lot more himself.

I think we all have a little bit of Georgie in us. We all have lonely parts in the unseen reaches of our minds. Many of us feel exhausted from loneliness. Many of us lose any semblance of control when we are loved for the first time. Sometimes, people are even scared of us, but sometimes, all we need is a cuddle crew to love our true selves into being.

If the volunteers had known how gentle and cuddly George was, he’d have a queue of us waiting at his kennel. Nobody thought to look, though. They interpreted his need for love as aggression. Now that he has that love, he’s turning into a wholly different dog.