Recently a group of Gurney Institute Training Program students joined forces to help a local rescue. Through the use of Animal Communication, Essential Oils, Healing Touch for Animals ® and lots of love and structure, Barney is on his way to becoming a good canine citizen. Here’s Barney’s story:

Barney ended up at a local animal shelter stuffed into the night drop box. At 110 pounds, he barely fit in the box. The night box is for people who might find an animal in the middle of the night and the shelter is closed or even for those people who might be too embarrassed to bring their own animal to the shelter. Barney is young – not even 1 year old. The shelter named him Titus. When a local animal rescue group pulled him out of the shelter, his foster home decided to call him Barney. So he became Barney Titus. Once he was at the Rescue Facility, Barney’s issues began to surface.

Barney was afraid of men. He would cower and growl when men entered his room. He jumped up on volunteers and tried to pull them to the ground. He would jump on them during walks. Some of his behavior was related to him being a very large puppy, but the issue with men ran deeper. Barney found a home fairly quickly, but just as quickly he came back to the Rescue. After only two days, Barney was trying to protect the wife from the husband in the family. Once he was back at the Rescue, he tore up his room in frustration. Barney needed help.

So three Gurney Institute students stepped in. As a volunteer for the Rescue, Jan recruited a couple other people to help. Rebecca and Susan were more than happy to help the big puppy out. Rebecca and Jan spoke with Barney to find out what happened in his previous home. Barney shared the same story with them both. At his first home the man of the family was verbally abusive to the woman. He tried to make Barney aggressive by pushing him around. This was against Barney’s true nature. And then one night things escalated between the man and the woman and Barney went after the man. In order to save Barney’s life, the woman took him to the shelter and put him in the night box.

So this explained Barney’s issue with men. Now we had to help him work through those issues. We developed a plan. Susan stepped in since in addition to Animal Communication, she was also studying Healing Touch for Animals®. So she came out for a couple of sessions with Barney. At first he was a bit wary. But using Young Living Essential Oils such as Lavender, Trauma Life, Release, and Common Sense, Barney began to really enjoy his session. WIthin a few minutes he was snoring away. These sessions helped him release some of the trauma he had suffered as well as just calming him down a bit. We also gave Barney a new job – one that did not involve being a protector. Now he gets to be a clown  (he is very good at this job). With more communication from all 3 students, Barney began to trust some of the male volunteers. He even let them take him on walks. There are still a few men he has yet to trust, but things are getting better.

Barney is very smart and learns basic obedience quickly. He is doing so much better. He has yet to find his new forever home as the Rescue wants to make sure it is the right home for Barney to succeed in. But he is on the right path now. All 110 puppy pounds of him!!