05/28/2026
how do you introduce your dog? I was so excited to meet Sandi today. She’s a young Great Pyrenees who recently joined a neighbor’s farm and is already settling in with the other dogs there. One of the older females has really taken her under her wing and has been showing her the ropes, and the younger male is thrilled to have another dog to play with. It was really sweet to watch.
As we were talking about her, the conversation quickly shifted to all the hard things she had been through before arriving there.
I understand why people do that. Sometimes an animal’s history absolutely matters. If you’re working through behavior, fear, trauma, or trying to understand what an animal has been through, those conversations can be important and necessary.
But maybe those things don’t always have to be the very first introduction.
If you’ve ever been sick, grieving, struggling emotionally, or going through something difficult, you probably know what it feels like when someone looks at you with pity, or even worse, says the dreaded “I feel so bad for you.” 😬 Even when people mean well, you can feel it.
Imagine what it feels like for animals when the first thing everyone learns about them is the worst thing that ever happened to them.
Not who they are.
Not what they love.
Not their personality.
Not the things that make them THEM.
Just their pain.
There’s nothing wrong with honoring where they came from. But maybe we don’t always have to lead with it.
Instead we can start with:
She loves belly rubs.
He’s obsessed with sticks.
She runs like the wind.
He makes everyone laugh.
There’s so much more to them than what happened to them. 🌿
