Scary Glimpse into Claire's Past

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Woodbender

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My childbride (of whom we have been married 33 years coming up in May) is a spinner. She basically spins yarn from animal fleece - mostly alpaca and merino wool and (yeah baby) Arctic Circle Musk Ox.

So she has a couple spinning wheels, one of which is in the living room and she uses it. A lot. Well there is a rod attachment on this spinning wheel which holds three bobbins for storage and Theresa wanted to pop it out but it was stuck and wouldn't pop out. Eventually it popped out with an ungainly jerk. What it looked like for a split second was Theresa winding up with a rod in her hand for an overhand strike.

Claire bolted out of the living room in a white knuckled panic! Oh my gosh! What trigger is in her memories for that kind of a reaction to something that looks like a rod? Did someone beat her in her past? Our other dogs never ever had that reation. It took five minutes of petting and gentle speaking to calm the poor thing down.

Merciful heavens - every once in a while we see her past through a window of her reactions. It is just so amazing that she accepts humans at all after what she's gone through. :eek2:
 
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Poor Claire.. that is so incredibly heartbreaking. Your family is beautiful. Hugs to all of you :hugs
 
The thought to hold onto is that those days are over for your Claire...only love and happiness lie ahead and gradually those triggers/fears will take a back seat to the life she now enjoys.

Trini
 
The fact that she did calm down is a testament to your loving care and work with her. She may give the spinning wheel a wide berth for a while, but she's figured out that she is in a great place with you. How very sad it must be to see these reminders of her past life, poor thing. Many pats to sweet Claire. :hugs
 
Question...does Claire show fear of any stick like object (broom handles, shovel handles, etc) or was this episode triggered by the fact that Theresa had the rod held up high in her hand for a moment?
 
Poor little Claire...her past must be horrible. Now she has the love and security of a loving family...she is one lucky little girl.
 
trini said:
Question...does Claire show fear of any stick like object (broom handles, shovel handles, etc) or was this episode triggered by the fact that Theresa had the rod held up high in her hand for a moment?
Click to expand...

Trini that's a great question. Answer is no. She doesn't react like that to other stick like items. Movement in close proximity to her seems to spark a reaction, but I'm thinking that when Theresa's hand came up as high as her shoulder when the rod/bobbin brace popped out is when this trigger went off.
We're just finding new pieces of evidence of her past. We must remind ourselves on a regular basis she's only known us for three months. EVERYTHING is new for this girl. Even living in somebody's house versus living as a barn breeder is all new for her. NONE of this is normal.
 
Funny how the rescues will unknowingly give us glimpses of their past.

My rescue Jonesie, who is a very confident gal most of the time, will still cower and roll over on her back when I approach her. I have no doubt that she was hit before she was rescued in a state ordered raid on a hoarder.
 
My first rescue, Quasar, an Aussie, came to me when he was about 2. It took a month for his long bob of a tail to start sticking up. We had no clue it could stick up even. Poor boy. The week after his adoption, I took him with me to classroom prep day and I picked up a yardstick. The dog not only cowered but peed on himself. I put it quickly into a nearby cabinet, sat on the floor, hugged the dog, and wept. I promised him that nothing or no one would ever hurt him while I had breath in my body.
 
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