09/02/2026
Today, we had the opportunity to try something a little different for Stanley. 🤍
We met with Erin from The Sunflower House for an animal communication session, with one goal in mind: to better understand Stanley and see if there is anything more we can do to help him as we navigate what comes next.
Animal communication sessions are meant to create space to listen differently—to explore an animal’s preferences, fears, needs, and experiences in ways we may not always recognize through behavior alone. And today, Stanley had quite a bit to say.
Some of what he shared gave us incredibly helpful insight into the kind of environment that makes him feel safest.
Stanley expressed that he feels most comfortable in smaller, more enclosed spaces with dim lighting, and he specifically requested a white noise machine. He also shared that quick, sudden movements can be extremely overwhelming for him—something as simple as a person standing up from the couch very quickly can make him feel uneasy.
He expressed that children, because they can naturally be quick-moving and unpredictable, are particularly overwhelming for him. When it comes to other animals, Stanley indicated that his ideal home would likely be one where he is the only pet, although he may be comfortable sharing his space with an older, slower, calm dog.
All of that information gives us a much clearer picture of what we should be looking for in a foster or adoptive home for Stanley—and how we can help set both Stanley and that person up for success.
But there was another part of the session that had us tearing up.
Stanley shared some of his perspective on his past and the people who have come and gone throughout his life. He expressed that, from his perspective, we have been the only people he has truly felt safe with—and that the idea of going somewhere else frightened him because he was afraid that finding another home meant losing us.
That gave us the opportunity to communicate something to him that we desperately wished we could have explained before.
We were able to reassure Stanley that we aren't trying to send him away or abandon him. We explained what fostering and adoption mean, and that our goal has always been to help him find his very own home—a quiet, safe place where he can have people forever who are his. People who will learn him, love him, understand his boundaries, and give him the security he has been searching for.
And after that reassurance, his perspective seemed to shift.
What had initially come through as fear surrounding another transition became a newfound excitement about the possibility of having his own people and his own place. 🥹
That may have been the most meaningful part of the entire session for us.
There were so many other little pieces of insight throughout our conversation that we're going to begin incorporating into Stanley's life, both to make him more comfortable now and to help us better understand what the right home for him needs to look like.
We cannot thank Erin enough for spending this time with Stanley and with us today. The compassion and insight she brought to this session gave us another way to look at a dog whose story has never been simple. 🌻🤍
Stanley still has a complicated journey ahead of him, and we don't pretend that one session changes that. But when you're advocating for an animal like Stanley, sometimes another piece of information—another opportunity to understand the world from his perspective—can be incredibly valuable.
Today gave us another piece of Stanley's puzzle.
And perhaps most importantly, we hope Stanley came away from today understanding something, too:
We're not trying to find somewhere for him to go. We're trying to find the place where he finally gets to belong. 🤍🐾
