“Shh, shh, shh,” she shushed him as she ran her hand down over his head. She placed the thunder jacket on his back and tried to connect it around his chest and belly but the position he was in made it impossible.
She’d just managed to get her arms around his chest when there was another flash and booming crack. This time when Thor yelped it sounded like a dying animal.
“Okay, it’s okay. You’re okay, sweet boy.”
She heard footsteps behind her, and she turned to see Josh standing in the entrance of the kennel.
Audrey held out her hand The Supremes stop-in-the-name-of-love style. “Don’t come in, he’s scared of men.”
Instead of entering Josh just crouched down so he was closer to Thor’s level and spoke in calming, soothing tone. “It’s okay, big guy. You’re okay. It’s just a little thunder. Nothing to worry about.”
Audrey turned back and saw that Thor was sniffing the air toward Josh. His eyes didn’t appear to be as wild and panicked, it’s like his brain had switched to being curious about Josh.
“Yeah, that’s a good boy.” Josh reached out his hand making his wrist limp and Thor stretched his neck to sniff him.
After a few minutes Josh shuffled slightly on his feet and then lowered onto his butt so his back was leaning against the cement block of the kennel wall. He was no longer facing Thor head on; he now had his side to him. As soon as Josh changed positions Thor took a tentative step in his direction.
Audrey couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Thor wasn’t cowering, or crying, or yelping. He was still shaking but he didn’t seem terrified.
Josh remained perfectly still, just speaking in that same soothing, low, calming voice and within ten minutes Thor had crawled onto his lap, curled up, and had fallen asleep as Josh petted his head.
“His name is Thor and he’s afraid of thunder?” Josh asked in a teasing tone once Thor was snoring peacefully.
Audrey honestly could not believe what had just happened. If she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes she wouldn’t have. “How did you do that?”
“I worked with bomb sniffing dogs when I was in Beirut. Dogs respond to energy. You just have to stay calm and almost telepathically tell them that they are safe and that everything is okay.”
The left side of Audrey’s lip curled as she let out a tiny huff of air. She knew all of that and had been trying to put it into practice, but she’d failed miserably. “You make it sound so easy.”
Josh’s shoulder lifted in a tiny shrug. “It is once you learn how to stay in a calm and authoritative state. It works with humans sometimes, too.”
It sure as hell worked on Audrey. She wanted nothing more than to crawl up into Josh’s lap, curl up in a ball, and fall asleep as he stroked her hair. But right now, that position was occupied.