It was a great surprise to me to learn how many of the refugee children are terrified of dogs. Many have never seen dogs as pets, and the urban dogs they see are often aggressive and unfriendly, some even dangerous. When they first saw Red, many of these children ran and hid from him.

For many of these children, the dogs they grew up with were guard dogs from militias and soldiers, the idea of a family pet was almost unheard of. They saw dogs as dangerous or menacing. Visiting Ed and Carol Gulleys farm is a powerful antidote.

Ali and I worked with the children to  and showed them how to approach a dog and learn to trust them.  Red certainly melted some ice.

The Gulleys have four big Aussies, great farm dogs, and they came running out barking, as farm dogs are supposed to do. Some of the kids backed up and moved away, but the dogs were patient and friendly, and in a half -hour, the kids were all over them.

it is so important for them to see animals, they are so healing and engaging for them, Ed Gulley’s farm is a perfect laboratory for kids who are anxious about animals, before they left, they saw a new-born calf, hugged dogs, scratched the ears of six month old cow.

Ed and Carol know how to fascinate children and engage them. The big boxes of ice cream at the end of the visit didn’t hurt either.