A pet owner has shared footage of the sight that greeted her when she decided to check-in on her rescue dog at daycare.
Nicole Williams from Seattle, Washington, had followers to her TikTok @PrincessPixieWixie in tears after sharing a clip of her “introvert” pup Pixie at doggy day care in December 2024.
“It was definitely heartbreaking to see her looking lonely, but reassuring to know that she was somewhere safe and in less distress than she would have been if she was home alone,” Williams told Newsweek.
She adopted Pixie from Forever Home Dog Rescue, just outside of Seattle, about a year ago. Pixie is a very different dog now to the one Williams took home that day.
“When we first adopted her, she had to go to day care because she had pretty severe separation anxiety and would bark for hours on end whenever she had to be home alone, which was not often since I work from home,” Williams said.
When Williams decided to check in via the live video feed her doggy day-care offers, she immediately noticed Pixie off in the corner away from the rest of the pups.
Some of the nervousness displayed by Pixie in the video could be to do with an experience from her previous life before she was adopted. “Unfortunately, we don’t know much about her life before we adopted her, only that she came from an overcrowded shelter in California,” Williams said.
But, while there was something sad about seeing her all alone in the clip, to Williams it just made her love Pixie even more; she is a true introvert. “It’s pretty funny to me just how awkward she is by nature, she is always cracking me up with her quirky mannerisms like sitting in the corner like that,” Williams said.
Many of those watching on TikTok expressed sympathy for Pixie’s plight. There were tears, but many found it relatable. “I’m sad for her,” one wrote.
“This is so sad and so cute at the same time,” another commented.
Williams shared the clip, in part, to show how far Pixie has come since then. “She’s a pretty awkward and anxious girlie, but she has come a long way in building confidence since I adopted her,” she said.
“With lots of training, she’s gotten much better with the separation anxiety and doesn’t have to go to day care much any more!” Williams added.
Dog training is an important component of canine companionship, but everyone has different approaches.
A 2020 study published in the journal PLOS One found dogs trained using methods involving punishment experienced higher levels of stress compared to canines trained using reward-based methods.
As part of the experiment, 92 dogs were split into groups, with one-third trained using aversive methods, while another third used reward methods, and the other group combined the two.
Stress levels were monitored by researchers taking saliva samples from the dogs to measure the stress-related hormone cortisol and through the review of footage from the training sessions.
The results indicated aversive methods had a negative impact on canines and should be avoided where possible.
Williams added that the key to her success was the fact she “dedicated” herself to training Pixie to overcome her issues. “Hiring a trainer early on was hugely helpful in building my own confidence in helping Pixie build hers.” she said.
“I worked on her separation anxiety training every single day for months and, while it meant I had to put some of my social life on the back burner for awhile, it was so worth the work and the wait in the end to see the amazing little dog she blossomed into.”
Today, Pixie loves all the things you would associate with a happy, confident dog, including cuddles, rolling around in the grass and eating food she shouldn’t.
Doggy day care, meanwhile, is a thing of the past. “She used to bark and cry nonstop when we’d leave her home alone, and now she will just sleep or hang out quietly,” Williams said. “She’s also gotten a bit braver with hanging out with other dogs, though she still prefers her people.”
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