Ok, picture yourself trying to approach a scared critter such as a stray cat or a deer, etc. All you want to do it help it - pet it, feed it, rescue it, etc. But you know if you take a step toward it, if you look too threatening, it will scoot further away or ball up if it's trapped (or maybe even lash out at you), or it will bolt and run. YOU may know that you're not a threat, but IT doesn't.
Same principle here. With the critter, the best way to coax it is to put the food down beside you, a little distance away and then read a book or do some other activity that takes the pressure of your interest off the target. When that happens, you open the door for the critter to gradually approach to investigate what you've offered.
This is a whole lot easier on both you and the critter than provoking full flight through the underbrush, ending with a grab and tackle maneuver that is pretty much guaranteed to leave both of you bleeding.
I fully believe that there are some instincts at play here, even for us walking-upright, tool-using critters. Fight, fight or play dead - that's what we do when we're in survival mode. For the WAS, it's fight, leave or total shut down. So to get to any sort of good place, we have to get the other person out of survival mode.
Does that help?
Last edited by Dia; 07/24/0905:38 PM.
The trouble with having an open mind is that people put things in it.
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