From Fear to Love: Dog Traumatized by Humans Learns to Trust Again

Banana is a mixed-breed dog who came into the life of his owner, Rafaella Naressi, in September of last year. He was deeply traumatized and didn’t want any contact — let alone accept affection. It took six months of persistence and love from Rafaella to gain his trust and reveal his true personality — kind and sweet.

The video of this sweet transformation was shared on the @jubi.nanico profile — an account dedicated to the daily life of Rafa and her two dogs, Banana and Júpiter — on April 27th.

In the video, you can clearly see how aggressive Banana was when Rafa approached him. Even when she offered him food, he stayed curled up against the wall, terrified. No one knows what happened to him to make him that way.

Luckily for Banana, he found someone willing to help him come out of his shell.

Rafaella is a dog trainer who focuses on positive reinforcement. She works both online and in person in the city of São Paulo. With love and patience, she won over his heart — and today, he’s all love and adores getting affection.

In an interview with Amo Meu Pet (our Brazilian pet news website), Rafa shared that she saw an online ad stating that his previous owner was giving him away because he couldn’t afford to buy food. Moved by it, the trainer decided to adopt him. The little one was deeply traumatized by humans. Rafa said she doesn’t know anything about his past.

“In order to gain his trust, we did short training sessions using positive reinforcement methods,” she said. “I always let him approach me whenever he wanted, and I rewarded him each time he took a step closer,”

Rafaella explained that she never invaded Banana’s space, believing it would harm his trust in her. And because of that, the best happened! Banana finally surrendered to his human and became very attached to her.

“I gave him lots of love, treats, and warm beds,” she said. “I believe watching the bond between me and Júpiter, my other dog, helped a lot. He really likes Júpiter and imitates him a lot.”

Rafaella adds:

“Today, he accepts affection and even asks for it constantly! We still have more progress to make: we are now working on getting him used to being picked up, and we’ve also started taking him on walks,because he wouldn’t leave the house until recently. Yesterday, I managed to put a leash on him for the first time!”

The video has reached over 1.6 million views! Rafa says, “It’s so nice to see how many people have followed our journey from the day he arrived until now, and how many are rooting for his progress!”

In addition to the million views, the video received 231,000 likes and thousands of loving comments.

“I’ve been here since the beginning. Congratulations, lady, I love Banana Nanico,” wrote one TikToker.

“May the universe give you back plenty,” wished another.

“Hey lady, thank you for your patience, care, and love. He deserves so much and surely makes you very happy,” commented a third.

Check it out:

It’s so beautiful to see!

To follow Rafa and her pets, click here for Instagram and here for TikTok.

What is positive training?

According to the American Kennel Club (AKC) — one of the largest purebred dog registries in the world — positive training is an approach based on positive reinforcement and gentle techniques. Instead of punishing unwanted behaviors, it focuses on rewarding and reinforcing desired ones.

It uses positive stimuli, such as treats and praise, to encourage the animal to repeat good behaviors. It’s an ethical approach that strengthens the bond between owner and pet, promoting learning and well-being.