As the dog seems alright with the contact, Nel brings her knees together and shifts forward to kneel on her shoes to sit. Hand staying in one spot until the dog stops swaying so much, she then slowly starts to pet the dog with her hand, smoothing down his fur in longer and longer strokes that work over his shoulders then up towards his head between his ears. Each pass of her hand ends a good centimeter away from the base of his tail.

"Maybe you need to lie down? Oh um... Down?" Right. Dogs don't talk, but maybe this one is trained to that command to lie down.