|
Molly had her trust in humans broken. Trust issues are a problem with most rescues, but can sometimes be a problem with dogs we've lived with from puppyhood. We can break the trust with any dog just by using the wrong training methods, misreading the dog, or having a really bad day at the wrong time of the dog's emotional growth. Molly was a rescue who had a really bad start in life. Hug therapy became a big part of her rehabilitation while she was in rescue and also in her adopted home. As you can see from the photo, Molly is enjoying her life. Hug therapy helped give her that life. I first got interested in hug therapy when I saw a program on PBS. The program showed hug therapy as a way to help children from all types of abusive situations. Something about holding onto these children when they didn't want to be held broke through so many emotional barriers these children had built. The children kicked, screamed, threw themselves about, and tried to bite the adults holding onto them. The adults didn't let go no matter what. They held on with hugging, not restraining. The results were amazing. The children did become more trusting and loving. Of course, the hug therapy didn't solve every problem, but it did seem to give the children a more stable emotional base to survive and thrive from. I began experimenting with the technique for the dogs in my rescue. The following sections will show step-by-step the hug therapy adaptations I've developed for dogs. Our dogs will respond to it in many different ways. It took Molly two months of hug therapy fifteen minutes a day, three times a day before we got to a point where she was comfortable and enjoyed it. It took us two weeks to get from holding her to turning her belly-up. Other dogs figure it out and accept the whole process within a week. In my opinion, the longer it takes for a dog to enjoy this therapy, the more that dog really needs it in order to be comfortable with getting out and about in the world. My thanks to the people who let me "borrow" their dogs for the following photos and my thanks to the dogs themselves for being such good sports about helping with the demonstrations: Lisa Ochoa and her dogs, Nell & Ollie; Jane E. Brugger and her dog, Meg (and thanks for letting us do the photo session at her farm); Mike Spangler and Megan; Nikki McWilliams and Raspberry; thanks to Pat Reynolds for taking the photos; thanks to Davida Learned for originally making the hug therapy website possible; thanks to Sara Johnson-Bewley for scanning photos and designing this page; thanks to Rob Kleidman for being my writing inspiration; thanks to my dogs and all my rescue "babies" for teaching me how to do hug therapy. Please look at all the photos and read the entire text before embarking on hug therapy with your dog. It's important to understand the whole concept. Web Design by Hill Shepherd This site hosted by NetPets. Check them out!This site sponsored by the Border Collie Society of America.
|
