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STEP 19 STEP 20 If the dog scratches you, go to Step 27 (opening your arms). Then immediately disinfect the scrapes or scratches. (I didn't do this once and got a terrible infection.) STEP 21 STEP 22 Brace your legs to hold most of the dog's weight. If your legs aren't strong enough, sit on the floor in a position comfortable for you and the dog. Hold onto the dog's collar to prevent the dog's head from falling sideway off your legs. When the dog shows some sign of position acceptance, gently bring the dog back into your lap. STEP 23
STEP 25
STEP 26
STEP 27
STEP 28 STEP 29
STEP 30 Do a few minutes of a quick hug therapy run-through, only this time don't go to Step 27 (opening your arms). Instead, hold onto the dog and stand up. You're right---go practice with that bag of dog food first! Once the dog is comfortable with the transfer to a new person, I use Steps 30 thru 34 in different chairs, different environments, and with a variety of people. When I'm using hug therapy to help a dog respect children, I'll first get the dog very comfortable with every hug therapy step. I'll also be using "Dog Logic" (see Step 33) to train the dog. Then I'll have children help with training sessions, under adult supervision. Start with older children first, and, as the dog becomes responsive, I'll work with younger and younger children until the dog is ready to work with toddlers. The timing to add hug therapy into the training format depends on the dog and the children involved. (I prefer to pay children who are already into dog training than to asking for help from inexperienced relatives or neighborhood children.) STEP 31
STEP 32 Place one hand flat on the dog's chest. Gently massage the dog's legs or toes to help relax the dog. Don't move away until the dog is accepting the new situation. If the dog is even hinting at starting a "fight" or "flee" reaction, ask the new person to open their arms and you help the dog get off their lap. Try the transfer another day with an extremely competent dog person who can read dogs well enough to help the dog safely through this experience. We don't want any person or dog injured during the hug therapy process!! STEP 33 STEP 34 Lisa's not wearing protective clothing. If Ollie starts struggling, Lisa's legs, arms, and shoulders will be scratched and bruised. I should have asked Lisa to remove her sunglasses. Ollie can't "read" her eyes, which is especially crucial for the herding breeds. In this particular case, it isn't a problem because Ollie is Lisa's companion. He already trusts her. If I'd transferred Ollie to a new person who was really a stranger, the sunglasses would be a major potential problem. Scroll back to Step 33. Notice how Nell is looking at Ollie? Ollie is in a submissive position. Worse yet, he's got Lisa's attention! If I don't hold Nell back, she will jump on top of Ollie. The "jealous" dog wants possession of the person in the chair, even when they don't belong to the person in the chair. When the jealous dog lands on top of the dog on your lap, he'll leap off or fight. I don't know why this particular set-up is such an alluring invitation, but it is. I've seen small children who can't resist this set-up either. So I should have created a better environment before Lisa and I started the transfer. Scroll back to Step 33. Notice the positions of Lisa's and Ollie's faces. Scroll through some of the other photos. Look at the positions of my face and the dogs' faces. I'm only looking at them when they aren't looking directly at me. Lisa and Ollie are in a challenge situation, so I ask Lisa to look at something else. This changes the direction of her gaze and eliminates the challenge situation. (It's similar to when two dogs meet for the first time. They may both go still and stare. One moves and the other reacts. So if the first dog growls, the second dog may fight. If the first dog play bows, the second dog may play. If the first dog looks away, the second dog is now top dog.) If at any time during hug therapy, you feel the dog begin a challenge situation, look away from the dog, open your arms, stand up so the dog loses balance and power, and you are then in a position to defend yourself. Then go call a trainer for help! I make sure I don't go still and stare so there's no challenge set-up. If I make a mistake and create a challenge, I slowly turn my head away to tell the dog I am no threat. If I've made a huge mistake by not turning my head before the dog makes a decision to fight, I stand up and walk away to put my attention on something else. (To be obvious that I've withdrawn my attention, I'll go wash dishes if I'm in the house or I'll go pull weeds if I'm outdoors.) Now you're worried that you've just been submissive to your dog when everyone says you should always be alpha and/or dominant. Well, the goal of hug therapy is trust. I want to learn how to out-brain a dog, not out-brawn him. Once I've got a dog's trust, I will use Joel McMains' book, "Dog Logic, Companion Obedience" to show the dog I am also a good leader. If you have any questions or comments about hug therapy, please contact l-ochoa@uiuc.edu |
We have to work through these stages, but try to read
your dog's eyes to figure out how fast or slow to go; we don't want
to create total panic. Megan isn't showing total panic. Hug therapy
cures some types of emotional distresses, but the struggle is part of
the cure. If we quit exactly when the dog protests and never try hug
therapy again, we reinforce the dog's fears, distrusts, or bossiness
to actually make the original problems much worse.
I'm moving my head out of the way to protect myself,
but I'm still embracing the dog. Megan doesn't care if she hurts me,
but I must continue to hold her without harming her. That means I must
not grab a foot too hard or press my fingers too deep into her. I can
put my arm over her front legs and put steady pressure to lower her
legs from my face.
Don't start this next section until the dog is comfortable
with: being lifted from both sides, being carried, and being embraced
from both sides. It is important to do hug therapy from both sides.
I've seen two dogs who were worked only from their people's strong sides.
Both dogs panicked when moved to the other side. Dogs can be left-sided
or right-sided like we are left-handed or right-handed. Doing hug therapy
from both sides gives the dog a more confident balance.
This is the most difficult step for the dog to accept
and may take weeks to attain this level of trust. Practice moving the
dog from your lap to your legs by using the bag of dog food first. This
step is an excellent exercise for puppies to learn how to cope with
stress. Stress and de-stress is vital for a puppy's competent emotional
growth. (For additional information about puppies, read Bruce Fogle's
book, "The Dog's Mind".)
opening your arms).
STEP 24
My legs are now holding Meg's weight. I'm holding her
collar to keep her head nesting on my legs. My arms are swaddling her
sides. I'm gently holding Meg's stiffest, most tense leg. This secure
embrace is helping Meg relax into slowly trusting that I will not drop
her!
Meg is brought back on my lap and given time to relax.
Notice her face. She knows she succeeded at a difficult task. This sense
of accomplishment increases the dog's over-all confidence.
Meg is showing the normal response of the inexperienced
hug therapy dog. She'll run about six to ten feet away from me, stop,
turn and look at me, and try to figure out what just happend. Then she'll
trot off and go bathroom. If you're doing hug therapy indoors (which
is where I normally begin), be sure to take the dog outside. The stress
of the therapy makes the inexperienced dogs desperate to bathroom.
Nell understands the concepts of hug therapy. This
reaction to opening my arms is what I'm aiming for. Nell was a puppy-mill
breeding dog for five years. She lived a miserable existence for those
five years. But the work Lisa Ochoa did to help this dog thrive made
it possible for Nell to accept hug therapy from someone she's rarely
met.
And the little darling is asking for more attention!
Compare Nell's kiss to Megan's in Step 17. Megan is worried and is trying
to make me forgive and forget. Nell's kiss is on the side of my face,
the same as she would do for a cherished pack member during a time of
quiet grooming and bonding.
I want my dogs to approach the world with trust, hope,
and joy. To help accomplish this, part of hug therapy is the transfer
to another person. Do the transfer only after the dog is readily accepting
hug therapy from you. (The new person should study this website before
working with your dog. Be sure the new person is comfortable going through
this procedure, in other words, don't pressure anyone into assisting
you.)
When you've stepped away from the chair, have the new
person (here Lisa is our demonstrator) get settled into the chair. The
new person must use the same chair you've been using for hug therapy.
The chair is associated with hug therapy in the dog's mind, which helps
the dog succeed in this new section of loss of body control.
Help settle the dog into the new person's arms. Work
from your strongest side, not the new person's, since you're the one
needing to safely control the dog's body. Here's another chance to practice
with that bag of dog food!
Ollie is relaxed, but if we don't correct two problems,
we're headed for a nasty end to our hug therapy session. Can you see
the two major problems in this photo? We also have two minor problems
in this set-up. Look for them, also. Take a couple of minutes to jot
down your thoughts before scrolling to Step 34. And if you discover
more than four problems, please send your observations to the email
address at the bottom of this website. Put "Step 33" in your
subject title.
Ollie isn't totally relaxed yet, but we did remove
the major potential problem areas. Scroll back and forth to the photos
of Steps 33 and 34 as I explain what happened. Let's look at the minor
problems first.