It's all about choice : therapeutic touch and handling of our dogs.
This short extract is part of a longer 4 minute video of easy, happy massage of Watson.
The essence of this soothing process is that I invite Watson in to be handled. It's her choice and if she isn't in the mood, that's fine.
Watson bounces in and I work my way smoothly around joints and muscle and ears and neck. Then I stop to see if she wants to continue - she can leave at any time - she wants to continue, and so I carry on and stop again and so on. Once she's had enough, (after 4 minutes), she goes off to her bed, interacted briefly with her antler chew, then rested.
Massage is a brilliant connector, is soothing, induces ease, makes touch consensual, allows us to assess our dogs for pain or lumps and bumps, can assist the release of lactic acid build-up in tissue, can assist in settling a frazzled central nervous system, gives my dog some sense of where she starts and where she stops, prepares our dog for more clinical husbandry events, can serve to reinforce all of our other efforts around the reduction of arousal or fear in our dogs.
There are practical applications too: I can use my hands to mimic the soft pressure of where a harness would sit, or where future, necessary lifting pressure would be applied. I can think about vet visits, gentle collar or harness holds, drying cold wet feet, the resting of my hand on her shoulder to provide information in new environments, inspecting my dog for ticks, smoothing my hands over her head for eye and ear inspection and the invaluable use of touch as a major reinforcer for my dog offering great behaviours.
By allowing our dogs to have choice over how they are handled, where, when and by whom, we build trust and support confidence while all the time, providing a route towards skill accumulation. It does away with the notions we have that somehow our dogs should just tolerate being moved carelessly by us, or that they automatically enjoy being hugged, or that they're happy being handled for whatever reason despite not being prepared by us to enjoy it. Taught to children, this approach allows them to express affection towards their dog in a manner the dog enjoys.
I work with many dogs where touch sensitivity has emerged suddenly or over time and that emotion very often sits alongside movement sensitivity, sound sensitivity, fear of being alone, fear of being outdoors and all of the behaviours arising from mammoth over arousal. We understand how to work with dogs experiencing anxiety, caution, fear and concern arising from youth, inexperience, tricky backgrounds and patchy or difficult socialisation learning. As humans, we can always learn how to teach our dogs to be less worried about things and to enjoy happier lives - we then worry less and can enjoy happier lives. It's powerful.
Have fun training, Helen
