Teaming With Your Therapy Dog

Ann R. Howie

Description

Today's therapy-dog handlers recognize the need to be teammates with their dogs. Teaming with one's dog involves unobtrusively providing physical and emotional support as well as respectful guidance in what to do. Being a teammate requires attention to our own behavior, not just our dogs. This book reminds all handlers that being conscious of what we do with our dogs helps them do their best work, and also can increase the effectiveness of our visits.

Teaming with Your Therapy Dog teaches the STEPs of Teamwork and how those STEPs fit with the Therapy Dogs Bill of Rights. These general principles free handlers to apply them in their own way to their therapy dogs individual personality and work, and to everyday life at home! As the author writes, "The book explores a way of being conscious of what you do with and to your therapy dog to support him in his work. It describes functional principles of behavior you can learn and use immediately, either together as a package or independently." Using an exciting new methodology, the author guides readers to deepen their relationship with their dogs by acting consciously and respectfully.

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

The Therapy Dog’s Bill of Rights

Introduction

1 The Need for Different Ways of Handling

2 The Foundation: Be Fully Present

3 Behavior Is Information

4 Maintain Close Proximity to Your Dog

5 Keep Your Eyes on Your Dog

6 Stay in Touch with Your Dog

7 Speak Conversationally

8 The Therapy Dog’s Bill of Rights

9 Putting It All Together

Appendix A Dog Behavior Checklist

Appendix B Some Terrific Resources

Sujets

• Veterinary Medicine
• Medical
• Médecine

Informations

• Publié par: Purdue University Press
• Date de parution: 15 avril 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781612493886
• Langue: English

Extrait

Teaming
WITH YOUR
Therapy Dog
New Directions in the Human-Animal Bond
Alan M. Beck and Marguerite E. O’Haire, Series Editors
Teaming
WITH YOUR
Therapy Dog
Ann R. Howie, LICSW, ACSW
Purdue University Press, West Lafayette, Indiana
Copyright 2015 by Ann R. Howie. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Howie, Ann R., 1955– , author.
Teaming with your therapy dog / Ann R. Howie.
    p. ; cm. — (New directions in the human-animal bond)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-55753-703-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-61249-387-9 (ePDF) — ISBN 978-1-61249-388-6 (ePub)
I. Title. II. Series: New directions in the human-animal bond.
[DNLM: 1. Animal Assisted Therapy. 2. Bonding, Human-Pet. 3. Dogs — psychology. WB 460]
SF428.73
636.7′0886 — dc23
2014040754
Illustrations by Dakota Houseknecht
Graphics by Andrea Leigh Ptak
Cover design by Heidi Branham
Book design and production by Kelley Kimm
STEPs of Teamwork is a registered trademark of Ann R. Howie
DEDICATION
To Gusto, my gladiator of love and joy.
And to all the animals who have and will grace my life.
I am in awe of you.
“As to methods there may be a million and then some, but principles are few.
The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods.
The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble.”
— R ALPH W ALDO E MERSON
“The soul is the same in all living creatures, although the body of each is different.”
— H IPPOCRATES
CONTENTS
FOREWORD
PREFACE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THE THERAPY DOG’S BILL OF RIGHTS
INTRODUCTION
1 The Need for Different Ways of Handling
2 The Foundation: Be Fully Present
3 Behavior Is Information
4 Maintain Close Proximity to Your Dog
5 Keep Your Eyes on Your Dog
6 Stay in Touch with Your Dog
7 Speak Conversationally
8 The Therapy Dog’s Bill of Rights
9 Putting It All Together
APPENDIX A    Dog Behavior Checklist
APPENDIX B    Some Terrific Resources
FOREWORD
D im eyes growing bright and alert at the sight of a dog entering the room. Pain momentarily forgotten, replaced by joy in an animal’s presence. The laughter called forth by a dog doing her favorite tricks. A lap once again filled with the familiar, comforting weight of a dog. Hands reaching forward to touch soft fur. Indescribable smiles on faces that just moments before were empty, disengaged, lost, lonely. These are just a few of the many miracles of animal-assisted therapy (AAT).
AAT has the potential for affecting people on every level — physical, mental, and emotional. Whether triggering memories or aiding in teaching new skills, AAT can send powerful ripples into the pond of life. And therapy dogs can touch the lives of those beyond the immediate client: Family, friends, and facility staff also may benefit from their interactions with these canine ambassadors of comfort.
But a dog is not a stone. We cannot just throw our dogs into the pond of life, no matter how badly we want to help our fellow humans. We can learn how to ask our dogs if they too are interested in this important work. We can discover in what ways they wish to do this work. We can become supportive, proactive, and present team members for our dogs.
In Teaming with Your Therapy Dog , Ann Howie has crafted a brilliant guide for anyone interested in AAT. Although her focus is specifically on therapy dogs, the philosophy that informs every aspect of her approach is easily applied to any species. Whether one is working with dogs, horses, goats, cows, or nearly any other species, the guidelines that Howie has penned will inform the ethical and humane provision of AAT services across a range of settings. In addition to being a valuable resource for those working with their dogs in volunteer settings, this book is an important read for psychologists, social workers, and others in the mental health field and a must-read gem for anyone involved in any way with AAT.
Being fully present is the foundation of Howie’s philosophy. From there she shows readers how to use her STEPs of Teamwork to create a thoughtful and humane approach to the important work of AAT. Each step is clearly defined, explained, and illustrated with humor, real-life examples, and clear writing. Howie’s is an honest voice of experience, and she shares her hard-learned lessons with humility and candor.
Above all, Howie demonstrates on many levels what it means to be an advocate for the therapy animals. This lies at the heart of our own Reflected Relationship approach, in which animals are considered not just mirrors for the clients or tools to achieve a given therapeutic goal, but reflections of the relationship between the animal and the client. When the animal partner is a therapy dog, there is also the reflection of the relationship between the animal and the handler. Howie presents numerous practical tips for creating and maintaining a respectful, teamwork-based relationship between handler and dog — a strong and safe place from which much can be given to others.
Teaming with Your Therapy Dog is a significant contribution to the AAT literature. In helping us learn to become aware, compassionate, and empathetic handlers for our dogs, Howie also helps us learn to become our best selves. The ripples of AAT spread deep and wide — including right up the leash to us. We are sure readers will share our gratitude for Ann Howie’s wonderful work.
Suzanne Clothier, Trainer and Author Relationship Centered Training
Kirby L. Wycoff, PsyD, Assistant Professor Worcester State University
Co-founders, The Reflected Relationship ( www.thereflectedrelationship.org )
PREFACE
I have had the great fortune to work professionally with animals and people since 1986. I had first-hand experience of the power of human-animal connections growing up on an Idaho farm. Much later, as I was finishing my master’s degree in social work at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas, I read a newspaper article about how the Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation in Dallas was incorporating animal-assisted interactions (AAI) to help patients reach their goals in physical, occupational, and speech therapies. I was astounded that administrators were allowing animals to work in a hospital. My heart immediately remembered my childhood experiences, and I decided those administrators were brilliant. I began volunteering at Baylor under the guidance of inspired program founder Shari Bernard-Curran. Without her, I would not have developed such a solid foundation in this work.
I experienced AAI as a way to reach otherwise-unreachable clients. In my youthful enthusiasm, I became a kind of AAI missionary in Fort Worth, Texas, and then in Olympia, Washington. After moving to Olympia, I founded and coordinated the first hospital-based AAI program in Washington, a program that remains vital today.
I also worked with an emerging organization called Delta Society, now known internationally as Pet Partners. I was a member of the national task force that developed Standards of Practice for Animal-Assisted Activities and Therapy , and my Great Dane/Boxer cross, Falstaff, and Shetland Sheepdog, Qui (pronounced “key”), and I were selected as Delta’s first registered Pet Partners. As Delta’s animal-assisted therapy director and later as a consultant, I wrote Pet Partners educational materials and helped the organization identify the crucial role handlers play in AAI.
To expand my knowledge base, I completed instruction as a dog trainer and became a Level 1 TAGteach instructor. I remain a member of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers. As a dog trainer, I celebrate people and dogs, helping people enhance their bond with their dogs and listen to what their dogs are saying in return. My job is to help people communicate effectively with their dogs and work with them as a team.
In my private practice as a mental health counselor, I provide animal-assisted therapy with my dogs when that offers the greatest potential to help clients reach their goals in therapy. In 2006 I received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Delta Society (now known as Pet Partners). In my business, Human-Animal Solutions, LLC, I have written and contributed to numerous texts on AAI, and I am invited internationally to consult and train about all aspects of AAI.
I think I have the best job in the world.
Early in my career something happened that changed my life forever: My therapy dog, Qui, got sick. Our veterinarian couldn’t diagnose any specific disease, but he estimated that she had only about three months to live. Stunned, I retired her from her work and devoted time with her for fun things: walks in the woods, cuddling, play. Amazingly, by stopping work and reducing her stress level, she lived for three more healthy, fun-filled years!
I’m embarrassed to confess that it took my dog almost dying for me to realize that AAI is not always fun for the dog. At the time I didn’t know enough about canine behavior to read the messages she was giving me. But I learned quickly, and I remain sensitized to the stress we place on our precious dogs through their work in AAI.
As a result of Qui’s illness, my missionary zeal for AAI changed direction. I converted to raising handlers’ consciousness about their dogs’ stress.