Brandy and Val

Today was our first pet therapy session of December.  We work with autistic/cognitively challenged children in elementary through high school classes.  Some are withdrawn and uncommunicative, some think they’re reaching out to pet the dogs but actually have only moved their hands a few inches away from their bodies.  Our missions are to foster interaction and trust!  Lots of times we succeed and that gives us all great feelings of accomplishments.

Brandy and  I work with the older kids and in today’s session we worked on teaching them how to introduce themselves to dogs–friendly or otherwise.  Safety is always a concern when approaching unknown animals but is especially important for both the person and the pet when the individual is disabled in some way.  Animals sense when things aren’t “normal” as they know it and they, too, need to adapt to a different surrounding or personality. Children (and adults!)  need to understand that animals, like people, want an introduction before a friendship is initiated.  So, here are 4 key points that we go over that everyone can benefit from:

• Always ask the dog’s guardian for permission to pet.  Most animals get scared of an all-out assault by an unknown person, especially if that person is running towards him/her and making all sorts of noises and hand movements.  We all want our personal space respected until invited in!
• Gently put out a hand for the dog to sniff.  Dogs first react and respond through their sense of smell.  Allow the pup to get a whiff of a hand and make peace with it!
• Petting may then begin! Once the pup has accepted your smell, approach petting him/her from the side.  Animals often become tense or fearful if they see an arm get raised above and over their heads or if one comes at their chest.   Side petting is the best first approach and from there, either ask the guardian  what else the dog likes or if you can move on to a belly rub or head rub.   Different animals like different things.  Brandy loves her ears rubbed because they are SO soft but I don’t advise first doing that unless given the ok or you are sure that the animal is comfortable with you and that usually takes several minutes of uninterrupted attention.  Dogs who roll on their back or sides are usually inviting you to rub their bellies but if in doubt, ASK! Good judgement is key.  Of course, wagging tails are always a good sign.
• Act like a tree.   What happens if a strange dogs runs up to you and you are scared or don’t want to make contact.   No matter that the pooch may be friendly or not, the rule of thumb is to ACT LIKE A TREE.  Stand still, arms crossed over chest and look at the sky.  You become boring to the pup and he/she’ll probably sniff you and then move on.  (Hopefully, he won’t really think you’re a tree an lift a leg!)

It’s amazing to see how positively most of these kids interact with us.  So far, almost every one understands what we are doing and almost every one interacts with both me and Brandy.   The point is, they’re learning, they’re trusting, many smile and laugh and we all feel they’re progressing.  Yes, one or two remain afraid but, hopefully with time, their participation will evolve.  Today’s most gratifying achievement was coaxing a severely withdrawn middle-school boy from his corner, getting him seated in the group circle, having him become an active FOB (Friend of Brandy) AND,  having him say good-bye to us and thank us.  That was great.   I am confident that this never could have been done without his feeling Brandy’s contagious happiness and winsome personality!

Tags: AAT, autism, autistic children, BRANDY AND VAL, children with disabilities, dog safety, pet safety, pet therapy, safety

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 at 7:29 pm and is filed under Ilene's thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.