According to the National Library of Medicine one of the most fundamental experiences that connects all mammals is touch or, to be more precise, skin to skin contact. It goes on to say that “for most mammals, touch is the first sense to develop. They must feel vibrations on the surface of their skin to enable them to respond to various stimuli in their environment, a process called vibrotaction”. I confess I had never heard the term ‘vibrotaction’, nevertheless I have been a witness countless time of how touch can help dogs when they are in the process of learning. If one simply puts themselves in the role of the observer, one can witness how much touch plays a role when dog are interacting with each other. Like us, from a very young age, dogs learn how and when to apply pressure with touch. With humans the hand paves the way, for dogs, usually it is teeth, sometimes it is paws. But, like us, dogs are constantly using touch is order to learn and to teach. Hence why I use a lot of touch when working with dogs. The crucial difference between my use of touch and most other people is that I make a conscious and deliberate decision when working with dogs to use touch to take energy from the interaction, not add. A lot of people get confused when I say this, so I will repeat it: when working with dogs and using touch make sure you take energy, not add. I will venture to explain what this means to me, but before reading any further, take a second and figure out what that means to you. When you touch, are you able to take away some of the pent up energy that is in your dog? Or are you simply adding more energy to an already bursting recipient?
Working with dogs is one of the best ways to understand that when dealing with other living beings we are all energy first, body language second and thirdly how we actually communicate. For many (including myself up until a decade ago) the idea of energy conjures up spiritual associations, Yoda like feelings or simply an exoteric way of thinking. However, once you think about it for more then a few seconds it does make a lot of sense. We all know those people that are able to change the energy of a room simply by walking in. How do they do that? That one I confess I am still trying to figure out. But what I do know and can show anyone that would care to see is how my energy shifts when I am around dogs. How their energy shifts when they are around me. For me it brings a calmness that I seldom feel around other living beings. It is a sense of belonging. Of understanding. That is the first step into really grasping how our energy and touch can influence a dog.
Many of the dogs that I encounter have tons of pent up energy cruising in their bodies and mind. For a lot of these dogs the concept of surrendering to human touch is completely foreign. Human interactions, let alone touch, mean excitement, or fear, or tension. For most dogs that I encounter the human imprint is one of fight, flight or avoidance. Hence why the touch (with the intention of taking away some of the pent up energy) is so vital in my work. For the dogs that come in with the imprint of fight, be it a dog that wants to jump on me, lunge at me or try to bite me, my reaction is always the same: block that surge of energy from affecting me. In the beginning, the leash usually dogs the talking. I will apply pressure with the leash when the dog is in fight, and then release it when the dogs surrenders. Then, we slowly progress to touch. My intention when touching a dog is to take that pent up energy away, not add to it. This is where self awareness comes in. This is when intention plays a huge role. You see, there is no manual on how to take or add energy to another living creature. It comes down to a feeling. To an awareness. To surrendering.
Dogs that arrive with an imprint of flight or avoidance regarding humans get a lot of the same treatment in our first meeting. I seldom talk to to them, but I do introduce myself as energy and body language. Applying pressure on the leash if the dog wants to flee or freezes. Releasing it when the dog relaxes. However dogs that associate humans or other dogs with flight or avoidance need more time in order to be comfortable with human touch. These dogs usually do not trust and will recoil from touch. In these cases my intention when I touch is to take some of that discomfort away. The baseline is still the same: take energy don’t add, but the energy that I come with is much softer. Usually because it takes much longer for a dog in flight or avoidance to actually want to be touched by a human. However, in all cases, once the dog realizes and feels what this human touch is: that it takes energy away and calms them down, 99% of the dogs I have worked with will actually ask for that type of interaction. The type of touch that releases that feeling of fight – flight -avoidance. My touch signifies surrender and they can finally relax and release it away.
My advice if you want to try this is next time you touch your dog try doing it in a very clinical way. Very much in a way that a nurse touches a patient. Not with disregard, absolutely not unfeelingly, but a touch that is very to the point and aims to soften whatever tension it encounters. A great exercise is to take your index finger and thumb and go down the spine of the dog. Very much like a massage, not petting, but massaging. Relaxing any pent up area that you come in contact with. Taking that energy away. In the beginning start with 20 seconds, if your dog moves or starts wiggling simply stop and walk away. Once your dog surrenders to that type of touch then start lengthening the time. No talking, simply massaging your dog’s back in order to start changing the imprint from one of fight – flight – avoidance to one of surrender. The rule of thumb in these interactions is not talking, since we don’t want to add anything to it. Try this for a week and see how your dog starts changing how they approach being petted.
Happy training
