Biofeedback & relaxation technique

[Kyoko]

OK, so, this is what I do for living, right? So why not apply to my nervous/autistic/ADHD dog?

Charlie is reactive, nervous, and easily stressed. She does not like direct eye contact and changes in the environment. So, I am trying to teacher her some relaxation techniques to reduce her anxiety and nervousness... Don't laugh!! It is my little experiment!!! ( I know it may seems silly )

 

1) Look at her in her eyes and blink very very slowly with heavy eye lid. ------- failed. no reponse.

2) Look at her and pretend to yawn to see if I can get her to yawn.--------------  failed. no response.

3) Blow warm breath in her face slowly. ---------------------------------------------------- YES! She closed her eyes with heavy eye lids!!! ( Heavy eye lids meaning looking sleepy )

4) Mock her high pitch yawning noise -------------------------------------------------------- YES! She put her head down on the floor!!

 

If the muscle relaxes, individuals cannot stay worked up or angry emtionally. ( Try smiling when you are mad. You cannot stay mad!! ) So, my thinking is that, if I can get her muscle to relax, then her anxiety level will reduce. I think I should clicker train this, and click when she closes her eyes, or relaxes her head.... What do you think? Do yo think it will work?

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

I'm interested. VERY. I also am beginning to think the rise of Aspergers in human children should also be studied and suspected as a rise dogs. I'm serious. I wonder if it has or anyone has thought of it as I link or on the rise or any of this at all..... I do.

Clicker training though.. Egh, I am so uncoordinated with the treat in one hand, the clicker in the other. Do you have any more ideas in methods of positive reinforcement.

[Kyoko]

You can just say "YES" instead of the "Click". Some people think that with clicking the clicker, you can gain more precision in timing. But with relaxation, it is not the short split second of the behavior, so I guess the timing precision is not that important. May be not even "YES". Or say "YES" slowly more like "Yeeessss~" and give them ear rub or something relaxing and rewarding as reinforcement....?

[Lauria Orr]

Joanne, Yes! I have a friend whose daughter was that way as a baby, and it turned out to be Asperger's. My husband and I recently watched the HBO movie about Temple Grandin, which was fascinating. I watched a lecture of hers afterwards, where she spoke at UC Davis about Autism and Asperger's. (The lecture is on You Tube.) I do think people and animals may have a genetic predisposition or are sometimes just born with these traits. I think my Melody Doodle has some of her anxiety from her Mother who is shy, and possibly some from not being socialized much as a puppy. She may have been shy any way...I don't think we will ever really know if lack of early socialization even played a factor at all .

[Adina P]

I think ALL animals are closer to autistic people than 'regular' folks.  But what are we comparing things to?  Autism is diagnosed, in part, due to a child's social behavior (social as in human to human).  Dogs are not supposed to behave like people.  Cattle, dogs, etc...all tend to feel I'll at ease with environmental changes.  I think that is why so often autistic kids bond well to animals...they understand each other better.  But I have a very hard time attaching 'autistic' to a dog since it is a term created for humans with certain behaviors that are not normal in humans.  I would say it IS normal for dogs to exhibit things that remind one of an autistic person.

[Kyoko]

Yes. It is true. Looking at Charlie, and watching her behavior helps me to understand my autistic clients much better. This is because Charlie is not a human, and her behavior is much overt. For human clients, their behavior is often inverted and higher expectations are placed, simply because the behavior is inverted and they looks like they should know better, ends up creating melt down. The diagnosis itself does not apply to the dog / Charlie, but she demonstrate the behavior typical of autistic person and ADHD person much more than less reactive dogs... ( typical dogs ) And as her behavior helps me to better understand my clients, seeing Charlie's behavior as typical of those with diagnosis allow me to come up with possible supportive technique for her. ( Trying to apply what is helpful to the human clients to Charlie, like this biofeedback stuff and also able to see her what appears to be an agressive behavior such as bearing her teeth and barking as the end result of stressful event - melt down)

[Lauria Orr]

Adina, I re-read what I wrote and was actually carrying on about 2 different thoughts. I was NOT calling animals autistic. ( Yes, they surely are different than people!) I was talking about how humans and animals can both be born with traits that are part of their make-up, not necessarily related to environment, or how well they were socialized. My Melody is very shy. Her Mother is shy, and I don't know if Melody's shyness is genetic or from lack of early socialization, or both. (I suspect both.) The breeder even had concerns about her being very shy, but didn't tell us about the extent of it until later. She has a farm and has litters, and does this with a few people to help, but there is not a lot of social stimulation. The breeder lives alone and has no children visiting, etc... We got Melody at almost 6 months old. When I commented on Autism and Asperger's, I was talking first about my friend's daughter who did not make eye contact and was uncomfortable with human touch as a baby. I was responding to Joanne's comment that some babies are just born with traits of lack of eye contact, etc... My friend's daughter was later diagnosed with Asperger's. Then I moved on to the topic of having seen Temple Grandin's talk, who IS autistic, and also an animal advocate. She developed the apparatus for herself to calm her during stress, and later the apparatus used to calmly usher cows to slaughter, based on the apparatus used to calm cows during immunizations. I think perhaps the "Thundershirt" we are using for Melody and was developed for animals with anxiety, may be based on similar concepts as Temple Grandin's cow apparatus. It makes the animal feel "hugged" in a sense, and secure. I never meant to imply that I thought that some dogs are autistic...I do think some have social anxiety. There is a fear and anxiety aspect to my dog and some of the others in this group that have tried and are using the Thundershirt, and other measure to calm the dogs. My sister's dog came from what may have been a puppy mill, and he has social anxiety that the animal behaviorist describes as extreme. I am sorry if I gave the impression of giving a diagnosis of autism to an animal. I am certainly not qualified to make any such statement, nor have I ever heard of that! I am intrigued by the tools used to calm an anxious dog, and Kyoko's idea of biofeedback sounds very interesting.

[Kyoko]

You are right about the Thundershirt. They are created based on Temple Granidin's squeeze machine. Like baby's swaddle, too....

[BG and Gavin]

I am very interested in your experiment Kyoko. I have given Gavin a "massage" along his spine when I want him to relax and it seems to work. I have a colleague that teaches infant massage to parents with special needs and "at risk" babies to assist in soothing them. At the very, very least it aids in bonding between parent and child. I can't see how this would not apply to animals as well.

[Lauria Orr]

Kyoko,
I did not know you did this for a living! That is very cool.
I think this is a fascinating topic, and very well worth the effort. I think you have something here that may lend itself to helping anxious dogs, and/or dogs who have not been well socialized. I don't know much about biofeedback, but have an interest for sure!
What kind of clients do you work with? People with pain, circulation issues, anxiety?

[Kyoko]

I am a state licensed social worker. I have 2 jobs. I work as a school social worker during the day, and work as a children /youth mental health therapist in the evening. I have wide range of clients from conduct disorder to bipolar disorder, but 75% of them are under the ASD - Autism Spectrum Disorder. Most difficult thing for the kids with ASD is that they cannot read social cues. therefore, they become very anxious and nervous, some times appears to be dominant and brat like. I used to shy away from ASD clients, but now I really like it. Giving them tools and skills that allow them to function in the social environment is very rewarding. The other day, one of my client told me at the end of the session "Thank you Kyoko. I really enjoyed it today." I cried, and his mom and dad cried. Simple expression of their emotion like this takes a lot of work for them.....

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Kyoko, thank you for taking the time to really help the kids. You are performing a life-changing service for them.

[Kyoko]

:-}