Seems He's Not Getting It!

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

Finnegan and I started as a therapy team in a reading program for children with special needs in September.  Finn has always seemed to know when he's working and when he's not.  The problem is, he seems confused by this situation.  I've taken him to nursing homes and he's always been gentle and attentive to the patients.  He can zero in on someone with dementia or alzheimer's and sit with them for a long time.  Or move from person to person gratefully accepting their pats while giving them long loving looks. I had wanted to start him in the Courthouse dogs program, but they needed a reading team so we said we'd try.  Finn is always happy to get to the school, greets everyone in the office, and the 6 children in the class are always delighted to see him. They hug and kiss him and he's very gentle with them and one happy guy.  We all settle down on the rug, for them to read and all is well for about 5 to 10 minutes and then Finn gets antsy and bored. He gets up and turns all his attention on me -- clearly wanting to leave :( I'll put him into a down stay (which you would think he never learned), but he pants (stresses) so loudly it's hard to hear the kids read.  He'll start to talk and the kids laugh, convinced he's commenting on their reading but I know he's asking to leave. Of course as the different children reach out to pet him, his attention is once again on them so he settles ... for a bit.

We've had a lot of rewarding moments in spite of the frustration.  He seems to have especially connected with a young girl who is the most severely autistic. She is in her own world much of the time and can't look you in the eye.  I watched her with a previous therapy dog and when she would try to pet him, she'd quickly grab her hand back as if burned. She'll lay her arm or head on Finn which he gently accepts and talk to him. She tells me he is soft and she loves him.  She has uncontrolled movements sometimes, and though he startled the first time, he doesn't even blink now if he gets a gentle elbow in the ribs.  He'll stay close to her and look at her as if his whole world revolves around her.

What can I do, if anything, to help him relax -- or is reading just not his thing?  Has anyone else experienced this?  

     

[Sue Robin F]

It sounds like Finn is a good therapy dog, but some dogs prefer one type of visit over other types.

I have 3 Therapy dogs .... 2 Goldendoodles and one Havanese.  I have headed up a Reading to the Dogs Program at a local library for about 5 years. Moses, my first Goldendoodle is my best Therapy dog for all situations. He does the reading program. He is extremely calm and at times when the kids just read and do not pet him, he looks like he is asleep, but he is listening to what they say.At times he lies on the child's knee and looks up lovingly at them. He never wants to leave, even though he looks bored. On other types of visits he is much more interactive. I am in charge of the other teams that go with us. I think it can be a hard type of visit for therapy dogs. Some of my other teams have more than one therapy dog and have found the same thing as you...... that their dog gets restless and is ready to leave when in other situations their dog is more content.Some of them have chosen to stop coming, some have asked me permission to keep their visit very short in the beginning because their dog gets restless. I think that you can give it more time and shorten the length of time he is there if possible.However, if he does not seem real content with this type of visit, it may be best to concentrate on the type of visits he seems to prefer. You want him to enjoy the visit and look forward to coming.

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

Sue thanks so much for your advice and experience. Once again, I'm so grateful for DK folks!  I had the pleasure of meeting your 3 beautiful therapy dogs at Sandy Hook and you know Moses stole my heart.  Give them all a hug for me!  I hope little Havey is doing better.

PS Maybe I should send FInn to hang out with Moses for a few weeks :-)

[BG and Gavin]

I have thought about this discussion a lot over the weekend.  The reading program may be slightly outside of Finn's comfort zone his first time through, but... and just some food for thought, you stated that you too were unsure and had little prep time before entering into and agreeing to this job.  Maybe your uncertainty transferred down the leash so to speak.  Now that you have committed and have been there once and made some connections to the children, you will enter the situation next time with more confidence and certainty.  I guess I think it is not a bad thing for Finn to have to stretch his boundaries a bit.  So give it a couple more tries and Finn will let you know if it truly is not his cup of tea and you can make your decision regarding further jobs in this range on that. 

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

BG, you could be right.  Thank you for giving this some more thought.  I'm going to try and think of places I can take him where we can work on his down stays. I really want for this to work out but if it doesn't, I hope we can find a way to work with autistic/special needs children on a one to one basis because I'm convinced he has a lot to give.  I just learned today from a dr. who works with autism that its not unusual for a therapy dog to do what Finn did ... as if he was sniffing the "aura" of each child.  He said he's seen it before...much like a seizure alert or blood sugar alert dog does.  Maybe it gives the dog information that these children are different, or maybe it's a form of communication we don't understand.  So interesting. 

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

I just want to add another book about Animals, Touch, and Autism for those who mentioned books on the previous page.

Songs of the Gorilla Nation: My Journey through Autism

This book was written by a woman who found touch by animals finally brought her full circle in a journey through life. If you are working and reading to children and adults with Autism, this is a must read. 

You would understand what animals and touch means to these people. 

It is in my library. A keeper!   I hope you do invest in this short read too.

Good Luck

[charlotte bednarsh]

Thank you for these recommendations.  I am going to order these books.

[Kyoko]

I am going to read this...

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

Thanks for the recommendation  Joanne!  I just got  Animals in Translation today...can't wait to curl up and start reading it tonite.  I'm going to order your book right away too.  Looks like I'm building a winter's reading list.  We should list these books somewhere in this group that's easy to find.

[jenn D]

While I have no advice, I want to thank you for writing this post. The discussion was great and is something all of us should think about when training for therapy work.

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

Well things went better last week.  We practiced down stays and following BG's advice, FInn got in some running in the morning, a half hour play session with a friend at lunch, and a long walk before class. I also tried to think about this from FInn's POV and I think (1) he's confused about what he's supposed to do, so I think the down stay refresher is helping, and (2) the kids jostling on the rug around him and changing places as they read keeps him in "alert" mode --so this time we decided the first person who volunteered to read would sit closest to him the whole time.  That was his special little girl which was great because she's refused to read the last two sessions. Before I gave him a command, he laid down next to her and snuggled up. I heard her whisper to him "you're a perfect buddy" and she put one hand over his big paw and read like a champ. Finn laid quietly for half an hour as almost everyone read, so that was progress. Then he continued to lay there but started to talk. We finished up and everybody got to pet, hug, and kiss him. He gave high 5's to all of the little boys and they were delighted. So I felt like we had a more successful session - but it does take work! 

[BG and Gavin]

Wow Cheryl, that sounds great!  You and Finn did a wonderful job.  I am sure everyone was pleased.  I think you really keyed into something there re:  the confusion from Finn's perspective.  WTG!!

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

Thanks BG!  It was the book -Animals in Translation - that got me thinking about it. We are a work in progress ;)