A Quick Trick to Teach Your Dog to Calm Your Anxiety
Studies have shown that a technique called Deep Pressure Therapy (DPT) can help calm those who suffer from anxiety, autism, self-harming behaviors, and stress in general. This type of non-medicated treatment has been proven to help reduce the duration of the condition and make it easier to bear.
The principle behind DPT is to have the dog apply gentle pressure to your body, chest, or affected body part (as in self-harming) depending on the size of the canine. For smaller dogs, you can teach them to lie directly across your chest or along the front of your body, while larger breeds can be taught to place their heads or feet across your lap or legs — whatever is most comfortable for you.
Here are the steps to teaching your dog Deep Pressure Therapy:
On the Sofa & Paws Up Command If your dog isn’t used to being on a sofa, you may have to coax him up using some treats. This is as simple as showing your dog the treat, then slowly moving it to the back of the sofa while excitedly saying his name and “paws up” (example, “Toby, paws up!”) Depending on your dog’s reluctance to join you on the sofa, you may have to reward him each time he gets closer to being on the sofa.
Practice If you have a smaller dog, the main goal is for your pooch to have all four paws on the sofa, then be in a “down” position. If your dog is larger — that you don’t want to or can’t bear his weight — this “paws up” command will be with his front paws or head on the sofa. Keep practicing the “paws up” command with treats until your dog knows what it means. Once this is accomplished, you can practice it without the aid of treats — you want your dog to do this because you need it to, not because there is a food reward at the end of the session.
Paws Off Command Next, you will want to teach your dog the “paws off” command. This is the same as “paws up,” but in reverse. To practice, call your dog off the sofa with the command “paws off.” Remember to reward each time he follows through.
Laying/Sitting on Sofa Ideally, for the DPT to work, you want your small-to-medium-size dog to lie vertically along your body with his paws on your shoulders and his head next to yours. If you have a large dog, he will put his paws across your legs or lie his head on your lap when you are in a sitting position. To train your dog to do this, use the “paws up” command, then the “down” command once he is vertically in place or along your lap. When your dog accomplishes this task, give him a treat, followed by the “paws down” command. You have to practice this training in order for your dog to do it on command, without a food reward at the end. If you are teaching a larger dog the DPT technique, he will have to lean into your lap for the pressure to be applied properly; however, once your dog relaxes, he should naturally put his weight on your lap.
The Signs of Anxiety Training Once your dog has mastered the above techniques, take the training further by mimicking the symptoms you experience during a stressful situation. By practicing this while you are calm and able to reward your dog for following the commands, it will be better when you are in real need.
Emotional Support Dogs vs Psychiatric Service Dogs
While ESA dogs can be taught this and other specific techniques, they are different from Psychiatric Service Dogs, which require more specialized training and are generally assigned to individuals whose mental or emotional condition makes it difficult for them to perform day-to-day tasks.
For example, a Psychiatric Service Animal might be assigned to someone whose mental disability gives them a tendency to get disoriented and wander off.
Their service dogs will have specific training to pull their owner’s attention back and stop them from entering dangerous situations, such as wandering onto a busy road.
Legally, ESA dogs do not require any specific training, but they do need to be well-behaved so that they do not cause a nuisance to neighbors or the public in general.
This is especially important if a person will be asking for special dispensation to take their ESA onto a flight or to live in a no-pet area.
What Characteristics Should an ESA Have?
Many dogs make excellent ESAs, but those best-suited for the role have a specific set of traits, including:
People-oriented: ESAs work with people, so naturally, the best ones like to be around humans. A potential ESA shouldn’t be independent, aloof, or distant.
Eager to please: Your ESA should be quick to react to cues and happy to work. There’s no room for stubborn streaks here.
Affectionate: Since you’re relying on your floof for comfort, ideally, you want an ESA who doesn’t mind close contact for hugs and pets. Natural-born lovebugs thrive in emotional support work.
Friendly: Your ESA should be friendly with people and other animals if you plan on taking her on the go. This is also important if you plan on relocating with your dog in the future, as a landlord or community can refuse to rent to someone if the ESA is deemed a safety threat under FHA rules.
Well-behaved: A good ESA has mastered basic obedience, including leash manners and sit/stay/down commands. This requirement goes hand-in-hand with an eagerness to please, as the last thing you want from an ESA is more stress.
Intelligence: ESAs often need to pick up behavior cues to offer you comfort as needed, which necessitates a minimum level of intelligence. It also helps to have a smart doggo who can learn commands and patterns quickly.
Calm: Your ESA shouldn’t be overly excitable. She should be level-headed and enthused when appropriate but never over-the-top and out-of-control.
Confidence: Skittish dogs need not apply for ESA positions. Your ESA will likely accompany you during travel, so she should be well-adjusted enough to handle new experiences.
Housetrained: Because you won’t want to spend your time cleaning up accidents, you want to ensure your ESA has basic housetraining down to prevent accidents.
Portable. This isn’t a concern for everyone, but if you need a dog who can thrive in the city, you may want to go with a relatively small pooch, who’ll present fewer challenges on public transport and crowded establishments.
Vaccinated. Since your ESA will accompany you to various places, she should be vaccinated according to state law, which usually includes, at the bare minimum, an up-to-date rabies booster. With the potential for travel, your vet may also recommend additional vaccinations.
This is a general outline, of course, and you may require additional features in an ESA, such as being a low maintenance dog breed, the ability to tolerate cold weather, and more.
How to Train a Dog to be an Emotional Support Dog?
Humans are learning more and more these days about the health benefits of dogs. As a result, public interest in therapy dogs has been increasing. Therapy dogs provide relief to those in anxiety-provoking situations, bring comfort to those who are grieving or lonely, and offer affection to humans who are in institutions such as hospitals, nursing homes, and schools. If you’ve got a friendly, well-behaved dog that loves people, you and other owners in similar situations might be wondering — how are therapy dogs trained?
A therapy dog lends comfort and affection to people in a facility setting or to certain individuals who require visitation to deal with a physical or emotional problem. Therapy dogs are not service dogs, who provide a specific service for a person with special needs, and who receive full public access per the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). They are also not emotional support animals, who require a prescription from a mental health or health care professional but need no special training or certifications to do their job.
Therapy dogs bring many physical benefits to the humans they visit. They may help lower blood pressure and heart rate, reduce patient anxiety, and increase levels of endorphins and oxytocin. But it’s not a one-way street. Studies have shown that therapy dogs also profit from their work. Rates of endorphins and oxytocin are higher in therapy dogs than average family pets.
“Therapy dogs go out to hospitals, nursing homes, libraries, schools, disasters. Essentially any venue where a clientele exists and it would be helpful for the dogs to be there,” says Linda Keehn, CPDT-KA, therapy dog trainer, evaluator, and handler, and owner of Positive Canine Training and Services in New York.
But you can’t just take your dog to visit a relative in a hospital, for instance. Therapy dogs do need certification from, and registration in, a reputable national organization. Certification is the final hurdle in a dedicated process toward becoming a therapy dog, however, which includes temperament assessment, training, and more.
