Loving Touch, Part One

Cody is a very loving boy, but humans set up his world so that he'd never get regular touch for several years. He would get vet checkups that required sudden touch and possibly rough handling, and then nothing for many months afterwards. It is no surprise then that touch, while something he enjoys, can be very overwhelming for him and causes him to feel that he has to growl to stop the touch.

The very first night Cody came to me.

When a dog has a serious fear to work through, we must move with them and not shove or drag them where we want them to be. We can walk up to the edge with the dog, but the dog must make the choice to cross it with us. Dragging the dog along destroys trust and reinforces the dog's fear of the stimulus. How then to show Cody that touch is a wonderful thing?

Cody wanted touch desperately.

Two methods were used for Cody. I did one method, a slower acclimatization where I would do casual brief touches throughout the day. I'd brush my arm against his side as he walked by, or trail my fingers a few inches down his neck. If he growled at me I'd act like nothing happened and remove my hands as normal. I never made my touches longer than a couple seconds and that allowed me to get in touch without putting him over threshold. He growled frequently at me, but it was a low, slow growl and not a higher pitched, rapid growl that indicates he's reaching his bite threshold. I respect his growls, and he needs to feel that his growls are respected. If I jerk my hand away, correct him, or do anything but react as if the growls never happened (although still removing my touch) then I would reinforce to him that he had to growl. Jerking my hand away is a sudden movement likely to make him nervous, and also likely to provoke a bite out of any dog who is approaching their bite threshold. If I corrected him then I'm telling him he's wrong to growl, and he isn't! The growl is an expression of his tension and concern, and I would no more correct him for growling at me then I would correct a child for saying "I'm scared and don't like this."

Mashing into my hand.

Short touches and growling at me were one thing. While I was sure Cody was not a bite risk to me as long as I respected him, I had to consider what was ethical and fair to both Cody and the people interacting with him. The acclimatization I was doing wouldn't work for these people who were eager to meet Cody and help him heal, so we had to try something different.

Everything was very hard for Cody - even playing with a ball.
That would change though!