The Big Bad Wolves of Therapy Dog Training: Three-and-a-Half Things to Avoid When Preparing for Animal-Assisted Speech Therapy
Poor Bodhi was a wreck.
Always sensitive to loud noises, this thunderstorm had been rolling over our house all night, leaving him trembling and restless. Nothing my husband or I did seemed to help.
Then, just as he seemed to be relaxing a bit, the hail hit. It pounded the metal roof of our little house in an absolute cacophony.
That was it. Bodhi jumped down, plastered himself behind the toilet, and refused to come out or acknowledge us in any way.
The next morning, still wide-eyed and with tail drooping low, he tentatively ate his breakfast and clung to me as I set about morning chores. When a distant plane quietly roared overhead, far enough away I wouldn’t have otherwise even noticed it, Bodhi bolted back to his hiding spot behind the toilet.
I worried I’d never get my happy little pup back.
Fortunately this story has a happy ending. Bodhi did indeed gradually return to his normal self, still jumpy with loud noises as always but otherwise carefree and cuddly.
So what does any of this have to do with working with animal-assisted speech therapy?
Bodhi’s story illustrates the concepts of “flooding” and “trigger stacking”, which along with anthropomorphism are situations we need to try to avoid while building up a therapy dog’s working skills and confidence...
Former speech therapy dog Bodhi (right) with “big sis” Delta. Delta was the first dog I trained for animal-assisted speech therapy and I made many mistakes with her but also learned many lessons.
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But why is anthropomorphizing a therapy dog a bad thing?
Anthropomorphism, or explaining an animal’s behaviors by relating them to human emotions and experiences, is not necessarily bad. It can help us empathize with other species and even helps us bond over shared experiences.
It’s not unusual for my clients or their caregivers to assign human motivations to my therapy dog’s actions, such as “Sky must have really missed me” even though I know she wiggles equally hard for every person walking through my office door.
I’ll even invoke anthropomorphism myself to help build rapport or engender self-confidence in a child, such as “Delta is so proud of how you said that! Just look at her happy face!”.
Even though I know in reality Delta is just relaxing on her bed, there is no harm inflicted in making such statements in this context and they can build positive associations with therapy for the client.
Where it can be easy to get into trouble, however, is when we let our filter of human experience impact our ability to read a therapy dog’s body language, leading to incorrect interpretation and reaction (or lack of reaction).
I’ve seen many clips on social media of dogs showing multiple stress signals as a mewling newborn baby is thrust at their face or as a toddler uses their body as a jungle gym. Yet the captions are always to the tune of “This dog just loves his new baby sister” or “My dog is always there for her little brother!”
The potential for bites in these situations is high and could be disastrous. Especially if the dog’s response is then interpreted though a human filter as being “bad” when they were just performing perfectly natural dog behavior to get their uncomprehending human to back off.
Within therapy sessions, it is perhaps our most important job as therapy dog handlers to monitor our canine co-therapists’ body language and intervene if they are showing signs of stress or needing a break.
Whenever therapy dog Delta helps me in a session, part of my attention is tuned to watching her for signs of comfort of distress. This vigilance and observational skill takes time and practice to learn but is vital for keeping animal-assisted speech therapy safe for all involved.
This takes a lot of vigilance and skilled observation, honed through practice over time. It’s inevitable that some mistakes will be made. That’s why making sure the dog you are partnering with has a temperament that will tolerate some errors is vital in order to minimize risks.
Ultimately, though, we need our clients to stay safe and our therapy dogs to genuinely enjoy their work so they will join us enthusiastically for years to come. That means we must strive to minimize stress by reading and correctly interpreting their dog communication in dog terms to the best of our ability.
My favorite resource for learning how to read a dog’s body language is The Language of Dogs by Sarah Kalnajs, as it shows multiple clips of a variety of dog breeds displaying different stress signals, ranging from mild to severe. You can find it both as a DVD or streaming on the Animal-Assisted Therapy Books and DVDs section of the Speech Dogs site.
Also, Raising Canine is an organization that offers affordable dog training and behavior webinars that can also be very helpful, such as Michael Shikashio’s Precursors for Aggression: Getting the Pot Off the Stove BEFORE You Get Burnt!
Speech therapy dog Delta displays relaxed body language as she chooses to lie next to this boy in play.
Delta’s calming presence can help regulate kids to learn better during animal-assisted speech therapy, but in order to do so her own needs for mental and physical comfort must be met first
Trigger Stacking—when your speech therapy dog just can’t handle any more
Bodhi’s opening story is an example of trigger stacking.
With his body already flooded with the stress hormone cortisol from the repeated thunder claps, the sound of hail was the final straw that sent him over the edge into complete shutdown.
While we often experience hail and Bodhi has no specific fear when it occurs by itself, on this night it was more than he could handle and he became “flooded” (see below).
Then the next day, still low-level anxious, the innocuous sound of a plane was all it took to fire his sympathetic nervous system back to full fight/flight/freeze mode.
The hail and the airplane became triggers, but only because he was already above threshold for stress.
Classic trigger-stacking.
While I didn’t have any control over the successive stressors in this particular situation, I’ve encountered similar situations that I could influence while training for and participating in animal-assisted speech therapy sessions.
While socializing Sky on a public sidewalk we had a nerve-wracking run-in with an off-leash dog who acted aggressively toward her.
Though we got away unscathed, Sky clearly needed a break but I decided to persist anyway since we’d already driven here. When a public bus stopped nearby and lowered it’s steps with a loud release of air, Sky jumped into the air and released her bowels in terror. She’s never been spooked before or since by unexpected noises, but on this day her body was already above threshold and it triggered an extreme response.
Fortunately the next day was our Canine Good Citizen preparation class. When I mentioned the incident to our trainer it was the first time I heard the phrase “trigger-stacking.” Our trainer generously decided not complete any of the sound tolerance work that day and suggested I give Sky a few days off from socializing to allow her to fully return to a calm state.
Because it can take several days for excess cortisol to be fully flushed from a dog’s body, exposing her to more potential startles during this time could have eroded her confidence if she started associating being away from home with feeling out of control of her body.
Speech therapy dog Sky shows active consent, choosing on her own to lie next to this working child even when a more comfortable bed is available across the room.
Delta, who has a very sensitive nature in general, has also demonstrated trigger stacking at work.
A child with autism that she is especially bonded to was unusually dysregulated one day and left the session extremely upset despite our best efforts. Delta laid down on her bed and didn’t get up to greet the next child.
She spent the next three hours looking vacant and refusing treats before getting up, giving a full body shake (a sign of releasing held stress), and looking to me for a walk and a snack.
While she finished out the day in a good mood, I didn’t push her for any specific interactions for the rest of the day and left her at home the next day for good measure.
At the time I thought of this as “emotional contagion”, that Delta was matching her sadness to the child’s because her usual ways of helping weren’t working.
Perhaps it was, but I also now think that the child’s loud vocalizations, uninhibited movements, and my own heightened anxiety probably created stressors that stacked up until she shut down.
A photo taken the day speech therapy dog Delta demonstrated shut-down behaviors after a difficult session with a dysregulated child. She needed time, space and decompression opportunities before returning to work.
Given the inherently stressful nature of bringing a therapy dog to an unnatural environment to work long hours with clients who may be noisy and impulsive, it is critical we as handlers be on the lookout for trigger stacking and intervene early. Things that can help include:
· reading your therapy dog’s stress signals and responding without judgment (i.e., avoid reacting in frustration that your dog should be able to handle this or is over-reacting)
· adding in breaks, especially if the dog can get outside to engage in natural behaviors such as sniffing, searching, or even just running to help their body flush out excess stress hormones
· providing decompression activities, such as licking stuffed kongs, searching for treats in snuffle toys or enrichment puzzles, or chewing harder treats to engage their temporomandibular joint and release calming endorphins
· manipulating the environment to reduce as many smaller stressors as possible, such as providing better traction on slippery floors with toe-grips or area rugs with gripper pads, taking less busy corridors in the office between clients, or using a quiet carpet sweeper when the dog is present instead of a loud vacuum.
Young speech therapy dog Sky is more excitable by nature and benefits from frequent decompression activities throughout the day, such as this puzzle toy that allows natural behaviors like sniffing and chewing.
The big one—“flooding” and your therapy dog
Flooding is perhaps the most detrimental outcome of poor training with a therapy dog candidate.
Whether done intentionally or accidentally, flooding refers to exposing an animal to a stressor for an extended period of time until they stop reacting altogether.
While this might sound like a good thing—after all the dog no longer acts outwardly frightened—in reality the dog has reached a “freeze” state in the fight/flight/freeze stress response.
When an animal is frozen with fear, they are at an increased risk of reacting without warning as they come out of this state, which could cause an attack.
Furthermore the dog can be physiologically and emotionally damaged as high levels of stress hormones for extended periods can contribute to cardiovascular disorders, gut problems, skin conditions, and even a shortened life-span.
Moreover, dogs in a chronically stressed state are less able to learn new skills and are less willing to trust their handlers.
Recovering from a flooded state is possible, but takes incredible patience and extensive time with carefully planned out positive reinforcement training. If you suspect your dog experienced traumatic stressors find a qualified, understanding trainer and/or behaviorist to help guide you.
When we first adopted Delta as a young adult she was obedient but scared. Our trainer suspected she’d been trained with aversive techniques like flooding given how quickly she would shut down. It was two steps forward and one step back for nearly a year, but in the end I learned more about dog training and behavior because of the challenge. Here we were socializing at an open-air restaurant, but her pulled back ears and stiff body show her discomfort.
While it seems unlikely an animal-assisted interventionist would intentionally flood their therapy dog, watching for active consent can help avoid accidental flooding.
Signs of active consent include
· approaching a person, place, or object independently and with curiosity,
· leaning on, turning towards, or following a person,
· making soft eye contact, and
· placing a paw or chin on their lap.
If your dog is reluctant to approach a person/place/object or responds by leaning away or trying to leave the situation altogether even with encouragement and treats, give them the benefit of the doubt and provide a safe retreat space immediately.
When you have time, analyze the situation to see why your therapy dog may have been showing stress in that situation and make changes as needed. This can be a great opportunity to collaborate with a trainer or behaviorist to learn new dog-handling skills.
Therapy dogs are sentient being and will have moments when they are tired, not feeling one hundred percent, or just wanting a break. As their handler you need to rely on the bond you’ve established to read your dog’s signs of disinterest versus true discomfort and respond accordingly.
And a bonus “half” concept, just for the therapy dog handler
On a lighter note, don’t let “paralysis by analysis” keep you from getting started on your animal-assisted therapy journey!
Providing animal-assisted speech therapy has a high barrier to entry and a steep learning curve, but in the end moments like these make it worth all the work!
Being in charge of a both a therapy dog’s welfare and a client’s safety and progress is intimidating, even for experienced clinicians.
There is still relatively little information readily available compared to other therapeutic approaches, but this doesn’t make it any less valuable to both you and your clients.
Seek out as much information as you can find from sources like the Association of Animal-Assisted Professionals and other organizations listed on the Animal-Assisted Speech Therapy Resources page and feel free to contact me through email or DM through Instagram @speech_dogs with any specific questions.
It’s a long journey. There will be setbacks and learning curves. But there is no better time to start than now! Check out the book Paws for Progress: Integrating Animal-Assisted Interventions Into Your Speech-Language Pathology Practice or the self-paced course Talk to the Paw: Foundations for Therapy Animal Inclusion in a Professional Setting to get inspired.
May your days be filled with puppy wiggles and children’s giggles,
Sharlet
