Saturday, July 13, 2013

Canine Therapy: When A Program Goes To The Dogs

By Saleem Rana


Ken Huey clarified to Lon Woodbury on L.A. Talk Radio how canine therapy works. He discussed how and why golden retrievers are pet dogs that work perfectly for kids with attachment disorders, especially if those kids are adopted.

About Ken Huey and Change Academy of the Ozaarks (CALO)

After completing his BA in English, Ken Huey got a Masters degree in Counseling Psychology from Florida State University. He then went on to get his Ph.D. in Marital Relationships and Family Therapy from Purdue University. Dr. Huey has been helping struggling youth in a professional capacity for 17 years, starting first as a therapist in community mental wellness program then later beginning his own private practice.

In November of 2006, Dr. Huey launched CALO, a relationship-based change program. Creating meaningful relationships with parents or guardians by looking after purebred Golden Retrievers is the heart of the canine therapy treatment model.

How Canine Therapy Heals Children

Dr. Huey related to Lon Woodbury exactly how golden retrievers help students establish love and responsibility by taking care of their adopted animals.

Pupils also heal through a variety of other restorative programs, in addition to healing by spending time at the beautiful Lake of the Ozarks with their canines, fellow students, and therapists. As students experience the problems involved in training their adopted golden retrievers, they start to comprehend the disappointments their foster Moms and Dads could have experienced. This experientially introduces them to concepts like caring, empathy, sympathy and family duty.

Since golden retrievers have a calming effect on humans by regulating blood pressure and heart rate, they teach playful and loving acceptance. This is an invaluable life lesson for students who have been physically abused or never had the calming physical closeness of a loving parent earlier in life.

Generally, golden retrievers do not react well unless provided with clear directions from a responsible caregiver. As a result, pupils find out what healthy methods to use to assert themselves and how they can transfer and receive spoken and non-spoken messages.

Dr. Huey also shared some examples where dog ownership taught the children to become much more aware and well-balanced. In one story, for example, a girl learned how to feed her dog regularly after it began to lose a noticeable amount of weight. This girl gradually became aware that she had unintentionally treated the dog with the same neglect with which she had been treated in her early years. By learning to care for her own adopted dog, she also learned how to care for herself.

Conclusion

Eventually, the canine-adolescent relationship enables students to develop an understanding of adult love, a process described as "transferable attachment." While standard talk therapy frequently fails to have any result on adopted kids, canine therapy works wonders because the experience of taking care of all the demands of a pet can inform kids what their foster Moms and Dads experienced as well.




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