Other Side of the Couch

Welcome to a blog that aims to be full of insightful ramblings from a licensed psychotherapist, with a specialty in sex therapy and marriage and family therapy. It is my hope that this blog will be of interest to people in therapy, people contemplating therapy, people contemplating being therapists, people about to be therapists and people who already are therapists!

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Therapy Dog

For many, many years I had a beloved therapist, Linda, (now retired) who saw me through some of the most challenging times of my life. She was accompanied daily by her Welsh sheep dog and being Welsh myself, despite not particularly being an animal lover, I approved of her choice of canine. My mother loves dogs, and growing up she would regale us with stories of her favorite dog of all time, also a Welsh sheep dog, Akeila. For this and other more patriotic reasons I hold the breed in high esteem.

Linda's office was on the second floor of the building she shared with three other therapists, and she would always come down to the waiting room to welcome me, with her dog (whose name unfortunately escapes me) at heel next to her. Linda would lead the way up the stairs, followed closely by me. Her faithful companion would herd us both up the stairs and into our respective chairs. His work done, he would quietly lie on his bed next to Linda's desk for the remainder of the session, getting up only when I arose in order to herd me to the door. He didn't take part in the sessions; he didn't attempt to comfort me when I cried, he didn't respond when I or Linda laughed. His job was clear cut...protect his mistress and herd the clients. He did his job well. Other than the occasional head pat, the dog and I did not interact. We were mutually disinterested in each other beyond our assigned roles as herder and client.

My own dog is a designer mutt, half Maltese and half Shi Tzu. He has hair, not fur, and is therefore not likely to cause allergic reactions in folks. He doesn’t shed, which is a huge relief to me – self-confessed neatnik that I am. Standing approximately 14 inches tall and weighing 12.8 pounds, he is a crotch-sniffing, human toe-slurping, tail-wagging bundle of white and beige fluff. He is no Welsh sheep dog. To put it mildly, he is not a working dog. Rather than herd folks to the couch, he invariably jumps on them, prancing around on his back legs like a circus poodle, impeding their route to the couch by employing various disgusting antics, such as the aforementioned crotch sniffing, along with butt snuffling, heel tweaking and occasional, but annoyingly insistent, pawing. He has bad manners to say the least. But he does eventually calm down and will sit on the couch or lie on the floor in his bed.

I am not a dog-lover. I am, however, a lover of Ziggy and therefore I put up with these disgusting annoyances. I am also careful which of my clients I inflict Ziggy on, and carefully select the days on which he accompanies me to my office.

I have clients who are cat lovers and find Ziggy’s canine mannerisms annoying. I have clients who find his presence distracting, and don’t like it when he is there. I have clients who don’t mind him being there, and after the initial “Ziggy welcome” just ignore him and he settles down. Sparring couples upset Ziggy, and he has been known to stand in front of the couch, howling sadly as they shout at each other. This is not clinically helpful to them, and it's distracting for me, so I usually leave him home on days when I have these couples attending sessions.

But there are people for whom Ziggy’s presence is a therapeutic plus. I have a young boy who comes to therapy with his mother, and won’t talk unless Ziggy is in the room. Without Ziggy in the room, he is morose and quiet. With Ziggy there, he will talk haltingly about the things he feels and fears, in between his romps with Ziggy. Ziggy revels in the young boy’s presence, plays with him as if he was another puppy and licks and slurps the boy’s face with gay abandon. The little boy shrieks and squeals happily, reveling in Ziggy’s puppy play.

I meet with a lonely young woman who can barely keep her hands off Ziggy when he is there, who snuggles him lovingly, and who giggles happily when he is present. She currently has few places to feel loved and welcomed and Ziggy’s enthusiastic antics are delightful to her. He reminds her of her lovability and she relaxes in session as he lies on the couch next to her. Another client who is single after the break-up of a long term relationship and very much misses her partner strokes Ziggy’s soft hair as she talks about her longing for intimate connection with the person she lost. Another client who finds it hard to trust anybody and whose memories of her abusive childhood are hazy and scary, is reminded of her love of her childhood puppy by Ziggy’s happy company. Depressed clients often become more responsive and less withdrawn when Ziggy is there. Clients with high blood pressure report feeling calmer when they get to play with and stroke him.

Everybody needs something to hold and to love, and sometimes just for an hour a week, my rambunctious little dog helps some people reconnect with the loving optimistic place inside themselves.

6 Comments:

  • At 7:33 AM, Blogger Medicoglia, RN said…

    Pets are definitely good therapy for those of us who respond to them. I'm a dog lover...any dog, any size, any manners (unless they are growlers and biters...that would upset me!). I actually qualify for a trained therapy dog...but they are not considered service animals so my landlord does not have to allow me to have one here. So I have my two cats whom I love dearly...but it's just not quite the same as that energy filled canine who is always happy to see you. Someday I will have a dog again.

     
  • At 11:16 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I dont have a dog or any animal (we do have a fish does that count?). I dont really like the hair and smell and cleaning them and stuff but I do like dogs. When I see them on the street they seem pretty friendly. I wish that my T had a dog to hold onto sometimes. Sometimes I need to touch something thats moving and alive and happy in there and it sounds like Ziggy would be perfect. I think that its really cool that you bring him with you to share him with people who seem to need him. :)

    Dragon

     
  • At 4:57 AM, Blogger Dori said…

    This is such a sweet post. I'm not a dog person either, but can definitely see how warm cuddly creatures do good for the soul and the psyche. I'm curious: how do you know in advance which clients will be OK with Mr. Zig? Do you ask them before you bring him in for the first time?

     
  • At 7:01 AM, Blogger Jassy said…

    A couple of people have asked me if I ask before bringing Ziggy in for the first time. Good question. When I do a first apointment with folks, I never have Ziggy present. SOmetime during this initial sessoin, I ask the person/people how they would feel about a small, very friendly puppy being present during their session. I usually explain the inttial welcome that Ziggy extends to all comers, and then let them know that he happily sits on the floor after his initial outburst. I also usually say that Ziggy is very happy to sit with people on the couch if they like that. And then it's up to them. I can usually structure my days around yeay-or-nay-to-Ziggy folks quite easily. The other plus with Ziggy is that he doesn't have a strong canine odor, also due to the presence of hair rather than fur. Of course, if he's rolled in something disgusting in the back yard that day, he stinks to high heaven. (Rotten worms are his favorite camoflage scent!)

     
  • At 11:31 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    hi there!
    My T bring her dog to every session. And I love it. Im an animal person and I feel more comfortble with animals around me. Everytime I talk about something hard she stands up and comes over to me to support me. She is unreplaceble. If the dogs bit there for any reason I feel more distant and withdrawn

    L

     
  • At 12:49 PM, Blogger Jassy said…

    L, have you talked to your therapist about how you feel about the dog being there? That could be a fruitful conversation? What is it about the dog's presence that reassures you and makes you comfortable? What do you see yourself getting from animals that isn't forthcoming from humans? In what way does the dog make you safe? Is there something you can believe about yourself in the presence of an animal that is harder to see in the presence of just humans? What does being an "animal person" mean to you? Just some things that you could maybe talk about with your T???

     

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