Canine Therapy: When A Program Goes To The Dogs

Posted by The Popular News Today on Sunday, June 23, 2013

By Saleem Rana


Ken Huey explained to Lon Woodbury on L.A. Talk Radio how canine therapy works. He talked about how and why Golden Retriever dogs are effective in residential treatment for children with attachment problems, especially those who are adopted.

Ken Huey and 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.

Dr. Huey launched CALO in November of 2006, which is a relationship-based change program. Adopted kids learn to developing significant relationships with foster Moms and Dads or guardians after learning to care for their own purebred Golden Retrievers.

How Canine Therapy Works

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

As pupils experience the problems of training their newly adopted Golden Retrievers, they start to understand the aggravations their new Moms and Dads may have experienced. This experientially introduces them to concepts like caring, sympathy, and obligation.

Considering the simple fact that golden retrievers have a calming effect on humans by helping them lower their blood pressure and heart rate, they they teach the joy of being playful and loving. This is an invaluable life lesson for pupils who have been physically abused or who have never had the relaxing physical closeness of a loving mother and father earlier on in life.

Typically, golden retrievers don't respond well unless given clear instructions from a care-giver. As a result, students learn healthy ways to assert themselves and how they send and receive verbal and non-verbal messages.

Dr. Huey shared some examples where pet dog ownership instructed the kids to become a lot more mindful and well-balanced. In one story, for example, a young lady discovered ways to feed her canine regularly after it started to lose a recognizable quantity of weight. This young lady slowly became aware that she had unintentionally treated the canine with the exact same neglect with which she had actually been treated in her early years. By finding out how to care for her own adopted dog, she discovered the best ways to begin to take care of herself.

Final Thoughts

Eventually, the canine-adolescent relationship allows pupils to develop an understanding of adult love, a process described as "transferable attachment." While standard talk therapy frequently fails to have an impact on children who are adopted, the experience of looking after all the needs of a canine can show them the tribulations that their adopted parents had to go through as well.




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