I have to get this out of my head.

[hannah]

I had a doctor's appointment today - not with a medical doctor, which is why there was a dog in the office. Look, I don't care. I don't care. Doesn't matter to me what it wants or that it gets weird if left alone. I freaking do not care, I didn't want it in the office with me. Its presence put me on edge and I wouldn't have been able to focus or concentrate with it in the same room as me. Once it was outside, I couldn't even get myself to look at it, and I had to work to keep my attention on the point of the visit.

I think at this point, I can move it from aversion and wariness to outright phobia. Jesus, but they make me uncomfortable and wary and even thinking about it hours later gets my bile up and my body shaking.

I did my best to explain to her why I prefer most other domestic animals like cats and horses and birds - that their communication is more in body language than in their faces, how cats and horses don't use their faces very much compared to dogs and how birds effectively don't have faces.

A few weeks ago, I told someone I have more experience with horses than with dogs, which she found somewhat astonishing. I told her that I'd much rather have another rabbit, or rats, as a pet. "Quiet animals," she said.

"No!" I told her. "Prey animals! Acutely aware of the tiniest change in posture and tremendously responsive to it!"

Not an experience I get with domesticated canines. Some of the most unresponsive animals I've ever encountered.

Today the doctor tried to tell me all the dog wanted to do was love, which is fabulous for the dog, but didn't strike me as a tremendously effective thing to say to someone who was really trying to focus on a specific reason for being there.

I asked, though, and next time I'm in, she's not bringing it with her. Which: thank fuck.

Comments

[lizzie_omalley]

You know, that's a really good question.

To begin, a good therapy animal is a highly trained animal, not just one who happens to be in a therapist's office. They are trained to nuance, to know when to approach and when not to. They are also trained how to approach. If the animal is unwilling to learn these commands then it would not make a good therapy animal. This is true of all therapy animals. It is something I'd need to explore with animals such as a bunny. I know I could train a cat. Additionally, there is training for the therapist who wants to use a therapy animal in their practice. Some of the training is pertains only to counseling issues such as how to know when use of an animal is appropriate and when not. Some of it is concurrent with the training of the animal so that both the therapist and the animal know what is expected of each other and how to behave. I wouldn't just go and find an animal somewhere and bring it, untrained, to my office. That's not a therapy animal, that's an office pet.

First, I have always been around cats, half predator, half prey instinct and so I see how they are very nuanced. All my current cats are former street animals and they are very attuned to the tensions and joys in the house and especially in me. They actually help me modulate frustration and stress because I need to mind their fears and care for their comfort. They also help me experience play and fun, something I am unskilled at and uncomfortable with.

So, back to your question, I think that a cat could potentially help me, as a therapist, see things in someone my human dullness may miss. Some people find a cat comforting to hold or have nearby even if they don't hold the cat. Also, the cat purr is supposed to be at a frequency that promotes healing. I couldn't provide it on the spot but I understand there is research to support this.

As to bunny, there is is the softness and the comfort to hold them, but again, not everyone is going to respond well to them. My dentist has a bunny warren at his office with a big plate glass window looking onto a courtyard full of bunnies. From time to time he'll bring one in and let us patients hold it if we want.

I am a long way off from running my own practice so there are a lot of questions and realities to explore. Your experience and your question are on the list.

I can't explain the poodle's reaction to, or the barking at you either. There would not be a worse feeling than feeling like one must freeze to keep oneself safe, I think. The other dog was trying, in its doggy, nose driven way, to learn who your were through your scent, as you may know. That doesn't absolve the owner of either dog from their responsibility to have taught their animal how to get along politely in society and not be a PIA. Most people train their dogs badly, if at all. I don't like the nature of the dog to be all up in your space and ignoring boundaries either. Because I like animals, I have learned with dogs to gain the courage to own my boundaries with them and gain their respect. It didn't come easily. But it was easier than the same with humans, FWIW.

as an afterthought...

[lizzie_omalley]

As an addendum, found some of the information I have looked at from time to time as I consider this as a possible path.

(Please forgive me for no longer knowing how to code an html link.)

Links Below:

This is from the American Counseling Association, the professional body that develops ethics and protocols for people who are licensed as mental health counselors. I imagine the American Psychological Association may have their own such document.

https://www.animalassistedtherapyprograms.org/images/ACA_animal-assisted-therapy-competencies-june-2016_1.pdf

This is an organization in Colorado that offers Animal Assisted Therapy to clients. It also trains therapists to provide animal assisted therapy. One of the benefits that cats provide is they are very clear about their tolerance (or lack thereof) to anger, aggression, yelling, and similar behaviors and can help clients learn to modulate their behaviors in ways they may not learn through human interaction.

https://www.animalassistedtherapyprograms.org/