5.2 Part 2 – TOUCHING WITH THE STICK & HAND FOR THE FIRST TIME

In this video I am able to approach Major Bob so much faster than the previous sessions. I still walk along my arc and use rhythmic motion to desensitize him to the moments of my body while reading his thresholds and hesitating every time he acknowledges me. Once I get into where he is initiating touching me I play a communication game with him. Every time he looks away I do something small with my arms using rhythmic motion to get his attention. As soon as he looks at me and touches me I stop and reward this contact.

This is creating a language with him but also rewarding him for being interested and curious in me. I desensitize his ‘bubble’ making bigger movements with my stick so I am then able to approach him with my stick without scaring him. I want him to reach out and touch the stick and get confident with that. Then I am able to touch his face and neck with my stick. I use the stick as an extension of my arm and use the same feel in my stick as I would my arm and hand. I remember not to get greedy with the approach. I make contact with his neck so I retreat before I go over his threshold and lose his confidence in me. Retreating at the right time is what builds his confidence and curiosity in me.

I also move his feet around slowly at a trot and talk about bringing him up and then letting him come back down. Each time I do this with him I am hoping he doesn’t get as worried when he goes ‘up’ and therefore he lets down and relaxes deeper when he comes down. This allows me to progress to the next level in drawing his feet towards me. When he takes quite a few steps towards me I retreat and squat down to reward him and he has a really deep process and licks and chews for about 2-3 minutes which is the perfect place to finish the session.