Golden Retriever News Column: Integrative Care for Golden Retrievers
Golden Retriever News Column: Integrative Care for Golden Retrievers
Shereen D. Farber, Ph.D., OTR, FAOTA
10320 East 79th Street
Indianapolis, IN 46236
317-823-9815 or 317-823-9849
mfarber9@Comcast.net
November8, 2002
Sports Medicine for Dogs
Part 2:
Introduction to Treatment: The Anxiety Wrapä
Introduction: The
next few installments of my column will include a comprehensive overview of
sports medicine treatment, the professional team members and their roles,
current views on treatment modalities and latest research. On January
31-February 2, 2003, the Annual Sports Medicine Symposium will be held at Auburn
University. Day one of the
symposium is for veterinarians only; the second two days are open to everyone.
Reports from this conference will be available on the Auburn University
College of Veterinary Medicine - Department of Clinical Sciences web site.
Contact Robert L Gillette, DVM, MSE to subscribe to the Sports Medicine
Newsletter (gillerl@vetmed.auburn.edu). This
particular column addresses a new piece of equipment that has the potential to
impact all areas of care and training of performance and companion animals
called The Anxiety Wrap ä
developed by Susan Sharpe and Kimberly Ring (www.anxietywrap.com).
The Anxiety Wrapä,
Development and Multiple Uses: Susan
Sharpe and Kimberly Ring, both Midwest Tellington Touch Practitioners, created
this product based on the body wrapping method used by Linda Tellington Jones
(1). Tellington-Jones employs
elastic bandages wrapped in a crisscross pattern on the dog’s trunk.
Insert Figure 1.
The wrap can assist in calming distress, controlling hyperactivity, increasing
attention and focus, improving body awareness, enhancing movement ability in
arthritic dogs, and decreasing exaggerated responses to noise and motion
sickness. I had been using elastic
bandages and other equipment that produced maintained pressure over specific
body surfaces for 35 years. (2). Humans,
canine and equine clients all demonstrated positive adaptive responses to this
approach. I found elastic bandages
effective but difficult to apply and fit quickly making them less practical for
exhibitors with little time to prepare a dog for its performance.
I discovered The Anxiety Wrapä
web site in August 2002 while surfing the net and wrote to Susan Sharpe. Susan
and Kimberly Ring were in the process of writing an article on their wrap soon
to be published in The Whole Dog Journal. They wanted to include a
theoretical section that presents the putative mode of action for the wrap on
the dog’s nervous system. Within
days of our initial communication, we met to exchange information and to share
techniques.
The Neurophysiological Rational for The Anxiety Wrapä
and Tellington-Jones Body Wrap: The
purpose of the sensory receptors located throughout the body is to report the
status of the animal’s world, both internal (organs, muscles, joints,
connective tissue) and external (from the nose, eyes, ears, skin) to the brain.
The brain integrates all incoming sensation, interprets its significance and
then activates appropriate body systems. There
is a constant feedback interaction between the brain and body to fine-tune
responses. Touch is one of the
earliest sensory inputs to develop and has a profound effect on the animal’s
development including awareness, consciousness and survival.
Every effort must be made to normalize touch responses.
Many factors can influence how easily sensory receptors fire sending their
messages to the brain. The brain and spinal cord are called the Central Nervous
System (CNS). In addition, there is
an Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) that maintains all the body’s vital
functions. The ANS has two divisions, the sympathetic nervous system (the energy
production and expenditure system) and the parasympathetic nervous system (the
energy restoration system). When an animal is stressed, the sympathetic division takes
over and sends neural messages to receptors to lower the amount of sensation
required to produce a response. This
action helps ensure survival by reporting potential danger to the CNS. The CNS
allows the animal to flee or fight as appropriate. Damage in the CNS, its communicating nerves, chronic pain or
stress can all lower the threshold of sensation needed to fire the sensory
receptors. This explains why some
abused animals, or those experiencing pain, are aversive to being touched.
In theory, maintained pressure acts to calm the sensory receptors by slowing
their hypersensitivity. Remember
that a chronically stressed dog also perceives potential injury when there may
be none. As a result, his “guard
is up”, which is another way to say his sympathetic nervous system has taken
over. The elastic wrap or The Anxiety Wrap ä
exert maintained pressure that causes a decline in the sensitivity at the
receptors; however, the adaptation at each receptor may vary with the intensity
of the stimulus and the area of the body being stimulated. Some areas are far
more sensitive than others. For example, the mouth area is highly sensitive with
lots of receptors per unit space while the animal’s back is less sensitive.
The Many Uses of The Anxiety Wrapä:
Figures 2 shows my rescue dog, “Miles” being fitted with the wrap
by Kimberly and Susan. Miles has a pathological fear of thunderstorms and having
his nails cut. He has bilateral damage to his rear stifles, thoracic vertebrae
problems, and a lack of awareness of where he is in space.
While wearing the wrap, Miles can negotiate our stairs with increased
coordination. So far, I have not seen carry-over to his coordination when he is
not wearing the wrap. When I
know that a storm is approaching, I place him in his wrap. Recently, he slept
through a thunderstorm, something that has never happened before.
Before trimming his toenails, I put him in his wrap for 30 minutes.
Initially I would apply TTouch over his wrap for about 10 minutes and
then trim one toenail, being sure to make it as positive an experience as
possible. Now I can trim all his
nails and he remains calm throughout the process.
Figure 3 shows another of my Goldens modeling The Anxiety Wrapä.
With this dog, I use the wrap for warm-up before field training. It seems
to improve both his attention and focus. Several
weeks ago, I had him in the wrap while sending him to retrieve a bumper.
A man came up to the field with his lab and laughed at me. He asked if I
had my “swamp collie” in a doggie coat to keep the burrs out of his hair?
When he saw the logo on the dog’s coat (Figure 4) he asked me why I was
sending an anxious dog out after a bumper.
I just laughed then explained about the wrap.
Sharpe and Ring say that the wrap is helpful with: hyperactivity, destructive
chewing, barking, fear biting, car sickness, sensitivity to touch, generalized
calming, reducing jumping, leash pulling, and aggression. You may have other
ideas for its use. Research is planned to test the effectiveness of this product
in controlled studies.
References:
1. L. Tellington-Jones, Getting in TTouch With Your Dog, A Gentle Approach to Influencing Behavior, Health, and Performance (North Pomfret, VT: Trafalgar Square Publishing, 1999, pps. 82-85.
2. S.D. Farber, Neurorehabilitation, A Multisensory
Approach (Philadelphia: W.B.
Saunders Co., 1982) pps. 126-128.