Healing Touch

My dog is home. Hallelujah! They wanted to keep him at the vet’s longer, but I had stood all I could stand of his not being home. He looks awful and probably feels worse, but he is slowly eating again, for the first time in over a week. A million choruses of praise and thanks to God.

As you may have guessed, I am very attached to my dog. I’m not one of those people who thinks of my dog as my child, and I know the bond between us is not the same as the bond between parent and child or sibling and sibling. But we are a very close-knit pack of two. I’ve had him since he was six weeks old (he’s now seven), and we have a very “Mary Had a Little Lamb” relationship. I take him with me whenever I possibly can; he went to work with me every day for years. I rarely go out of town and leave him behind, and when I do he stays at my parents’ house, which is doggie paradise. Basically, to say that we are joined at the hip would not be overstating the case. And this week, he has faced trauma after trauma, much of it while not knowing where I was.

So how did I reassure this wounded, exhausted, traumatized dog? I used one of the cornerstones of TBRI-- healing touch. There is amazing research out there on the benefits of infant massage (especially for preemies and NICU patients) and on the benefit of massage for elderly people (especially Alzheimer’s patients). I’m pretty sure you can find similar research on canine massage (I just googled it, and it turns out you can go to school to become a canine masseuse…hmmm). I didn’t go that fancy, though.

I brought Devo home just before three this afternoon. And since walking through the door, I have had a hand on him the entire time (well, except for right now, obviously). For some of the time, I was petting him, but for most of the time I just had a hand or my whole arm against his back or under his head. He was asleep for 95% of that time, but I believe that the simple sensation of my flesh and pulse against his was soothing and reassuring.

I believe this kind of safe, soothing touch is powerful in reassuring a traumatized dog. I believe it is even more powerful in reassuring traumatized children. The Institute for Child Development at TCU, where Drs. Karyn Purvis and David Cross developed TBRI, has an entire DVD on Healthy Touch (available here). I strongly encourage you to invest in this resource if you serve children from hard places.

And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, “Get up, and do not be afraid.” Matthew 17:7