What is Deep Pressure Therapy, & How do You Train it?

    What is Deep Pressure Therapy?


Deep pressure therapy, or DPT, is when a dog uses its body weight to target specific pressure points on the handlers body to help relieve the symptoms of their disability. This task can assist with an array of disabilities. Some of the most common things this task can help with is pain management, lowering the handlers heart rate, and helping reduce anxiety in handlers with disabilities like panic disorder, depression  and (C)PTSD. 




How Do I Train DPT?

First, decide a command name and do research to discover what pressure points need to be stimulated to help relieve your symptoms. After you have come to a decision on the above, grab some treats and your dog! As it would be virtually impossible to go over how to train this for every single pressure point, I will be using the ones on the upper thighs to go over how to train this. The training is the same for the most common ones! 

To begin, sit on the edge of a chair or your couch and get your dog's attention with the treat. Lure them to come up onto your lap and bring their front legs onto the other side of you while their back legs remain on the floor. Right now focus on them coming on you lap in the general position instead of them coming onto the specific spot you need. It is important for them to understand that you want them on you before you try to tell them to do it in a very specific spot. When they go onto your lap, tell them good boy/girl and give them the treat. then tell them to get down with a command like "off", and repeat the process. After doing this a few times, add in the command name. I'm going to use cover. 

After they have that down, it is time to get specific. Tell them to cover and put pressure on their side with your hand to get them to move into the position you need. reward them only when they are EXACTLY where you need them. increase time between treats and repeat the process until your dog goes directly to the spot, and holds it for aprox. 10 minutes. 

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