{"id":10391,"date":"2026-08-09T15:31:55","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T19:31:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/synergiepp.com\/can-we-ask-a-client-to-keep-pushing-an-animal-to-teach-them-about-respecting-boundaries\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T17:00:57","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T21:00:57","slug":"can-we-ask-a-client-to-keep-pushing-an-animal-to-teach-them-about-respecting-boundaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/synergiepp.com\/en\/can-we-ask-a-client-to-keep-pushing-an-animal-to-teach-them-about-respecting-boundaries\/","title":{"rendered":"Can we ask a client to keep pushing an animal to teach them about respecting boundaries?"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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“We’re going to ask the client to push a little more. The dog will eventually listen, and that’s how they’ll understand what a boundary is.”<\/div>
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At first glance, this idea might seem interesting.<\/div>
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After all, learning to recognize and respect the boundaries of others is a frequent goal in the helping relationship.<\/div>
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But an essential question deserves to be asked:<\/div>
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Who carries the responsibility for this learning?<\/div>
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At Synergie Plumes et Poils, we believe it should never be the animal.<\/div>
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The most common mistake<\/div>
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When a goal is relevant, it’s sometimes tempting to build an activity that allows the client to live this experience directly with the dog.<\/div>
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They are then asked to keep pushing.<\/div>
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To keep soliciting the animal.<\/div>
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To wait until the dog moves away or refuses contact.<\/div>
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The idea is to make the client understand what a boundary is.<\/div>
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But if we take a few moments to look at the scene through the dog’s eyes, another reality appears.<\/div>
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The animal’s perspective<\/div>
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To the dog, this person is often a stranger.<\/div>
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They don’t know the goal of the activity.<\/div>
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They don’t know that this persistence is part of an exercise.<\/div>
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They simply experience a person who continues to solicit them when they might prefer more space.<\/div>
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Why ask the dog to carry the responsibility of saying “no”?<\/div>
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Why wait until they have to move away, avoid, or communicate their discomfort to consider the goal achieved?<\/div>
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The dog then becomes the one who has to manage a situation that isn’t theirs to handle.<\/div>
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The SPP methodology perspective<\/div>
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At Synergie Plumes et Poils, we believe it’s possible to develop this skill differently.<\/div>
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The goal remains the same: learning to recognize and respect boundaries.<\/div>
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But we aim to intervene before the dog needs to say no.<\/div>
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The client learns to observe.<\/div>
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To recognize the first signs of a dog that prefers more space.<\/div>
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To notice when they slow down, look away, choose to move off, or stop engaging.<\/div>
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Learning no longer relies on the dog’s refusal.<\/div>
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It relies on the client’s ability to recognize their partner’s needs.<\/div>
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An everyday example<\/div>
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Imagine you’re talking with someone.<\/div>
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You start to step back slightly.<\/div>
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You look elsewhere.<\/div>
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You cross your arms.<\/div>
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You become quieter.<\/div>
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Would you prefer the other person to notice these signals and naturally adjust their behavior…<\/div>
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Or that they keep pushing until you’re forced to say clearly:<\/div>
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“Stop.”<\/div>
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Respecting boundaries often begins long before the word “no.”<\/div>
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An example in helping relationships<\/div>
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A special education teacher is working with a teenager who has difficulty recognizing others’ personal space.<\/div>
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Rather than asking them to keep pushing the dog until it moves away, she builds an observation activity.<\/div>
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Together, they look at the dog’s behaviors.<\/div>
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At what point do they choose to approach?<\/div>
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At what point do they prefer to keep a certain distance?<\/div>
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What behaviors show that they are engaged?<\/div>
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What behaviors indicate they would like a break?<\/div>
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The teenager gradually learns to adjust their own behaviors before the dog needs to communicate discomfort.<\/div>
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The practitioner then draws a parallel with human relationships.<\/div>
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“Do you think the people around you sometimes send little signals too before saying no?”<\/div>
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The dog didn’t have to endure the exercise.<\/div>
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They became a partner who allowed for a much richer learning experience.<\/div>
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Professional practice protects all partners<\/div>
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A quality intervention doesn’t just seek to reach a goal.<\/div>
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It also reflects on the means used to get there.<\/div>
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The most powerful learning experiences are often those that respect the client as much as the animal.<\/div>
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This reflection is based on a methodology of human and animal interactions, a rigorous selection of the animal partner, adapted preparation, and a certification that protects animal welfare while pursuing relevant clinical goals.<\/strong><\/div>
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Because the role of an animal partner isn’t to teach the client how to receive a refusal.<\/strong><\/h3>
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It is to participate in an experience that helps the client recognize the other’s needs before a refusal becomes necessary.<\/div>
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Respecting boundaries doesn’t start when the other person says no. It starts when we learn to recognize that they shouldn’t have to say it. <\/strong><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“We’re going to ask the client to push a little more. The dog will eventually listen, and that’s how they’ll understand what a boundary is.” At first glance, this idea might seem interesting. After all, learning to recognize and respect the boundaries of others is a frequent goal in the helping relationship. But an essential […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10392,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jet_sm_ready_style":"","_jet_sm_style":"","_jet_sm_controls_values":"","_jet_sm_fonts_collection":"","_jet_sm_fonts_links":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reflection-on-current-practices"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/synergiepp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/synergiepp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/synergiepp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/synergiepp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/synergiepp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10391"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/synergiepp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10393,"href":"https:\/\/synergiepp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10391\/revisions\/10393"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/synergiepp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/synergiepp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/synergiepp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/synergiepp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}