Corporal Cuddling

A friend coined the term long ago and it's stuck. Stryker came into rescue not being too fond of restraint or "relaxing" near a human (not doing anything, or in her words "boring!"). It's something a good training friend recommended we work on. Physical contact needs to be a positive experience and she should be able to relax without doing something, even if just for short periods of time.

Tonight she brought her huge stuffed cat over to me to play with, so we played for about 10 minutes then we worked on cuddling. I've worked on pairing touch with food and toys. When we play tug, I put my hands all over her: face/legs/nose/ears/chest/etc. and at first she would release her tug when I touched her, now she holds on and gets more excited! As concerned as I was about creating a "fake" relaxation, I've shaped her to lie down and put her head down if I'm sitting on a chair as well.

After our play session I asked her for a down and started slowly massaging her body. She actually leaned into me and seemed to want more. Overall I'd say we sat on the floor together for about 10 minutes. She never "asked" for more attention, but she also didn't try to get up and leave (unless there was something exciting going on, like a cat walking by). This is the first time she's relaxed with me. I didn't even have to resort to sitting on her! (If anyone reading this thinks I'd seriously sit on her... I promise I wouldn't... I don't think!)

Corporal cuddling tonight was a success. We'll see how tomorrow goes!