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On Using NLP with Animals!

In response to a request on the NLPTALK email list -- for opinions about using NLP to help heal an injured dog -- who/which was unable to use his legs after an injury.

[Recipient omitted], I own a German Shepherd (Zoe), and frequently explore how much NLP-based behaviors and actions affect her! I posted a few months back on pacing & leading Zoe into a sleep state within 10 minutes of my arriving home from the airport (when it used to take her 30-60 minutes to calm down after not seeing me for a bit). So this is an interesting question!

Just as classical conditioning can help a dog to learn that a word is associated with an action or an object, we think of an anchor as some stimuli/stimulus which is associated with a response of some kind. So just as we teach a dog how to "sit", we teach our brains how to repeat a response through an anchor. Same thing, basically, at that level.

Well, it turns out that not only are dogs good at learning new tasks or actions, while you give the command or associated-word, but they're extremely good at associating words with actions they already do. Much like, e.g., when they stretch in the morning. As Zoe was growing up, before I knew about NLP or DHE, I played this sort of 'trick' on her:

As we were waking up, I'd wait until she showed signs of going into a stretch, and I'd go, "Zoe, Streeeeeeettttttchhhhhh" until she was done, and then I'd close the word "stretch" off. 3-5 times later, I could say "streeeeeetch" in the morning -before- she showed her usual indicators of heading into the stretch, and sure enough, that induced the stretch.

So to frame the possibilities in NLP terms, I don't know as well as you can judge how injurious or helpful it could be to anchor the natural extension movements this animal is *already* doing... and then carefully escalate their frequency (and of course, the animal's flexibility as well) by firing the anchor more & more frequently! For safety's sake, I'd really want to be as sure as possible that the animal was ready to begin moving its legs {more}, and perhaps the back, before trying things like this out.

Regards,

Jonathan Altfeld

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