T-Touch fiesta

Right now I am in the midst of practitioner training for Tellington Touch or T-Touch. For more about this method and for info about classes, books, etc please visit http://www.tellingtontouch.com/, as the following just includes general descriptions. I am in the midst of doing case studies, and I have had the pleasure of working on my friend Jordyn's (http://www.myspace.com/dancingminddesign) animals, plus her next door neighbor's dog Maggie. The whole household is so sweet, and even the animals who have some health issues maintain such a positive attitude. Here are some pictures which Jordyn took, and descriptions of some of the touches used in this method.

Many of the touches in T-Touch are named after animals. On the top photo, here I am with Noodles, doing what is called the "abalone touch", a very soothing touch in which your whole hand is a unit, like an abalone shell, and you move your whole hand in a circle and a quarter. He looks like he is blissing out :) On the picture underneath that, I am doing the "raccoon touch" which is done using the tip of the index finger, on his front right foot, on his toes and in between his toes.

Next is Petey. Here you can see him in a simple wrap, which is done with a 3" ace bandage, which can be very calming especially to a nervous animal. Petey is not nervous, but the wrap does seem to calm his energy. FYI, something I have learned since the photo was taken is that the wrap is to be tied off to the side of the spine instead of right on the spine, so it does not put pressure there. Anyway, sometimes Petey likes to sit on his hind legs, so in the next picture you can see me stroking his ears in this position. The ears contain many acupuncture points, so working on the ears can help with a range of conditions including stress, arthritis, digestive issues, and is helpful even in EXTREMELY stressful situations such as if your animal is going into shock. Stroking the ears or doing raccoon touches on the ears and near the base of the ear is great to do if you are getting ready to take your animal to the vet.

Next, you see a picture of me working on Maggie, an Italian greyhound who lives next door to Jordyn. I put a wrap on her, as she is friendly but quite high-strung. It was easier for me to do T-Touches on her after putting the wrap on. After working on her ears, then I did some "lying leopard touches" on her body. For this touch, your hand is more flattened out and quite a lot of the finger area is in contact with the body. This is a very soothing touch which can be helpful more nervous animals. In the next post, I will describe working on Jordyn's cats.