TTouch and Reiki with Jinx (and Sammi)

Above: Offering Reiki to Jinx (grey and white cat) with one hand and Sammi (black cat) with the other

Today I went to work with my friend Jordyn's (http://dancingminddesign.com/) cat Jinx, who has been losing mobility in his back legs, due either to a disk problem or tumor. It's been a couple of weeks since I saw him, and he did seem weaker in his back end when we started out today. Sometimes he will walk on his feet knuckled-over, drag one or both back legs, or collapse. This has been ongoing to some degree but did seem to be worse initially today.

First I worked with him with a TTouch half-wrap on, which seemed to help his awareness right away. He began to use his back feet more and was falling less. As he moved, I was doing connected TTouches going down either side of his back, as well as some TTouches on his hind feet and legs. These also helped him to get some more connection. The above pic is from a previous session, but is to show you basically what the wrap looks like. Please visit this link at my youtube channel for a demo of the wrap, plus demos of many other TTouches: http://youtube.com/sarahsuricat.

When he was tired, he curled up on one of his cat beds and I began to offer Reiki energy to him, first from a short distance, and then hands-on. His eyes closed and he began to stretch out. I also did little raccoon TTouches on his hind feet, in between the toes, on the toes and feet and up and down the legs a bit. Sometimes I used my thumb to do the TTouches, stabilizing my hand with my index finger. Below, he nudged my hand with his paw, as though to connect further.

While I did this, Sammi, another of Jordyn's cats, was on the other side of where I was sitting, rubbing against me as she is in heat (she will be spayed soon!). She was craving the energy as well, and calmed as I put one hand on her back, and then her belly. Both of them calmed as I did this.

After a while, Jinx got up, walked around some more, then settled on a cat bed again. Again, Sammi settled on the other side of me, so I offered her Reiki as well part of the time (with one hand on Jinx and the other on her). I started out with one of my hands on either side of Jinx, close to where he was, and ended up with my hands around his shoulder area, or the brachial chakras. I felt a very strong connection and the energy being pulled into his body, and I visualized it traveling down his body to his hind legs. Later on, he shifted so that one of my hands was over his lower back around the base of his tail, and so I sent the energy to first his sacral chakra and then his base chakra, again feeling and visualizing the energy going into his body and down his legs. I literally felt it pulled there as well. We spent quite a good amount of time there. The energy in the whole apartment felt very peaceful.

When I felt he had enough, I ended the session. When he got up to walk again, Jordyn said that he was doing much better than he had been before.

Much love to you Jinx, Jordyn, Sammi and the rest of the Jordyn's furry ones. Look forward to seeing you all soon.

Jinx and the TTouch Body Wrap

I have been working with my friend Jordyn Thiessen's (http://dancingminddesign.com/) cat Jinx, as he has been losing mobility in his hind legs, either due to a disk problem or a tumor. TTouch and Reiki have been helping him to feel more comfortable and bring some more connection, but last week I decided to try a wrap with him.
I am never sure how a cat will react to having a wrap put on them. For many cats, especially the cats who I work with in the shelters, who are often fearful, the stress of putting the wrap on is just too much for them, even when done gradually. However, some cats are completely accepting of the wrap and for them, the experience can be profound.



Jinx was completely fine with me putting the half wrap on him. I used a two-inch ace bandage cut in half so it was really a one-inch bandage. What was interesting was that immediately he began to walk and it was obvious that he felt much more connection to his hind feet and legs. Lately, his legs are generally quite wobbly, and can buckle altogether or sometimes his feet will flip over so he is dragging the front part of his feet.

We went into the hall with him, where he likes to walk, and I connected another wrap to the half-wrap so that he now had a full wrap on, which you will see in one of the videos. He is doing quite well, using his feet more completely and using his legs in a more integrated way. At the end of the first clip, he gets a bit tired and loses balance again, but altogether this is a big improvement for him.

Then we took off the wrap, and immediately his hind legs buckled again. However, once Jordyn put him into standing position, he started to use his legs more fully again, though could retain the balance for just a short time.

Then we put a half-wrap on him again, and again he was walking in a more integrated and full way. And when we took it off the second time, he seemed to retain the feeling of balance a bit longer than he had the previous time.
Our hope is that with some time and practice, his body will start to remember the feeling of connection without the wrap, or, at least, he will be able to be as balanced as is possible for him, given whatever his medical condition may be.
I have a demo of the half-wrap on my youtube channel http://youtube.com/sarahsuricat, and will try to get a demo of the full wrap up soon. There are different ways to do it, but for Jinx, I just added onto the half-wrap by looping another wrap through the back part of the half-wrap, then looping it around the hind legs.

At the end, I did some Reiki with Jinx to help him wind down again. Thanks Jinx! look forward to seeing you soon. xo

Pip Meets Oliver: The Sensitive Subject of Introducing Cats

Above: Pip, below: Oliver. Thank you, Sarah Hoppes, for the use of your beautiful photographs which I used in this post. Sarah is one of the guardians of these cats, and is a professional photographer.

Several months ago, thanks to a referral from my wonderful Reiki teacher, Sheryl Berger, I had a session a few months ago with a lovely grey and white cat, Pip, and his people, Sarah and Chris. Sarah and Chris had rescued Pip a couple of months before from a dumpster near where they live. Pip was often very sweet and cuddly with them, but during the middle of the night, he would often howl and rage around, pouncing on them, etc. He had been checked out medically and was in good health. So we were hopeful that TTouch would be of help to him and to his people.

You can read a more detailed account of this session in the following post:

http://sarahsuricat.blogspot.com/2011/06/ttouch-with-pip.html

During our session, I worked with Pip, as well as showing Sarah and Chris how to do a number of TTouches. After the session, Sarah and Chris continued to work with him with the TTouches and, especially after a move to a larger apartment, he calmed down a lot. They also said the cat condo I had recommended that they get for Pip worked very well– that he would go in there to calm himself down. (see below)

Now comes the second part of the story. A second cat came into their life, who they rescued from their new neighborhood. He was a lovely 6-month old tabby kitten who they named Oliver.

Sarah and Chris were very sensitive in their process of integrating the two cats; letting the cats get used to each other little by little, keeping them in separate rooms but bringing them together for increasing amounts of time, doing TTouches with them. They were also doing TTouch with the cats simultaneously on either sides of the separating door, feeding them tasty treats at the same time.
Then, on the evening of Hurricane Irene, the two cats were near each other and they were giving them love and TTouch, when Pip suddenly became agitated and tried to jump on Oliver to attack him. So they had to take a step back in the cats’ integration. At that point, they asked me to come and do a session with them to see what would be a good strategy for working with the two cats going forward.
They had been switching the cats’ spaces every so often, and at that point, they had Pip in the bedroom and Oliver in the living room. Oliver had started to hide under the couch, and Pip was often trying to get out of the bedroom, often banging against the door with his body. It sounded like Oliver was terrified of Pip, and that Pip was continuing to be agitated, probably threatened by the presence of Oliver.
I had a feeling that Oliver would benefit from being in the bedroom so he could snuggle with the owners at night and that Pip would be more content in the living room, so I suggested that they switch the cats’ spaces. Also at that point Oliver didn’t have a little cat condo for a private space, so I suggested that they get him one. These changes worked very well. Oliver didn’t try to hide any more, and Pip was not trying to get into Oliver’s space, the bedroom. About a week after they made this change, I had a session with Sarah, Pip and Oliver.
Each cat has a good amount of space, complete with food, litter box, toys and a cat condo to hide out in when they need. Chris and Sarah have been continuing to feed and TTouch the cats on either side of the door. They had been bringing Pip in to Oliver's space using a harness and leash, but had been scared to do that since Pip had tried to jump on Oliver to attack him. The cats seemed very content and not stressed at all when in their own spaces.

I did TTouches (and Reiki) with both cats in their separate spaces. Then we decided to try bringing Pip into Oliver's space. We put harnesses and leashes on both cats, so that it would be a safe, controlled situation.

Sarah was TTouching Oliver on the bed when I brought Pip into his space. I was surprised, as Pip did not strain at the leash or go for Oliver right away (apparently this is what had happened when they had tried this before). I kept the leash loose, and he first wandered a bit, sniffing the other cat's food area etc. Then Pip went up on the bed (where Oliver was), but I kept him a distance away. All the while, I was doing TTouches on him and giving some treats, and Sarah was doing the same with Oliver.

Before today, she said Oliver would try to hide and get away from Pip when they had tried this. This time he stood his ground, doing a little growling and hissing. I took Pip back into the other room fairly soon because I didn't want Oliver to get too stressed or for Pip to try to jump on Oliver. Then we did TTouches on the cats in their separate spaces to calm them, and tried again. This time, Pip more readily went to try to jump on the bed and get to Oliver. Again, Oliver growled and hissed but didn't run away. And I took Pip out once he jumped up on the bed, before he got anywhere close to Oliver.

While it wasn't great that Oliver was growling and hissing, it felt it was a step in the right direction that Oliver wasn't so terrified that he had to scramble, run away and hide -- that he was confident enough to stand his ground. I feel that with more time and more TTouch and more contact with the other cat, the growling and hissing will be less. And when I picked Pip up to bring him back into his space, he wasn't crazy or aggressive with me. I kept my attitude very matter of fact and he was relaxed and chill right away once back in his own space, not straining or clawing to get back into the other space, though of course he was more interested and was lying near the door.

I brought Pip back into his own space again, and spent a good deal of time with each cat to calm them and make them feel good.

Next, we tried a doing a TTouch half wrap (http://www.youtube.com/sarahsuricat#p/u/25/N83oXBZy0KM), first on Pip, then on Oliver. As the cats are accustomed to and comfortable with having harnesses put on, they were both fine about putting the wrap on (unlike most cats I work with, who think it is something to play with and attack!). I noticed a small shift with Pip after the wrap was put on. I did some TTouches on him after putting the wrap on.

However, with Oliver, who tends to be more of a scaredy cat, the effect was immediate and dramatic. It really was magical, the transformation was so concrete. He started PURRRING up a storm, stretching out and looking SO comfortable. (below, Oliver is shown with the half-wrap on).

I advised Sarah to definitely use the TTouch wrap, especially on Oliver, when they bring the cats together.

I told her it would be beneficial to use at various other times as well, incorporating the TTouches along with the wrap. I also described to her the importance of intention and positive visualization – something which can sound so simplistic but which can make such a difference.
At the end of the session, both cats were EXTREMELY relaxed. It seems to me that it will just take some time for them to be comfortable with each other.
Sarah and Chris are very dedicated to helping the cats, and are continuing to do a great job with them. In a follow-up call with Sarah a couple of weeks after the session, she said they are continuing to make good progress with the cats. They are using the TTouch wrap, along with the TTouches and some other techniques I advised them to use to make the cats more comfortable with each other. Though Pip still can still get a bit overexcited at times, in general, the cats are becoming more and more at ease with each other. Both cats are also becoming more secure and confident, which helps them to feel more comfortable and less threatened by the other cat.

Thanks so much Pip, Oliver, Sarah and Chris, I wish you all the best!!

TTouch with Mr. Prince

Mr. Prince is a sweet little Maltese dog who I met, along with his human mom, Mary, when I did a TTouch demonstration for a Maltese meetup group. He is a dear little soul, and gets along great with Mary and with his dog sisters, but he is a very nervous little guy in general. A couple of the ways the nervousness manifests itself is in barking and urinating in the house. He was a rescue and previously wasn't taken out for walks, so he also had gotten used to peeing in the house. When I worked with him at the Maltese meetup, Mary could see that the TTouches were extremely calming for Mr. Prince. He is usually a bit wary with a stranger, yet he was leaning into me as I did TTouches with him. So it was wonderful to hear from Mary's friend Leslie, who wanted to give a gift of a TTouch session to Mary and Mr. Prince. Leslie was also present at the sesson, and it was great to have questions and feedback from both Mary and Leslie as the session progressed. When I arrived at Mary's place, I got such friendly greetings from the whole gang. It was clear that Mr. Prince was quite hyper, though, and was easily triggered to start barking. First of all, I put a TTouch half-wrap on him, which is done using an ace bandage (see link for demo: http://www.youtube.com/sarahsuricat#p/u/23/N83oXBZy0KM) This started to bring down his stress level right away. With the wrap on, I began to demonstrate some of the various TTouches so that Mary will be able to do them on Mr. Prince. Connected abalone TTouches going down each side of his body were especially soothing to him. I could feel the tension in his body melting away and the expression on his face relaxing. As we went along, we kept noticing how much calmer Mr. Prince's energy was. Leslie commented that his expression on his face was as though he almost wasn't sure what to do now that he actually was calm. It seemed to be an unfamiliar state to him. I also demonstrated how to do the beginnings of a face wrap. This wrap is especially good for dogs who tend to bark a lot, as it reminds them of the mouth area, and can help them to relax there, and to feel less like barking. A complete face wrap seemed to be too overwhelming for Mr. Prince, so I simply folded the wrap and draped it a bit over his snout, then later tried draping it over his head. I just left it there for a matter of a minute or so, then took it off. Just these simple actions appeared to give him some awareness in this area. I also showed her how to do TTouches around the mouth area, while we were on that subject. Following that, I showed her more of the TTouches, strokes and lifts. I had also brought a Thundershirt, but to my surprise, it was actually a bit too small for Mr. Prince. But we were able to see how effective it would be for him by just draping it around him. I told Mary I would bring her the next size up for him. Then I had Mary show me a few TTouches to make sure that she was clear on how to do them, and showed her the wrap again. By this time, Mr. Prince's stress level had dropped SO substantially since I had entered the apartment. It really was a dramatic shift. I felt like the atmosphere of the whole apartment felt quieter and more calm. I left Mary with a Bach Flower remedy to give Mr. Prince which would be helpful for his issues in addition to the TTouch. We met another time so that I could show her how to put on the Thundershirt. The design of these shirts is wonderful. It is a very fitted shirt, and is made so that you don't have to put it over the head or put legs through. They are meant to be put on so that they hug the body, but are not tight. It wraps around the body, using velcro to secure it in several places. Again, we saw such a dramatic shift with Mr. Prince once the Thundershirt was on him, and felt his energy to be more focused and at peace. He had been running around barking just monents ago, and suddenly he just became very calm and laid down on the couch. I also did some TTouches on him with the Thundershirt on, and I had him get up from the couch a couple of times to walk around, to make sure he didn't feel "frozen", as sometimes the Thundershirts or wraps cause such an unfamiliar feeling that the dog will freeze and seem to feel he can't move. As with the wraps, the purpose of the Thundershirt is to bring the animal back into its body, and to give it a new sensation. For that reason, they are not meant to be left on all the time, just put on for periods of time to remind the dog that his energy can be calm and focused. The wraps are never to be left on an animal unsupervised, as the animal can become tangled up in it if he tries to take it off. Above and below are photos of Mr. Prince in his Thundershirt. He is quite a photogenic little guy! Thank you so much one and all. Mr. Prince did a great job, and Mary is continuing to make wonderful progress with him as she continues with the TTouch work with him.

TTouch and Reiki with Mayor's Alliance Rescue Cats: March 21

Fun day today with the Mayor's Alliance Rescue cats through Tavi & Friends' TTouch-in-Rescue program, some new cats and some cats I have been friends with for a while. It is great that the setup often allows for the cats be let out of their cages to work with them. The first cat I worked with today is Blackie. She is a cat who is sensitive being touched on her back end, she will grown a bit if you go there. I did manage to work in a few slow abalone touches in that area, gently working down her back. Then I went back to working on her upper body, and did some raccoon TTouches on her forehead, and some ear strokes. I work very gently and slowly, giving her breaks, as she is quite sensitive in general and can become overstimulated. I worked with Honey a couple of times during my session there today. She is new, and was rather frightened, so I first did TTouch on her head, then did some Reiki with her, focusing on the key chakras and heart chakras. Hands-on seemed to be too intense for her, so I then moved a short distance away from her, and she was very receptive. When I came back to her later in the session, she rubbed her head against my hand as I did some TTouches with her. I kept that session short as I didn't want to overwhelm her. I've worked with Kobie (above) for a while, and he is always excited to come outof his cage, waiting for me with his paws up against the front of his cage. I did some llama TTouches and chimp touches on him here and there, as he was really more in a mood to play today. Mack is very familiar and friendly with me now, and was in the mood to play, so I mostly did some TTouches on him with the back of my hand, calming his energy a bit. Maddie is new. She was in the back of the cage initially, and slowly came towards me, meowing when I opened the door to her cage. I wasn't quite sure whether it was a friendly meow or not so I was a bit cautious with her at first, but soon she was rubbing her head against my hand, and even sitting up on her back legs and pushing against my hand. I did Chimp TTouch, Llama, TTouch, Noah's march using the back of my hand as she came towards me and started walking back and forth, rubbing herself against me. Turns out it was indeed a friendly meow at that! Magette was also new, and is rather skittish. I started out using a foam brush, doing little circles on the outside of her mouth area, which is a great area to work on fearful cats. She was very responsive to this. I also tried using the back scratcher with her, but she seemed to think this was too large a surface and seemed frightened of this, so I stopped. Then I was able to do a few TTouches on her body using my hand, but I kept this short. Munchie is new, and was hiding in the corner initially. I began doing some circular TTouches on him, using a plastic back scratcher, and he really responded to this. Within a short time, I was able to work my hand down the handle of the back scratcher to do some TTouches directly with my hand on him. Later I was able to do more TTouches on him using my hand, and he was very responsive, rolling around and looking very comfortable. Mack is a very sweet, gentle cat who can get a bit startled around other cats. I find that with him, the TTouches he responds to the most are abalone TTouches, done very slowly going down his body. He finds these very relaxing. Pedro is quite a character. Sometimes he puts his paws on my chest and comes right up to say hello. I did connected clouded leopard TTouches and abalone TTouches on his body. I also found he really responded to Reiki - I worked on the key chakra, heart and solar plexus chakras, and he really settled into the energy. He can be a bit on the tense side, so this worked really well.

With Tango, I used the Tarantulas Pulling the Plough touch, clouded leopard TTouches down his back, and the zigzag and octopus TTouches. All of these are great for connecting the front and back ends of the body, which is especially important for him as he has a bit of an issue with his back legs, which seems to be easing up as time goes by. I also put a folded-up ace bandage across his back (instead of doing a body wrap with him using the bandage) just to remind him of his back, and help bring him back into his body. Sometimes I have done a half-wrap with him, but this time I felt that placing it over his body was enough.

Thank you one and all, look forward to seeing you soon (unless you get adopted, which would be even better)!

TTouch and Reiki with the Mayor's Alliance Cats: Feb. 28, 2011

Today there weren't too many cats at the boarding facility when I went to work with the Mayor's Alliance cats through Tavi & Friends' TTouch-in-Rescue program, so I was able to spend a little more time with each cat, which is always a pleasure.

Brie is a very playful cat who is not usually too receptive to a lot of touch. She would generally rather play than cuddle when she has a chance to get out of her cage for a while. I usually let her out and take the cue from her as to what she is in the mood for. If I sit near her and wait for her to come to me, she usually comes up and starts to rub her head against me. When she did this, I did a few slow raccoon TTouches on her forehead, which she found to be calming. With her, I just do a very little bit of TTouch, give her a break, then a little more, as she can get easily over-stimulated.

The other thing I did with her this time was to offer her Reiki from a short distance away. She was very responsive to this, and I saw her eyes close and relax. This was really a pleasure to see.

Kobie is an extremely playful and friendly cat. He was a bit standoffish when I first met him a few weeks ago, and still sometimes will initially move away if I move towards him too quickly, but now once I touch him he is very receptive, purring, licking, nuzzling against me. I did clouded leopard TTouches and abalone TTouches at a slow speed, and then some gentle ear strokes. After working with him a bit, I felt his energy become more relaxed and focused, and he laid on his side purring as I did this.

Mack is extremely sweet. He waits at the front of the cage to be let out, then will come up next to me, walking back and forth, rubbing against me. I did connected clouded leopard TTouches and abalone TTouches down either side of his back, then some ear strokes. After that I offered him Reiki, focusing on his base chakra (energy center), which is right around the base of the tail. Reiki helped to calm his energy a great deal. I will have to try this again with him.

Nene is also a love. He has a very gentle, sweet energy. He seems to respond best to abalone TTouches (circular TTouches which use the whole hand). The TTouches which use a larger surface of your hand like this can be especially comforting. I also did ear TTouches on him.

Tango is quite sweet. His walking has been a bit awkward since the beginning. Apparently it is thought to possibly be a neurological issue. He can get around fine, but doesn't use his legs quite properly. He swings his hips from side to side and the legs come along, they don't bend and flex completely.

I did connected clouded leopard TTouches all down his back and his legs in order to increase awareness from front to back. Then I decided to try a TTouch body wrap with him. We generally use ace bandages for the body wraps, but for cats and smaller animals, sometimes we use other stretchy, narrower things. Today I used a 2 inch bandage. If you are going to attempt to do this on a cat, please do it in small steps, which I did with this cat, even though he is a friendly cat. If it is too much for the cat to handle even in small steps, back off and try some of the TTouches instead.

To help get Tango used to the wrap, I just placed it across his back (folded up so it was about 6 inches long folded up) a few times, letting him get used to the sensation. Another option would be to offer a treat to the cat using the wrap as a dinner plate. Then I put it partially on him, took it off, and repeated this a few times. Finally I put it all the way on (see picture below). This is a half-wrap. It goes across the chest, crosses over the back, crosses over the stomach, then ties off to the side of the spine (so as not to put pressure on the spine). It hugs the body gently, it is not meant to be tight. The purpose is to be calming, to increase body awareness, to bring a frightened animal back into its body.

Tango's first reaction to the wrap seemed to be a bit of a surprised reaction, like this was something really new. You can see the look on the photo below, that seems to say "What am I supposed to do now?". He got up, took a few steps, then decided to stretch out on his side, where I did some TTouch on him. He repeated this a few times, seeming to be a bit confused by the new sensation, walking a few steps, then stretching out on his side. I then took the wrap off of him. It is best to just leave a wrap on a cat a short time, just enough to give them a different sensation, so that you take it off of them before they try to take it off themselves and get hung up in it. Never leave a wrap on a cat or any other animal unattended.

When he started walking again without the wrap, I did notice just a little more focus and attention to what he was doing when he was walking, which was interesting to see.

A bit later I tried to see if I could put the wrap on again, but he had enough for the day so I didn't push it. It is always good to remember with TTouch that most often, less is more....

Following is a link to a demonstration of how to do the half-wrap. Please note that leaving a wrap on a dog for 15 minutes is ok, but on a cat, a couple of minutes or less is good, especially for the first time. I would not leave it on a cat for 15 minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/sarahsuricat#p/u/22/N83oXBZy0KM

A thank you to all these beautiful cats, and I look forward to seeing them soon.

Kittens

It's kitten season and I'm having the opportunity to work with many kittens at Social Tees shelter. Many of the kittens arrive quite frightened, at least initially, and I'm finding that for the most part, even kittens that are pretty feral can be brought around fairly quickly with TTouch, especially the ones that are very young. So many of these little ones start out pretty squirmy when I first pick them up, but after a few sessions of TTouch they learn that I am going to touch them in a gentle way and they settle right down in my lap.



This little fluffball above was pretty unsure at first, you can see that her face looks a bit worried. I tend to use a lot of the smaller touches, such as raccoon touches and chimp touches, as kittens are so small, but sometimes I will use some abalone touches (circular touches using the entire hand) as they can be quite warm and comforting.

Little raccoon touches around the outside of the mouth and jaw can also be quite soothing. I know that the little fellow below looks un-soothed and wide-eyed, but I think he was startled by the camera :)

Another thing that I do sometimes, especially with a squirmy kitten, is to wrap the kitten up in a small cloth like a washcloth. I can do touches through the cloth and once they feel comfortable then I can loosen the cloth and do touches directly. The cloth serves as a containing device so that they don't get loose in the shelter and also as a comforting, soft feeling thing similar to a wrap (ace bandage), which we use (mostly on dogs) in a variety of configurations.

hoping for these many cutes ones to be in new homes soon!

It's a (TTouch) Wrap!

At the recent TTouch training in Dayton, NJ, Debby Potts (http://integratedanimal.com) taught us quite a lot about TTouch wraps. These wraps are done using ACE bandages (or similar materials) and are gently wrapped around the animal in a variety of ways. When an animal is stressed or uncomfortable in some physical or emotional way, it can be very disconnected from its body. The wraps can help bring the animal back into its body, and can feel as though it is being gently held and cuddled, which can be very comforting.

In the two pictures below you see Debby demonstrating a couple of ways to do head wraps on Naomi, a lovely German shepherd owned by Gerlinde (you see her in the second picture on the left). A head wrap, in addition to being calming, can also be great preparation for getting a dog ready to have a head collar put on. A head collar was a good idea for Naomi because of her proportions and because she tends to be very forward with her head, so Debby showed Gerlinde a leash configuration with three points of contact which included one point connected to the head collar and then two points connected to a harness and leash, or to two different points on the harness (the "superbalance leash" which is connected to the back center clip of a step-in harness, looped through the front of the harness and then connected to the side clip of the harness. See one of the TTouch for dogs books for a full description before trying this!).

Next, below you see Marsha W (www.ecsca.org/rescuehome.html) and her dachshund Gracie, great to get to know both of them! Marsha also brought a lovely black Cocker Spaniel with her named Bella, unfortunately I did not get a good pic of her. Anyway, Gracie has a lot of difficulty walking, as her back legs are not working too well, and so we thought a wrap was a great idea for her, especially a "full wrap", which goes around the back end of the dog.

Pictured below is Gracie in the full wrap. This will give her a lot more awareness of her back end. Later, Marsha and I cut an Ace bandage in half so it was a thin strip, cut this into two shorter strips, and wrapped these around Gracie's back legs. This seemed to help her to be even more aware of her back legs and although she seemed a bit confused by the leg wrap at first, I think this could be really helpful for her. She is a sweet dog! and was very cooperative while we were wrapping all these contraptions around her.

I was also very pleased that my friend and Feldenkrais practitioner Kathy Yates was at this training with her dog Mia. Mia is a great dog! She was also extremely cooperative with having a wrap put on her and so below you see her in another kind of wrap, I believe this is what we called the racing stripe wrap. Mia is an older dog and has arthritis so it is helpful for her to have increased body awareness going to the back part of her body as well.

Mia is a terrific dog but she is extremely attached to her mom and can get very jealous when Mom pays attention to someone else. Kathy (below right) was sitting with Gracie on one side and Mia on the other side, and Mia decided that was just too much for her and she wanted attention, so she moved away from Kathy and right into the middle of the circle, where everyone would see her. This is pictured below, and gave us all quite a chuckle!

If you are trying a wrap on your dog, be sure not to wrap it too tight and just leave it on for a few minutes at first, so it is not too overwhelming experience. I have found so far that cats really do not like to be wrapped but a few people have found otherwise. We had an expression in the training "DOD" which means "depends on the dog" and in the case of cats, it is "DOC" as to whether a cat will enjoy a wrap, that's for sure.

Wrapping at the Gym

Here is Lily, a dear young Doberman (thankfully with ears and tail still intact) who I met at my local gym, and who was adopted from Social Tees by one of the gym staff recently. Her owner brings her to the gym, where she snuggles up under the front desk. She has a sweet disposition and is friendly but is fearful of noisy situations and people, so I offered to do a wrap and some TTouch on her. The wrap (this is actually called a "half-wrap") was immediately effective on Lily, whose body had been shaking and stopped shaking completely once the wrap was on. She seemed a bit confused at first since this was a new feeling, but she settled into it. I did some TTouch on her with the wrap on but the wrap alone seemed to be so dramatic an effect, I didn't want to do too much with her in one fell swoop.

I then let her be and soon she was cuddled up in her spot under the desk, sleeping with a very peaceful look on her face.

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.