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T-Touch Workshop |
| Fifteen years ago a good friend of
mine had a gorgeous Oldenburg gelding who was showing in upper level
dressage competition and winning consistently. But his show career came
to an abrupt halt after he fell on a patch of ice in a pasture during a
winter romp. Following the fall, the horse had no visible sign of injury
and in fact moved very soundly – until a saddle and rider were on his
back. He was then visibly uncomfortable, irritable and very uneven in
his movement. My friend proceeded to spend thousands of dollars on vets,
saddles, pads and drug therapies. Many of the attempts actually made the
situation worse instead of better. She was seriously considering putting
the horse down until someone suggested that she make a phone call to
Linda Tellington-Jones, a women who had developed a system of
therapeutic touch for equines. My friend was skeptical but willing to
try. This story does have a happy and remarkable ending. Linda came to
the barn and worked on the horse herself. She also taught the techniques
to my friend who worked on her horse diligently for two weeks. When she
put the saddle back on and mounted, it was extraordinary. I still recall
having tears in my eyes. He was not only moving soundly and confidently,
but bigger and bolder than he had ever gone before. We were all converts
and had Linda back to the barn several times for education and therapy
sessions.
So when I first learned that the Linda Tellington-Jones T-Touch methods had been adapted for companion animals, I was definitely interested and intrigued. And apparently so were lots of other members of RRCOW. It was a topic that was mentioned on our membership surveys frequently. Gail Cartter , through her local dog club, had heard a TTouch presentation and graciously volunteered to chair an event for the RRCOW. Sarah Orsted co-chaired and worked on securing a great location and lunch! The event took place at Mad City Dog Traning in Madison, Wisconsin on Sunday, February 9th. The event was a sell-out with 30 people and 20 canines in attendance. Although Ridgeback dominated the canine group, we had lots of other breeds represented including Chow, Great Dane, Labrador Retriever and Golden Retriever. About half of the attendees were RRCOW members. Claudeen Mc Auliffe is an applied animal behaviorist who holds a Masters degree in Education. She is a certified Tellington TTouch practitioner. This combination of skill and knowledge made for a wonderful presentation. Her background in education was evident in her organized and effective teaching style that combined lecture with lots of visual and hands-on demonstration. Her knowledge of canines and animal behavior was demonstrated as well in her teaching plan for the day, including frequent breaks for dogs and people and a good reminder about safety when dealing with lots of dogs in an enclosed space.Before we ever got to Madison, Claudeen had sent all the attendees bringing dogs a list of "supplies". The list include some things that had me curious, including a length of elastic, ace bandages and a t-shirt that fit your dog. Being one of those people who really does not "dress" my dog, I wasn’t quite sure how to determine whether a t-shirt fit my dog. But in the end, Emma was quite stylish in my husband’s old white Hanes! She was outdone however by Judy Rochon’s Luke wearing his gorgeous "burgundy" t-shirt with the hip, rolled sleeves.But the t-shirts came later in the day. We started the session with an explanation from Claudeen of the underlying principles of Ttouch. Briefly those are: awareness, non-habitual movement, breathing, intent and toning. Perhaps the image that with "stick" with me the longest was the concept of "sticky fingers". Claudeen had us imagine dipping our hands in a bucket of glue and then putting our very sticky fingers of one hand onto our opposite arm. The point was to illustrate that the "touch" of most of the techniques requires that the fingertips stay on the skin, rotating and moving it in very small circles. The intent of the touch is to "activate the function of the cells and awaken cellular intelligence". These techniques can be used to help speed healing or ailments or change undesirable behaviors. We spent most of morning, learning several of key touches including the clouded leopard, raccoon Ttouch and ear touch. Claudeen and her assistant Kelly first demonstrated them, perform the touch on human arms to get a sense of the appropriate pressure and movement. Then we practiced briefly on each other. Finally we tried each technique on the canines. Many of the dogs responded very visibly by relaxing as they were touched. After a brief lunch break, we resumed by working on "wraps". Wraps are really targeted for dogs with anxiety, fear or phobias but can also be used with dogs recovering from muscle injuries or stiffness. Claudeen began by "wrapping" Gail. She wanted a human to describe how it felt being wrapped. Although she looked a little silly, Gail did say it felt good! We then all tried wraps on our dogs of various types, using elastic, t-shirts and ace bandages. Emma was very comfortable and wore her "wrap" all the way home. She is definitely a chewer, but must have been quite comfortable because she never tried to take it off! The last bit of the session was spent on some "balance leash" work, aimed at dogs that pull. Claudeen then answered questions from the group. By the end of the day we had some pooped dogs, but very stimulated humans. There was a lot of great information packed into that day. I do have a bibliography from Claudeen that contains recommended reading. If you could not attend and are interested, please email me. Big thanks need to go to the chairs for this event, Gail Cartter and Sarah Orsted who pulled this all together beautifully. The day went off without a hitch. The Mad City Dog Training facility was a great place to hold this event. And of course I am proud to say the Rhodesian Ridgeback Club of Wisconsin has hosted another stellar event! Carol Munsch toomunsch@tds.net |
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