# Did the Tellington TTouch workshop...



## DB1 (Jan 20, 2012)

So I went sat morning, it was very interesting, within 10 mins the trainer had put Dudley in an equafleece vest and harness to help him calm down! 
it did seem to help within another 10 mins he was settled laying on the floor - trouble is I'm always a little sceptical and have thoughts like, hmm yes, but he does sometimes calm down after a while anyway...., we learnt a few of the touches and how to do them, too many to explain - easiest to explain is to have your fingers slightly apart and bent and using fingertips push gently on the skin and move the skin (not too hard or it'll be muscle too) in a small circle clockwise - imagine a clock and circle one and a quarter times - as if you start at 6 and go round once and then to the 9 - does this make sense?! then lift your hand and move it and do it again - this is for the body and head, there were different ones for the legs, tail etc, Dudley does seem to like it, but then whet he is relaxed he likes being stroked anyway (there goes mrs sceptic again!), she gave me some recommendations to use when grooming too which was good, it helps them release tensions held in the body that we (or even they) probably wouldn't be aware of, and you can do it everyday but don't go over 20 mins - would be more like 5 for me to be honest, which is ok too. 
We also went outside and did some work - walking them with a lead attached to a collar and harness and walking over various poles, hoops etc to get them to think about their movements and where they were placing their bodies - I liked this and think I will practice this at times and get the harness she uses, a nice fleece lined one from this company http://dog-games-shop.co.uk/harnesses-fleece-lined
I shall wait and see if they are at crufts doing any good offers.
There were 5 of us with our dogs so it was a nice number, one lady had driven 3 hrs from east Norfolk to come!
I would recommend going to a workshop, i'll see if it helps, it certainly can't hurt I'm sure! (although note - she did say they believe if the touches are done anti-clockwise it can have an anti calming reaction!).


----------



## Tinman (Apr 23, 2013)

Sounds interesting, and you can certainly put it into practice with grooming any nervous dogs.
I will give the 6-9 clockwise stroke a go - thanks dawn! 
Would you say it was worth a 3 hour drive?? X


----------



## RangerC (Jan 23, 2013)

Thanks for that dawn. I would certainly be interested. How much did it cost?


----------



## DB1 (Jan 20, 2012)

Tinman said:


> Sounds interesting, and you can certainly put it into practice with grooming any nervous dogs.
> I will give the 6-9 clockwise stroke a go - thanks dawn!
> Would you say it was worth a 3 hour drive?? X





RangerC said:


> Thanks for that dawn. I would certainly be interested. How much did it cost?


Not quite sure I would have driven that far, but she had another dog that had a healed injury but is still funny about being touched in that area, so I guess if it helps her she will think it was.
it was 30 something £'s.


----------



## dio.ren (Jan 18, 2013)

Sounds very interesting! I have heard about it might look up if they have anything like that around here and try it out


----------



## fairlie (Sep 7, 2013)

*Thanks!*

I am trying to wrap my head around this from a scientific perspective. The six and nine oclock have me flummoxed.  It would have to be counterclockwise on one side of the body and clockwise on the other wouldn't it? Otherwise you'd be tugging at their hair against the grain and causing pain? Did she mention that the idea is to replicate another dogs nose, or is this my imagination?


----------



## RuthMill (Jun 30, 2012)

I've heard of the 1 and a quarter clockwise massage before. A woman did it on TV once when suggesting ways of calming a dog during fireworks.


----------



## Mazzapoo (Jul 28, 2013)

Tinman said:


> Sounds interesting, and you can certainly put it into practice with grooming any nervous dogs.
> I will give the 6-9 clockwise stroke a go - thanks dawn!
> Would you say it was worth a 3 hour drive?? X


Tracey after what you saw this morning I'd have thought 6 and 9 would be the last numbers you'd like to think about


----------



## dio.ren (Jan 18, 2013)

Mazzapoo said:


> Tracey after what you saw this morning I'd have thought 6 and 9 would be the last numbers you'd like to think about


Dirty girl:laugh: Tracey will need an extra drink after reading this


----------



## DB1 (Jan 20, 2012)

fairlie said:


> I am trying to wrap my head around this from a scientific perspective. The six and nine oclock have me flummoxed.  It would have to be counterclockwise on one side of the body and clockwise on the other wouldn't it? Otherwise you'd be tugging at their hair against the grain and causing pain? Did she mention that the idea is to replicate another dogs nose, or is this my imagination?


No, you don't tug the hair, you are keeping your fingers pressed on and moving the skin so the hair direction doesn't make any difference, in fact there are a few moves that do push the hair against the growth but the dogs seemed to like it anyway (that was on their backs), I looked on you tube and if you search for tellington TTouch on dogs there are quite a few video's. No she didn't say anything about noses. The only thing I find hard about the clockwise thing is I have often stroked Dudley from the front with a hand placed either side and I Think i've done mirroring movements, especially under his ears which would be a bit circular which means the left side is ant-clockwise - but maybe that explains why he is often a bit wired!!


----------



## fairlie (Sep 7, 2013)

Maybe it explains why Rufus is a bit nuts too? I almost always pat him symetrically. I am going to experiment, one week clockwise, one week counter and see if he gets more or less agitated.


----------



## RuthMill (Jun 30, 2012)

fairlie said:


> Maybe it explains why Rufus is a bit nuts too? I almost always pat him symetrically. I am going to experiment, one week clockwise, one week counter and see if he gets more or less agitated.


Good idea! A little home-auditing!


----------



## Cat 53 (Aug 26, 2012)

Sounds like a skin slack move to me. By that I mean if you place two fingers on the back of your hand and gently move the skin one way you should get a ridge of slack skin, then move your fingers in the opposite direction until the skin won't move any more. You can then move your skin in a circle. The pressure used should be no more than the pressure you can comfortably apply to your eyeball.


----------

