Wise Advice About T-Touch For Dogs

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The first evening of my training period at Canadian Guide Dog’s for the Blind had an interesting and calming end. Training with a new Guide dog is stressful for both the handlers and their new dogs. The handlers finds themselves in a new environment. They are with strangers, and have just met their new guide dogs. Some have travelled from a distance and left behind home and familiarity.  Some have just retired their last guide dog. The new guide dogs have been living at the Centre with the same kennel mates for several months. They have been going out with a familiar trainer every day. Now, everyone is tossed together, trying to figure one another out.  I was the newbie, (having never had a guide dog).  I was filled with anxious anticipation. My brain was spinning with information that I feared might forget; the layout of the Centre, the house rules, the names of my classmates and the Centre’s staff, the details of the Agreement with the school I had just signed, the first instructions on the do’s and don’ts of guide dog handling and more.  The ‘handover’ of dogs had taken place that afternoon. I could not believe that the high-energy black lab on the end of the leash (Opal), was now a part of my life.  It was all very new and daunting. We gathered in the lounge and our instructor told us about T- Touch. I had never heard of Linda Tellington-Jones or her method of ‘massage’ for animals. It was literally, a hands-on session. We sat on the floor and followed Jane’s (a certified T-touch practitioner) instructions.  A half-hour later, four dogs were stress-free and asleep. So were the handlers. I have put the link to TTouch.com on the blogroll. I urge you to investigate. When Opal is stressed, ill, fearful, or in pain, I do some t-touches on her. I do them on myself too for everything from headaches to arthritic pain relief.  T-Touch is useful for behavioural problems too. There are books and videos on the subject, by Linda Tellington-Jones.  They can be found in your public library or bookstore. 

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Filed under Advice, Canada, Guide Dog Schools, Guide dogs, Opal, T Touch, animals, blindness, dogs, personal, seeing eye dogs

Tags: dog massage, Linda Tellington-Jones, T Touch