TTouch Around East Tennessee

East Tennessee TTouch is now on Thumbtack!

A nice little place to look at reviews and read about the great work that TTouch has done for dogs and their owners.

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November 4-6, 2016 is the Great Smoky Mountain Dog Show in downtown Knoxville, at Chilhowee Park; featuring breed and obedience competition.  East Tennessee TTouch will be there in the Jacob's building offering introduction to TTouch and TTouch related items for sale.  Stop by and say hello and give TTouch a try!   Please keep in mind that if you're not exhibiting a dog, don't bring it.  Just come on by and we'll chat!

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East Tennessee TTouch will be introducing weighted anxiety blankets at the Smoky Mountain Dog Show!  A great calming item for reducing stress.
Each washable and durable blanket includes a fleece cover.

Client Spotlight: BB

A very calm and relaxed BB

Ahhh, we had a very progressive week here at East Tennessee TTouch!  Here's a client spotlight on a sweet dog who suffers from anxiety and OCD with eating virtually anything.

Please note:   I'm very adamant about the confidentiality of my clients.  Images and names used with permission.

BB was referred to me by a university veterinary professor specializing in behavior.  BB is a beautiful, male, three year old Lagotto Romagnolo.   He was having issues with anxiety that presented itself in chewing and eating everything imaginable, including (but not limited to) clothing, bedding, and furniture.  The owner was justifiably concerned that this behavior would lead to an obstruction at some point which would result in surgery, or worse.  BB also paced and showed general anxiety in life.  Otherwise a very sweet natured dog and very willing to work with his person and a delightful companion.

On BB's first day at East Tennessee TTouch, he was very tense.  His tail was clamped to his body and he was glued to his owner's side.   There was a good deal of physical tension throughout his body.  BB was medicated at the time and I could see it aiding his calm, but physical tension hides from no one.  He had a moderately difficult time negotiating the confidence course in the beginning, he was tight and out of balance.   After a thorough TTouching and evaluation, his owner was taught several TTouches and a body wrap to do on BB, as well as areas to pay particular attention to when doing TTouch on him.

BB's third TTouch session was fairly recent, approximately a month after his first.  Bobby arrived calmly laying down on a dog bed in his van (rather than in his crate).   He greeted me calmly and happily, responding instantly to my TTouch by relaxing into me and smiling up at me.  This is the dog who wouldn't have done that a month earlier.

NOTE:   TTouch is wonderful in that it teaches the dog to respond much like the Pavlov's dinner bell thing.  They body recognizes the soothing and familiar TTouch and responds as it has been conditioned to do so (no matter who's doing the TTouch).  This is great for when the dog is at the vet or any stressful environment.  Imagine the affect when the vet or vet tech comes in and preforms a few familiar TTouches on the dog?  Ahhhh...things relax right away.

In going over BB's body with TTouch, I was immediately overwhelmed with how physically relaxed he was.  He was alert, responsive and wonderfully calm.  His eyes were bright and he was truly happy.  His owner reported that she is able to trim his nails.  BB hasn't chewed up or eating anything bizarre in "quite a while";  and he is learning to self calm very well.  What that means is that he'll go find a comfortable place, lay down and just chill.  No necessity to chew or mouth anything.  No pacing.   This is a new and welcomed behavior!

Darwin models the "Racing Stripe" wrap

BB handled the confidence course like a pro, his body in balance and walking beautifully on a loose lead.  He had one new obstacle (a squishy "FitBone") he was reluctant to touch, but he got there, to a small degree.

With still some residual tension in BB's hindquarters, his owner was shown a new wrap to target the area (right).

The owner also shared that she has a second dog at home that barks ~ a lot.  She was shown the Calming Cap wrap (below) to use on the dog as well as some of the specific TTouches she already knows to help with that dog.   After all, two calm dogs are better than one.

Nestle is modeling one of the stages of putting on a "calming (or thinking) cap"

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If you'd like to know more about TTouch or how you can learn it for your own pet, head over to the "TTouch Store" tab.

A Rescue Thank You

ETT gives a huge thank you discount to rescue dogs

I had to sit down and do the math.  Five out of the nine dogs I've owned in my lifetime were rescues.  That's pretty cool, that's over half.  Two were born in my home, neither rescues nor purchases.  Five dogs were purebreds, two of which were rescues.   None came from pet stores, shops, etc.  Two came from breeders.  Two came from either a shelter or rescue.  Two of the rescues were strays that I picked up and they stayed forever.

I love rescues but I understand that some rescues could really use some help adjusting after their traumatic experience.  Some experience their own version of what we know as PTSD.  Can you blame them?  Chewing, licking, pacing, cowering, leash pulling, anxiety are all signs of stress.  When is living in a shelter not stressful?

My little Dachshund Nestle is a rescue.  He went from the breeder to his new home to a rescue group all within a week.  And got neutered somewhere along the way.  He was three months old when I adopted him, so he was tiny when his trauma occurred.  Even the rescue group still remembers dear Nestle eight years later as their, "problem child."  He was a mess.  He was a mess for many years and still has his moments.

Nestle was about three years old when he first experienced TTouch.  He went to all six of my Tellington TTouch certification trainings.  Although he would have greatly benefited from TTouch at the time that I adopted him, it was still hugely beneficial and he made great changes.   TTouch made a huge difference in our bond, his behavior, and greatly increased his comfort level with being in the world.   He's also a great ambassador for, "keep TTouch a regular routine."  He's a master at digressing!


So here's the deal!  Literally

East Tennessee TTouch is celebrating pet adoption by offering new adopting owners a huge savings off their first TTouch session.  Because you and your new friend deserve getting things off on the right foot and East Tennessee TTouch wants to help you both reach your potential of many happy years together.

Head on over to the "TTouch Store" page for details under "Client Session Pricing."

Nestle making first contact with the latest addition
to the confidence course, a "FitBone".

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TTouch & Pet Health

Nestle is wearing an overly large wrap to fully support his abdomen

Nestle is my 8 year old long haired Dachshund.  He has spent a great portion of this year being rather ill and teaching me a lot about the importance of TTouch in supporting physical health.

Being my furry kid, he gets TTouch a lot.  So it was that sort of relationship that helped me out when this illness came up.  One of the symptoms of Sterile Nodular Panniculitis (SNP) is a development of nodes or lumps on the body.  Believe you me, when this illness began and the lumps popped up, he suddenly felt very scary!  And it was due to TTouch that I discovered these lumps because his curly, fluffy, frizzy hair hides a lot and they couldn't be seen otherwise.  That is, till they got large.

Nestle came down with SNP in late March, early April.  He presented with astonishingly high fevers that would last about 24 hours, then go away for several days.  This went on for weeks and his energy was completely drained.  He barely had time to recover from one fever before another would hit.  Believe you me, I was visiting the vet A LOT!  And then the lumps came.  The vet did a biopsy and that's when this SNP was figured out.  That was somewhere around late June, early July.

Nestle also has hypothyroid and seizures so he takes medication for those.  On top of that he has been taking a long list of medications for his SNP.   Since refilling prescriptions is a regular thing, I keep my vet up to date on all things Nestle.  This week my concern was his belly, so we went in for a look over and an x-ray.    Turns out that the side effects of his meds have been rough on the poor little fella.  Basically, the meds are causing him to mimic the symptoms and signs of Cushing's Disease:  increased appetite, water consumption, urination, panting, and a bulging, pendulous abdomen.

His poor belly!!  Now that I know he's not just exploding from food (because he shouldn't be!), but rather, he's swollen and uncomfortable, I knew that giving him some relief would be welcome.   When I got home from the vet, I found a much too large wrap for him so as to really support his very large little belly.  Nestle is usually pretty funny about wraps.  He has to "freeze" for the first few seconds after one is put on.  Not this time!  The little guy smiled up at me and looked much more comfortable walking around.  He was clearly very happy and much more comfortable!  I left it on for about an hour then put it on again later when he went with me to the vet and could show off his wrap (while I got more meds).  I took the wrap off when we got home.

Nestle is experiencing water retention, adding to that large abdomen.  One thing I noticed when I took his wrap off was that his abdomen didn't appear so painfully large.  The wrap may have helped expel retained fluids from the lymphatic system, which I'm sure felt better as his behavior after the wrap was removed suggested that he was indeed still feeling much more comfortable.  Then later he had a good, long nap.  Astonishingly, the reduction in his abdominal swelling stayed down for several days following this one wrap session.

This SNP is taking forever to (hopefully) resolve.  When we began to come down from the strong steroid dose the first time, the lower dose resulted in a resurgence of the fevers and lumps.  So, he had to have his steroids bumped up again, and for a longer period.  We're still there, pumping in the steroids and hoping.  Honestly, it's killing me to watch this sweet little angle suffer so.  But, it's a blessing to know that I can do something to give him relief and comfort.

Thank God for TTouch.

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