Client Spotlight: Lucy

This is my best TTouch success story ever...!

Lucy is a three year old Border Collie/Australian Shepherd mix, medium sized and with the expected activity level of both breeds.  Lucy came to her forever home at about the age of 1.5 years, after being re-homed several times.   Over the last 1.5 years since Lucy found her forever home, she has been quite a bit of a trial for her new family.  She doesn't have a mean bone in her body and is really a very sweet, affectionate dog, but she had some very significant issues that were troublesome to deal with and I'm sure were the basis of her multiple re-homings.  The owners had hired several trainers to work with her in their home, with some improvement in keeping her mind active and learning new skills, but not in learning to manage her anxiety and maniacal fits with any vehicular.  They were nearing the end of their rope.

Lucy's main issue was cars.  What this means is that Lucy could not be taken for walks, was not tolerable traveling in a vehicle and even raised cain in her own home when seeing or hearing vehicles pass by.   Her reactivity to cars consisted of the most impressive manic activity I've ever seen with barking, spinning, and general "coming complelely unglued" behavior.  Can you imagine having your sweet, kind dog turn into a wild "Jeckel & Hyde" every time a car passed your house?  Window drapes were left closed as were the doors to obscure Lucy's view of the street.  Eventually Lucy was taken to see a behavioral vet at the UT Vet School who referred the family to me.

Although Lucy's parents are older, their love for the Border Collie breed is huge as is their love for Lucy herself.  She is at least their third Border Collie.  However it does present challenges when you're older and your dog is behaving like a maniac.  Lucy is a well behaved dog and it's obvious she's been worked with as she responds to commands very well.  As long as no cars are moving.

At first Lucy was a bit resistant to TTouch.  It wasn't that she disliked it, rather it was new and her mind was just too busy to grasp this new "thing" in her life.   She did warm up to it (as we all do) and we began to see significant change within a couple of weeks.  First and foremost, she calmed herself enough to readily accept TTouch.  Now the magic could begin.

That huge first milestone came on a pleasant afternoon when my client had her front door open letting light in through the storm door.  Lucy was laying on the rug by the front door, looking outside while her Momma sat in a nearby room at her computer.  Then, a car passed the house.  The owner looked up and towards the front door because she realized that "nothing had happened" when the car passed.  Lucy was still there by the door, unmoved and unchanged.  The owner was shocked and she continued to watch Lucy quietly.  More cars passed intermittently, six in all, and Lucy simply laid there and watched.   No barking wildly, no clawing, jumping, pawing, or racing around the house all obsessed and possessed.  None of that.  She was simply relaxing by the door watching traffic.

We then moved on to working with Lucy's car.  Lucy had a new car and was not too crazy about it at first because it was different.  With TTouch and treats she learned quickly that her new car was really okay and the world became whole again.  Except for actually going on rides.   One step at a time.

Lucy needed help with the visual stimulus of cars in her life if she was ever going to learn that relaxing was achievable and a way better option than flipping out.  We fit Lucy with a ThunderCap from the makers of ThunderShirt and got her Rescue Remedy to help dial in her calm.  The Thundercap is a little jewel designed by TTouch practitioners from our use of wraps on the head to help calm.  Lucy didn't do well with head wraps due to her small, slick head where the wrap would slide right off.  I fitted the cap to her head and took her outside in her front yard to see how she did with cars.  Already the change was astounding, but being only her first time there was plenty of room for improvement.

Next came the car ride.   Lucy sat in the back seat with me, her ThunderCap in place and my large Melissa & Doug stuffy (black Labrador) on her other side.  I know it sounds crazy that maybe a stuffy could influence Lucy by not reacting to the things that set her off, but it's worked for other dogs, so my stuffy, Darwin, happily came along.   When the traffic picked up, Lucy was snuggled next to Darwin, nice and quiet and watching the cars go by.  She was visibly relaxed....a first!  It was her first "normal" experience that I'd seen with vehicles.  This sweet dog had finally laid her groundwork for overcoming her car issues!  Her next car ride was considerably longer and included a lot more traffic, including plenty of trucks.  She barked three individual times and settled quickly between each incident.  In fact she settled down more than she got excited and she was much more at home wearing her Thundercap.  Huge step forward for our furry rock star!

I can't convey enough how proud I am of this sweet girl, Lucy!  My heartbreak for her owners being confined by their dogs inability to leave the house safely was huge but equally I was impressed by their commitment and dedication in improving their beloved pets life.   Honestly, Lucy was miserable being so driven and reactive to "life" essentially.   I'm deeply thankful that TTouch can help such a sweet and deserving dog improve her quality of life and increase her comfort level by an order of magnitude.  The stress level in her home has gone way, way down.

Thanks to TTouch, Lucy has a new lease of life.

Honey!

Honey is sweeter I ultimately turned to after the shit hit the fan and I was broken and fat and needed to do something, anything to help my leg heal.   One huge factor in healing my broken leg was losing some weight.

I wrote a lot about the wonders of honey in my new book, which means I did a fair amount of research.  One of the little tidbits that I learned about honey was its use as a wound salve.

Hugh?!

That's what I thought, too.  Why would anyone want to dab some sticky sweetener on their wounds?  So, I actively ignored this one tip.  I wasn't interested!  I didn't even consent to give it a try.  I didn't want to!   However, my cystic acne recently changed my mind.  I have vicious acne for a 50+ year old human.  Sometimes I get flair-ups with huge plugs that will hurt, burn, sting and not come out for anything!  I've used antibiotic ointments and other stuff on these acne flair-ups and nothing has worked.  Nothing helps these plugs come out.  Nothing helps the area heal.

UGH!

Recently my active flair-up was driving me crazy and I had to put something on it to soothe it.  I finally came around and decided that it couldn't hurt to try a dab of honey on my raw sore of acne hell.  I only keep raw honey because of pollen benefits for allergies, so that's what I used, naturally.  I put a small dab on my sore, covering it completely and licked my finger of the excess.  Nice perk!  Try doing that with antibiotic ointment!  To my shock, the honey stayed in place and didn't run hardly at all; in fact, it soaked in to my skin and helped create a barrier, a sticky one, but a barrier none-the-less.  Then!  Then it began to burn!  Not a vicious burn where you have to wash it off immediately, but a mild ache/burn similar to that of hydrogen peroxide but without the foaming action, and the sensation lasted much, much longer.  A good twenty minutes.  Then, the area felt much better, soothed rather than irritated.  The honey had soaked in for the most part and formed a sort of scab with just a tad of tackiness rather than all-out stickiness.

Impressive!  

It gets better.  I have never seen any of my acne flair-ups heal as well as this one and the horrid, painful plugs practically extruded themselves.  That is a first!

So, I'm rather sold on the whole "honey on sores" thing.  I really seems to do the trick!  I would suggest a bandaid to keep the honey in contact with the cut, sore, burn, whatever, till it's soaked in; about twenty minutes.  After that, it doesn't seem to matter if the honey on the surface is removed or not because it's soaked in and doing it's thing killing bacteria, microbes and whatnot.

Pretty cool, eh?  If you give it a try, post your experience in the comments and let us know what you think, how it did and all that jazz!  Even your dog!  We know honey is good for dogs, so it's going to help their cuts and stuff, too.  There's just that whole licking issue...so I'd love to hear what you do with honey and your dog and how it turned out.

And there you have it!  I never thought I'd try food on skin issues ..... oh, wait....  Mom swore by the use of meat tenderizer on bee stings (make a paste with water).  Dad kept bees, so he was "tenderized" by Mom on a regular basis.  LOL!  I just try and avoid getting stung.

I Always Wanted To Write A Book....

I started writing stories before the age of ten, then puberty hit and I began keeping a journal which I still do....over forty years later.  I guess you could say that I really like to write about stuff.  So, as much as my life is wrapped around the company of animals you're probably asking, "Why on earth did you write a book about weight loss?"

Right?!  If you has asked me at anytime up until about three years ago if my first book would be about dieting and weight loss...I would have looked at you cross-eyed!  I was fat, so what did I know about losing weight?!  Besides my oldest dearest project is still in the works and it's that title I would have pegged for my first publication.

It all comes down to a matter of timing and maybe some divine intervention.  I love to write.  That's a huge factor.  I had been in a bad accident which resulted in an ongoing lawsuit, so back then, it was imperative that I document everything.  I kept a daily log of my recovery in fine detail.  So there was that.  Then, there was the other huge key to the puzzle; I was fat and broken and I needed to get my shit together and get my leg back.   It all just came together at the right time and in the right place.  So, that's how an average Joe like me wrote about something that dogs every American woman's experience:  diet.

So this book is an inspirational story about how I came back from a bad, bad accident and managed to drop some serious pounds along the way.  And you know what?  Pounds was not my main focus.  I had a crushed leg.  That was my main focus.  Anyway....cool story packed with how I did it.  How I made the change, how I learned a new exercise that changed my life, how I dealt with the mind viruses.

I have met countless people since I began this journey who are amazed and inspired by my story and that's what I wrote it for.  I'm sharing my story to give hope,  a reason to smile and a road map to help get there.

If I can do it.....

Yeah, you can too!

CLICK TO ORDER YOUR DIGITAL COPY

If you would prefer a hard copy, physical book, don't give up the ship!  It's simply delayed for one more formatting change and should be available in about 10 days.  You'll here from me when it's ready!  

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A Practitioner's Observation

Highlights And Observations From A TTouch Practitioner At The Dog Show


I had a wonderful time at the dog show this past weekend!  I am so deeply grateful for the opportunity to meet new folks and their lovely dogs, as well as reconnect with treasured friends.  I'm grateful for having had the experience of working with a few dogs and witnessing the pure joy and delight of their owner when they experienced noticeable improvement after their TTouch session.  Isn't that simply awesome?!  I think so.  It's a very challenging environment for most dogs to feel any calm.

Clark is my "client spotlight" from the show.  An adorable little Terrier (Fox? I didn't ask!) with a very sweet Mom who was a bit heartbroken that Clark had broken down in the ring on Saturday.  She was competing in Open A obedience.  Clark's first time in Open, but not hers.  The little guy froze once he discovered the balcony and observers up there.  The judge felt the owners pain as she was excused.

I worked with Clark for thirty minutes Saturday afternoon, just body work as there's no space for ground work in a 10x10' area.   Clark had a huge reoccurring theme with many dogs at the show.....his butt and hindquarters were like stone and he was terribly out of balance.  After several minutes of body work and going over with his owner "all about TTouch and how it applies to Clark", he visibly more relaxed and very much liked wearing his new half wrap.

Clarks next class was Sunday morning, before I got there.  I was absolutely thrilled when Clark's owner stopped by with (a much more relaxed) Clark and a huge smile on her face!  Clark had disqualified again, but he was so very much better in the ring!  He wasn't as bothered, he didn't freeze up and he didn't blow the long down stay.   I never promise that TTouch works like plugging in the toaster.  It does take some time for change to occur.  But it does.  Sometimes very quickly.  It all depends on the dog.  The point is that Clark did improve dramatically, less than twenty-four hours after only 1/3 of a full TTouch session.  That's huge!!  What I loved most was seeing Clark more comfortable in his own skin along with the huge amount of happiness and renewed hope in his owners heart and face.  It doesn't get much better than that.

Congratulations Clark!

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It's amazing what you see when you see with different eyes.  All these absolutely gorgeous dogs in a really challenging environment which you'd sort of expect them to be totally used to it, right?  As impressively well as every dog manages his/her experience at the show, a good eighty percent are absolutely stressing out, big time.  Many carry that stress into the ring and it affects their performance, including gate, stance, and overall movement throughout the body.

The consistent things I noticed were tight and clinched hindquarters, a classic physical stress location.  Because the rear end is tight, the dog is then out of balance and more weight is carried on the front end.  All but one dog that I worked with had a very hard time lifting their front legs in conjunction with having a very tight rear.  Shoulders were tight as were ears and facial areas.  These dogs were easy to spot in the ring with their rear end simply "along for the ride" rather than balanced and more graceful and fluid in motion.

TTouch was first introduced to the horse world over thirty years ago and was later adapted to companion animals.  TTouch with horses (called TTEAM:  Tellington Touch Equine Awareness Method) has been proven to improve equine performance.  An animal that moves more freely and in balance will always perform better, mentally and physically.  It's just like having all the tires on a car at the same pressure and properly balanced.  Without that, the car may look fine but it rides horribly and that imbalance directly affects other parts of the car over time.

Linda Tellington-Jones came to discover TTouch quite honestly.  Her Grandfather through his success with horses, came to manage the Czar of Russia's race horses back in the early 1900's.  The horses in his care were greatly successful out on the track.  The great back story is his horses received a complete body rub down for thirty minutes every day after their workout.

Many of the clients that come to a TTouch practitioner come with rather severe "last resort" behaviors that have frustrated everyone else.  It's our unique approach through cooperation and mutual understanding that's different.  TTouch builds self confidence, not compliance through fear.

But my goodness, that doesn't mean you have to be at that "last resort" place with your pet before seeking out TTouch.  It's sure is nice to know it's there if that's where you're at.  It's even nicer to know that no one has to "settle" or "endure" the behavior till it gets to that point.

My point is, whether your dog is destroying everything in site or just not doing well in the show ring ~  TTouch can help.

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ETT is now on Angie's List!  If you are, or have been, an East Tennessee TTouch client, please take a moment and leave a review!  I'd be very grateful and deeply thank you for your time!

angieslist.com/review/9144025

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Next Post:    Client Spotlight:  Lucy

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