Anxiety Blankets

Nestle is enjoying modeling the new anxiety blanket.
Nestle?  You awake?

When I drape this blanket over someone's shoulders, the look that washes across their face is testimony enough to the wonderful affect of experiencing a weighted blanket.  Their shoulders relax and their face softens and the smile is pure blissful magic.

More popular and known amongst the autistic community (I somehow missed that news flash as did my mildly autistic son) for helping calm their sensitive nervous system.  You don't have to be autistic to enjoy the amazing feeling of these blankets, the nervous system absolutely loves it and it's very, very calming.  Just look at old Nestle there....thirty seconds under the blanket and he's in doggie heaven.

I played around and made several of these in various sizes and weights depending on the size of the dog, of course.  Each blanket has an outer fleece case for easy washing and long wearing.  Inside is a cotton blanket quilted with poly beads creating the weight.  Each can be used separately or together.  The poly blanket is washable but please dry it on low to preserve the beads.

Now available over there in the TTouch shop which has been completely updated.

Healing TTouches

This has been the year of Nestle and his Sterile Nodular Panniculitis which raised its ugly head late last March.  In addition to the knots that popped up all over his body he also had dangerously high fevers that honestly frightened the crap out of me.

Nestle was prescribed a mixing bowl of medications including Prednisone to suppress his immune system.  He'd begin with a high dose and begin the long process of reducing the dose every couple of weeks.   About six weeks into this and at a certain point in his steroid reduction he'd experience a resurgence of the Panniculitis fever and back we went to the full dose to begin the long process again, and again.  In the mean time the steroids were having their affect on the poor little guy and essentially he was getting weaker and weaker.

In October as the Prednisone dose dropped to that "milestone" level, the fever came back.  Nestle was done.  I was done for him.  It had been six months of torture already.  But!  The vet changed his steroid and I was to continue the long slow drop in dosage with the prednisone till it was done.  Every two weeks I would give one quarter less of his pill.  At first the continued dosage drop looked great, his energy was increasing and the abdominal swelling began to reduce.  Then as the last two weeks of his long drawn out Prednisone experience he really got weak.  Nestle had a hard time maintaining his balance and often times would fall over, and he always had a very hard time getting up.  There were good days and there were worse days, but the issue of his ability to maintain motor control was certainly there, not painful, just weak.  I asked the vet about this of course, as I was very concerned.  I was asked to give it some time; Nestle's been on steroids for a long time and his body has been through a lot.

Naturally Nestle has gotten a lot of TTouch and energy work during this time.  The picture above shows him wearing two wraps, the Half Wrap as well as the Buckle Wrap to bring awareness to his rear end, hips, and spine, while offering the most gentle of support.  The wraps aren't snug at all, he's just little, so they're slightly loose.

He slept a lot the first week of his Prednisone-free life; a lot, a lot.  It occurred to me that he was sleeping as much as a being recovering from intense illness or surgery.  So, I let him rest, kept him warm and did loads of TTouch work on him.   After that first week Nestle began to "wake up" a bit, he has been more alert with each passing day as well as more mobile and much more steady on his feet.  The magical spark of my little man has begun to shine again and I am forever grateful as Christmas day approaches; after all, it was only a couple months ago when Nestle pretty much let me know he was "done", and I didn't think I'd have my little friend around for the holidays.

The Power of Intention

When I was going through the TTouch training one thing that came up often was "intention":  i.e., "change your mind, change your dog".

Hugh?

Before I get into the nuts and bolts of intention, here's what I've experienced:

I read Lynne McTaggert's books on the subject ("The Field" and "The Intention Experiment") and gave this far out concept a try.  My son was intrigued by the concept and decided to do a science fair project on a small group of plants.  We purchased four identical spider plants and placed them in different areas of the house so that the experiment on each didn't affect the others (no cross intentions).  Each plant was to receive a different intention:

1.  "Happy" ~ this plant was to receive "good" and "happy" thoughts towards it.  When being around this plant one was to think of happy and positive things, "good vibes".

2.  "Angry" ~ this plant was to receive "negative" thoughts from anger to sadness, including envisioning trimming off the plants leaves.

3.  "Neutral"  ~ this plant was to receive any and all emotions, from very happy to very sad and everything in between.

4.  "Control" ~ this plant simply received water and care with no intentions given to it whatsoever.  This plant was to measure the effectiveness of the other plants intentions, if any.

All the plants received the same water and light requirements during the experiment which lasted (if I recall) about four to six weeks.

The results were really interesting!  Happy and Neutral showed the most growth with more fullness as well as overall growth.  Happy was a bit fuller and taller than Neutral.  Control came in second/third with noticeably less fullness, height and overall growth.  Angry came in dead last (ha!  No pun intended), with the least amount of growth, no fullness and really,  this plant was just hanging in there compared to the others.

I was astounded.  Intention can affect a plant?  Who knew?!  Sooooo.....if it makes a noticeable difference with a plant, what's with this stuff and dogs?

We know dogs are more sensitive than humans when it comes to the vibrations of things unseen.  Dogs know that stranger is bad news long before we do.  Dogs know that other strangers are pure gold, sometimes we pick up on that, sometimes we don't.  It's often said that dogs have a sixth sense, and yes, it's something like that, for sure.  They are far more tuned into "The Field" than we are, but we can put our intentions out there and they do pick up on it, no doubt.

If a dog can be receptive to intention, it sort of makes sense that when Fido is pulling on the lead and the human is focusing on the pulling, the pulling continues.  That's not to say that you can change the pulling behavior with just thoughts alone, but thought does play a key role.  Placing your thoughts where you want the dog to be does actually help the dog to get there.  While training/conditioning a dog not to pull, putting strong thought into a well balanced dog on a loose lead actually does help the dog to understand what's what and he/she learns to not pull more easily and more quickly.

I took my old Dachshund to Tractor Supply a while back.  It had been a very long time since he had been out in public and you'd expect that he'd be straining at the lead in this new and stimulating environment.  Although I expected it too, I kept my mind trained on the vision of him walking comfortably at my side without any pulling as we walked through the store.  He knows how to do this, but excitement easily makes that "knowledge" fly out the window.  Guess what?!  He was a perfect gentleman and never pulled once.  He walked comfortably by my side the whole time.   This is a little dog who's had a ton of TTouch training and has learned to "tune in" to me.  He is not an obedience dog.  He's had the basics of obedience, but that's pretty much it.  He has no other job other than to enrich my life, really.  And there he was out in public being a super star and performing as well as my competition obedience dog from decades ago!

On the wilder side of intention, I was on my way back to East Tennessee from Florida one Christmas and found myself racing a wicked snow storm coming into the region.  I don't do snow.  Last time I drove in snow I ended up in the hospital for a week.  I do not do snow.  I was scared.  There was snow all around and as I drove through Atlanta accidents were happening all around me and roads were getting horrid and dangerous.  There I was driving my intention at full volume, imagining clear roads around me and a "bubble of safety".  I made it the whole way home with snow and bad roads all around, but I was fine!  The road and other drivers around me all remained safe and clear.   My family was absolutely astounded.  I should have been snowed in in Atlanta.   Honestly, I can't explain it.  Maybe my intentions made a difference and The Field actually heard me.  Maybe it was angels.  Maybe I'm just crazy.

Intention does help, though.  Along with giving calming signals to a barking dog if you imagine quiet and calm at the same time, it increases the volume of your message tremendously.  This I actually know....because I use it all the time.  Intention works the same as the law of attraction; put it out there and make it true.  We receive what we give.

Many folks who know me simply say that I have "the touch" with animals.  That "touch" comes from my toes, through my heart and intention to the animal.  I always see the potential, wish the best for them and believe they receive this message and react to it accordingly.   We know when we meet a good person with a genuine heart, it's an intuitive sort of thing, very akin to intention.  It's right up there with having that gut feeling when a stranger enters a room....how do you know whether they're truly friendly or approaching to do you harm?  You just do.  That's the power of intention.

Give it a try and share what you experience.  Remember, believe what you put out there....that's key.  Come from your heart.  Trust and let it be true.  This is one of the hidden keys to TTouch.

Tale of an American Mastiff

My dear friend loves life in a large way and I was thrilled when she tentatively asked me to ride shotgun with her up to Ohio to pick up a new family member, Carolina, a four year old American Mastiff.   Carolina had spent her life as the foundation brood bitch on an immense farm.   She was being retired from "breeder duty" and needed a forever home.  My friend was their first pick.  A great match if I ever saw one.  Cathy hails from the Cumberland Plateau where she lives on a very large farm with her herd of exotic warmblood horses, her other American Mastiff, a humorous and tolerant husband and a small band of cats and birds.

Being a TTouch prac, I towed along my "kit" on this adventure "just in case".  After all, a 200+ pound animal that spent the bulk of her life in an immense barn, in an immense kennel and not well socialized....well, I had some concern and wanted the very best for this dog and her new family right from the get-go.  No 200+ pound dog was going to make a drag-along out of me or my good friend....and honestly, it's what I expected to be addressing with this large dog.

This breed and this gal, Carolina, totally blew me away.  She reminds me of a Clydesdale in that her size is balanced beautifully by her quiet, tranquil demeanor.  She never once pulled on her lead, not even a little bit.  Carolina was calm, relaxed and completely compliant.  Ha!  The joke was on the TTouch practitioner....this dog is just fine!

Other than a huge reluctance to get into her new vehicle (and who could blame her....the "in" was a big jump into the back of a Volvo wagon instead of a step-in to a huge van), she had no issues with anything.  She traveled just fine and slept most of the way if she wasn't resting quietly.  No signs of stress were associated with this dog.....at all.

Carolina arrived to her new home late, after I was dropped off at home.  Waiting for her was her new housemate, Chunk, a younger American Mastiff from the same kennel and boy was he ever thrilled to meet his new pal!  Despite the attempt to separate these guys at first, Chunk made his way over to Carolina who was amazingly gracious and patient with her new young friend as well as politely parental when necessary.

In all my years of dog doings, I've never met a breeder dog who was so well emotionally balanced and level headed.  What a stellar dog Carolina is and I'm thrilled for my friend!