What is T-Touch?

Tellington T-Touch offers a gentle approach to training and caring for your pets. The technique was created by animal expert Linda Tellington-Jones, PhD (Hon) and is centered on mutual respect between animals and people.

When it comes to working with dogs, T-Touch is a great method for improving behavior, performance and health and upping the learning abilities of our pets. It also strengthens the bond between people and their animals.

T-Touch includes four elements that combine to create great positive change in your dog:

Gentle body work • Movement exercise • Specific equipment • Positive intention

T-Touch helps with many issues. Some of the areas in which you can see improvement:

Excessive barking & chewing • Leash-pulling • Jumping • Aggression • Fear/shyness • Grooming resistance • Excitability • Motion sickness • Aging symptoms

So, who is Lucie Leclerc?

Lucie is a senior T-Touch trainer in North America and the only french-speaking practitioner on the continent. Shehas loved animals since she was a toddler in Canada. She took Equine Studies in Quebec and received a Bachelor’s degree in Biology. Lucie discovered T-Touch while researching her dog’s health issues. She began training as a T-Touch student and went on to become an advanced teacher, sharing her knowledgewithanimal lovers everywhere. Lucie looks for solutions and possibilities rather than just focusing on problems and loves to see animals reach their full potential with the Tellington method.

T-Touch Training

Lucie Leclerc is visiting Wondercide'shome base of Austin, Texas to teach a T-Touch Practitioner Certification Program focused on T-Touchwith dogs, cats and other companion animals. Tonight we attended the intro session, where Lucie demonstrated T-Touch on adoptable petsat Austin Animal Center. She showedhow circular touches that move the skin ina circle-and-a-quarter can help the nervous system learn about itself and teach animals to become more self-aware.

Babs the Adoptable Dog

Babs the adoptable dog at Austin Animal Center is a 3-year-old pup who was kind enough to act as ourdemo dog for the intro T-Touch class. Here she's shown wearing a balance leash, which offers two points of contact and can help improve leash manners. As you perform T-Touch movements (circle-and-a-quarter touches that gently move an animal's skin), you can pay attention to differences in the skin's mobility, temperature variations, etc. In nervous pups, like Babs, the ears, feet and tail can be a bit colder than usual. T-Touch can offer dogs moments of balance that help them feel calm, present, confident and open to learning. drawing by http://www.doggiedrawings.net/

Some T-Touch Techniques for Dogs

• Use the back of your hand for shy dogs.
• Try T-Touch on the mouth of an animal you trust: dogs can hold a lot of tension in their mouths when they are stressed, so you can do circular motions where the inside of the cheek meets the top of the gums.
• Ear work (circular motions or slides) can help dogs with jaw, throat, and shoulder stiffness.
• T-Touch on the forehead can give dogs a feeling of un-wrinkling a furrowed brow and offer relief.
• A light stomach lift toward the spine, then letting the dog's belly sponge back out will encourage deeper breathing.

Dogs that are constantly living in fear (such as those in an animal shelter) have a great deal of tension. If you soften the tension, you can change the way they feel and open them up to a new way of thinking. What T-Touch aims to accomplishis not just getting dogs to relax but getting them to move in ways that make them aware of themselves. Then you have a dog who starts thinking a little more.

Lyle the Adoptable Cat

Lyle the adoptable cat at Austin Animal Center is a 10-year-old American Shorthair who's been living in the shelter for just over two months. Lucie performed similar T-Touch techniques as she did on Babs, with the addition of some cat-specific tips and tricks. Some cats can be quite finicky about human touch, and T-Touch offers a great way for them to get accustomed to petting, grooming, and human interaction in a positive way. Whether you're taking home a nervous cat from a shelter or just want to bolster the bond between you and your kitty, these methods can be a huge help.

T-Touch forCats

• For a scared cat, open the cover of their hardcarrier and slide a towel under the top, but over the cat. You can remove the cover without frightening the cat and begin T-Touch exercises through the towel if necessary.
• Try whisker slides and hair slides that create traction without pulling (for animals that are hard to groom, it can be a game-changer).
• Try a pearling technique on a cat's tail.
• Stomach lifts can help with constipation.
• Wraps (as shown in the photo above) make the body aware of its own tension and can help improve posture dramatically.
• Try other tool like feathers and paintbrushes for alternative touches.

Jersey theAdoptableRabbit

Jerseythe adoptable rabbitat Austin Animal Center is a 1-year-old shorthaired bunny who's been waiting for a forever family since Christmas. With companion animals aside from cats and dogs, T-Touch can also be a great way to feel closer to your pet. For timid little animals, you can begin T-Touch by stroking the environment before contacting the pet so that you're able to show him what you're doing. Rabbits go through stages of stress really quickly, so calming them down with T-Touch can be a lifesaver in medical situations. With the myriad of method variations in T-Touch, you're bound to find something that works well for you and your pet. If you'd like to learn more about T-Touch for companion animals, the book on dogs is a great place to start. Those more serious about getting into T-Touch training can check out classes like the one Lucie is holding here in Austin.