Getting in TTouch with Your Dog: A Gentle Approach to Influencing Behavior, Health, and Performance

The benefits my dog and I have gotten from this book in just about a week are astonishing. I had previously had an earlier version of the book and was put off by the names for T-Touches: animal names and such. When I bought this edition for the DogRead discussion, I read it and learned that those names had no deep meaning. The book was translated from German, the author teaches all over the world, and the names are just to try to keep it straight as to what touch is being referred to. Then I began to read! I learned some new ways to touch my dog that immediately created some lovely results. For example, he's a picky eater and it's important that he eat his meals on time, in particular one meal a day that contains medication. I was having lots of trouble getting him to eat that--until the first day I used T-Touch to get him to eat. Maybe three minutes of touches, following the instructions in the book, and he promptly ate. And now, every day since then. I am also working with a balanced leash technique I learned about in the book. It immediately worked! This is not a religion. It is a very good way to reach a dog. It enhances your communication with your dog, and helps you find where and how to touch the dog to help the dog with physical and emotional problems. It's loving your dog. It brings you and your dog into a closer relationship, and that has huge benefits for you both. I've been very involved in therapy dog work, and T-Touch, like therapy dog visits to people, has benefits that can't be "proven," but are definitely real.

I have noticed a wonderful change in my dog's behavior since beginning T-touch. I will caveat my review by stating that I took my dog for five T-touch sessions with a professional T-touch consultant and bought the book so I could begin to do T-touch on my own. My dog is a rescue dog with severe anxiety and T-touch in combination with a Thundershirt has been wonderful for him. He no longer paces back and forth, no longer chews on furniture and is just calmer. His body is not tense and his tail is much looser. I took him to the vet recently and they could not believe how calm he was in a busy environment. Walks are much easier and he is not as easily overstimulated when he sees people, other dogs or small animals. His trainers highly recommended T-touch and I would tell anybody who is skeptical to at least try it. It has made such a huge difference in my dog's life and I am finally beginning to feel that he is calm and in a much better state. With the T-touch consultant, we did about 45 minutes of T-touch one a week. I then supplemented with about 15-20 minutes each day. We no longer see the consultant and I continue to do about 15-20 minutes a day with him, usually while I am watching an evening TV show. My dog really responded well to the gum work and while it can be a little intimidating sticking you had in an excited dog's mouth, that touch instantly calmed him. The book is very well organized and talks about the effects of the different touches, including gum and tail touches. It includes pictures and detailed directions for each touch. I think I could have learned how to do T-touch on my own from this book if hadn't taken my dog to the consultant. The book also talks about different wraps you can use to calm your dog, as well as different leash configurations and halters to try.

I had bought an earlier TTouch book and didn't get this one right away because I thought it would be a rehash of the material. But I finished the first book and I just wanted to read more even if it was the same material worded differently. Well, this book is a fantastic resource! The different TTouches are presented one-by-one, each one with its own 2-page spread and a recommendation of situations where they're appropriate. Lots of photos. In fact, the book is chock-full of full-color photos. I especially appreciate the section on the "playground for higher learning" -- the labyrinth, ladders, etc. There are some wording issues here and there ("whey" for "way") but not too many. Mostly this is an extremely well organized, informative resource for a dog owner. My own dog's behavior has transformed since using TTouch. I have had sessions with a practitioner. The biggest shift was after the third session but I saw clear improvement after just one session. My dog used to lunge at other dogs and at cats, pull on the leash, and snap at people. Now he will occasionally lunge at another dog or a cat but it's a couple of times per week where before it was a couple of times per walk. I expect it to become even less frequent as I recognize the preliminary signs and head the behavior off. But the biggest benefit is that TTouch is a way for me to be affectionate with my dog without him getting riled up. Before, I would pet him and he wouldn't want me to stop. And he'd become harder to handle on a walk if I petted him much. With TTouch he loves the physical touch, but when I'm done he's satisfied (he's not begging for more and not pushing his head under my hand). Plus, the more I do TTouch, the easier he is to walk. It's been life-changing in my household. This book is a great reference for me in keeping my TTouches as TTouches, and not veering off into regular petting (which makes my dog reactive and harder to handle).

I try to spend periods of time every day touching and petting my dog, and this method gives me a system to cover every part of her body, which also allows me to check all of her for ticks or other problems. She loves the whole routine and dozes off as I move around. I don't do a really soft touch, but neither do I do a really hard one, either; I keep it firm enough for her to feel it but not so firm that it makes her uncomfortable. She's a senior dog, so I'm hoping it will have benefits for her joint-wise as time goes on. She only has a bit of stiffness when she first wakes up now (like me), but I'm sure that will change as she ages.

Nice book, easy to follow and wonderful for you pets

Great for all animal professionals and owners.

toll geschrieben und prima erklärt 😃👍🏼 kann es empfehlen

This book is a must for new and experienced dog owners. Well written, layout excellent, each technique explained in detail, giving name of technique, why you would use it, image of what areas of the hand to use. A good read and a good reference book. Techniques are easy to learn, very enjoyable to do and affect quite noticeable on dog. Thoroughly enjoy using TTouch, This book has been a great introduction to it. Keen to put it all into practice.

Very helpful for those who are participants in the Practitioners Course. 専門的にTタッチについて学びたい人に最適です。ある程度の英語力が必要です。