Tellington TTouch

By isak, March 16, 2009

A gentle touch with your fingertips could change your pet’s life! TTouch® has been described as an interspecies language without words. It’s a form of massage, but the intent and effects are different. With massage, the idea is to relax and melt away. With TTouch, the intent is to relax and awaken the mind, to create focus, and enhance an animal’s willingness and ability to learn.

Linda Tellington-Jones, who developed the TTouch method, did EEG studies on horses 25 years ago. What she found was, both the person performing the TTouch and the animal receiving TTouch experienced an activation in all four types of brain waves, in both hemispheres of the brain. Beta brain waves, which are active in humans for logical thinking, were surprisingly present whenever the circular TTouches were applied. Alpha brain waves, which have to be present for people to learn, were present in the animal. Tellington believes that the activation of Beta and Alpha waves in animals helps them focus and learn. The activation did not occur with petting, stroking or massage.

So what is this magic touch? The TTouch Method is comprised of gentle circular movements, lifts and slides of the skin with your fingers. For the basic circular TTouch, you do not rub over the skin, but rather gently move the skin in a circle, once and a quarter around, then slide to another spot on your pet’s body and repeat the motion. Visualize the face of a clock on your pet’s body, and perform these circles in the 6, 9, 12, 3, then 6 positions; ending at 9 on your imaginary clock.

How can you use TTouch as a pet owner? If your pet is healthy, well-behaved and has no issues, it can simply be used to relax your pet, and create a closer bond. But, if your dog has barking problems, is aggressive, tugs on the leash, is fearful, too excitable, nervous or other problems, TTouch could help. Or, if your cat is too nervous or aggressive to be handled or too frightened to have a life, especially when people come over, or gets carsick on the way to the veterinarian, TTouch could help resolve these issues.

TTouch releases fear at the cellular level, awakens the mind, and helps your pet feel more comfortable in his own body, and over time, improve health or promote healing. A few minutes of TTouch each day, and especially just before something stressful happens, such as an agility competition or a trip to the veterinarian, will put your pet in a relaxed, focused and trusting frame of mind. TTouch often achieves the desired result in just a few sessions, but has an accumulative effect over time, so the more you do it, the better the end results. One of the surprising results is, as the person performing TTouch, you become more relaxed, focused and connected with your pet!

Tellington has discovered that TTouch works on all species of animals, including humans, and her method is now used by animal behaviorists, animal trainers, shelter workers, veterinarians and zoo staff. For animals in shelters, who are too skittish or too aggressive to be adoptable, TTouch transforms them into calm and trusting pets, which gives them a chance at a life in a loving home.

TTouch is easy to learn. There are trainings and workshops happening all over the country (and abroad!) as well as books and DVDs on TTouch for cats and dogs.

If you want to learn a little more about TTouch right now, watch these YouTube videos:
Unleash Your Dog’s Potential
TTouch for Senior Dogs
TTouch for Cats
TTouch for Aggressive Behavior in Cats