Do you massage your dog? Here are some tips for dog massage and your dog training:

[1] Use a bit of firm massage around your dog’s neck as a reward after clicking sometimes, combined with praise.

[2] To promote overall well-being, give your dog a good massage every week. This will help with his general level of relaxation, and we learn better when relaxed.

[3] When you are watching TV with your dog, go down on the floor with him (or invite him up onto the sofa with you, if that’s your preference) and casually rub him, in the direction his fur grows for the most part.

[4] Teach your dog to accept toenail clipping more gracefully by massaging his paws.

Naturally, do be alert to your dog’s signals to you that he isn’t comfortable with something you are doing. In that case, back off to something he does like for the time being.

I recently watched a lovely DVD called Bodywork for Dogs, which I reviewed here:
http://training-dogs.com/dogtrainingdvds/bodyworkfordogsdvd.html

I liked it enough to think it’s worth watching multiple times, one of my criteria for a DVD I’ll buy.

[tags]dog massage, dogmassage[/tags]

The Tellington Touch, or TTouch, is a wonderful method of working with your dog to ease physical pain or emotional problems. My husband Kelly and I learned about it when we produced a video (now DVD) called The Tellington TTouch for Happier, Healthier Dogs, featuring Linda Tellington-Jones, who created this group of techniques. (The link takes you to my page about the method and the DVD.)

Anyway, I am always telling people about the TTouch and showing them how to do a basic bit of it. Recently I ran into a man I know who usually has his elderly collie with him. But the dog wasn’t there. When I asked, the guy said that the dog was at home, as it had been feeling a little off lately.

Well, that was my cue! “Have you heard about the Tellington TTouch?” I asked.

To my surprise, he said, “Oh yes! I met Linda over ten years ago and I’ve been using it ever since!” They had met at a horse event and he’d used it with horses and dogs ever since. He proceeded to describe the various touches he uses, with lots of detail which I might have been hard pressed to come up with myself. But I recognized its accuracy. He had stayed home from a party the other night because he and the dog had gotten into such a peaceful space together as he did the ttouches that time had passed without his being aware of it.

Besides admiring his memory, I was happy to hear his ttouch story!

I’ve been doing a lot of Tellington Touch (known also as the Tellington TTouch) lately, in the process of socializing our new and already very large puppy. Lola is 8 months old and both LarryDog, shown above, and our cat Misty, shown in the picture below, were quite dubious at first about her presence.

One of the things I did to ease everyone’s stress was the most basic of the Tellington Touches. It had a very good effect! Larry would become relaxed, like he is in the picture. Lola got used to the touches quickly, though for some time she was not so sure she liked it when I worked around her hindquarters. She would look at me as I did it, and sometimes lick me. I would stop for a bit and later I’d be able go further with less concern from her.
I knew about this process because my husband and I had worked with Linda Tellington-Jones to create two videos, which are now DVDs, about using the Tellington Touch with dogs and with cats.
Here’s a link to a page on another of my websites, about Linda Tellington-Jones and the ttouch, including a simple ttouch you can try. I’m sorry I can’t really just describe the circles on this page. They aren’t hard to learn but it’s better done visually or in person.

Misty is still growling a lot at Lola, but is not giving up her favorite spot on our bed:

I’ve just been emailing with someone who is trying EFT with a dog and that gave me the idea to write something about it here.

EFT is short for Emotional Freedom Technique and it is quite an amazingly effective method of working on physical and emotional problems of all sorts. I’ve been using it for several years, chiefly for myself and other humans. Read the rest of this entry