janeddie Posted November 30, 2007 Report Share Posted November 30, 2007 Just thought I would give you all an up-date on our T-Touch Sessions - had another one last night and Eddie is definitely moving in the right direction Well she turned up and I helped her unload the van and by the end the garden looked like an assault (??) course; there was a labyrinth of guttering, a step ladder made of rope laid across the floor, various "touch points" made up of carpet, lino, mats, etc., there was a home-made see-saw, traffic bollards, etc. and two stuffed dogs; a collie and a HUSKY!! She started with doing Eddie's rubs etc in the house, which Polly really enjoyed (Polly gate-crashed the party) and he did not react when she massaged the bit on his back, which he didn't normally like and she said he seemed a lot less tense. Polly went up to bed to watch Eastenders, so we could concentrate on Eddie. We took him outside and she put the wrap on him and we had the balancing leads on as well. He was unsure at first of the see-saw and froze a couple of times mid-way but with us both gently rocking him from side to side he decided to carry on. She said he was probably a bit more wary because there was limited light and there were shadows etc., there were also the foxes over in the back field doing naughty things and what a racket that noise is!!!! The first place she positioned the two stuffed dogs he walked straight past them i.e. they were not facing him. He had seen them so I thought to myself that I knew he wouldn't react to a stuffed dog!! Then later she moved them to the other side of the garden and the two toys were sitting together looking towards Eddie and all of a sudden he froze and his tail stuck up at the end and he was ready for action! He didn't lunge or bark but had a low grumble and she gently massaged his tail to get it back down and after a couple of minutes he was relaxed and sitting opposite them. I did at one point think the husky was going to get it but he came right down from "red" alert in a matter of probably seconds and his recovery time after was next to nothing, which apparently is good. The dogmatic was off at this point and he just had a calming band made of thick elastic around his ears and nose. She also tried him with elastic bootie things but he wouldn't move at all!! After we had walked around the garden loads of times and got him going over the equipment she said to unclip his lead and see if he went to the stuffed dogs and no Eddie ran straight up to the corner of the garden immediately past the toys - he was more interested in what the foxes were up to! We did some off-lead heel work and he was great and she was amazed at how good his sit, wait for 2 minutes, recall, sit is!!! She said he had a lovely stay! All in all, a good session and his legs were in the correct position for all of the session when he stood, so he is definitely relaxing! She is going to bring a harness for me to try on him next time, which I am unsure about because I won't have any control over his head but I suppose I can give it a try. Next session Sunday 9th December at 2.30PM so at least it will be light! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
safneo Posted November 30, 2007 Report Share Posted November 30, 2007 (edited) fantastic news. Glad you are getting on well with TT. It is great when it works for your dog What area are you in? There is a fab TT lady near us called Lynne Edited November 30, 2007 by safneo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janeddie Posted December 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2007 We are just outside Walsall and our T-Touch Trainer is called Lynne who lives in Walsall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
safneo Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 Thats lovely Lynne that I know She helps out at the hydro pool I go to as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janeddie Posted January 6, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2008 Eddie's T-Touch is going really well Believe it or not for the first couple of sessions he really did "react" to the stuffed husky cuddly toy but at the last session ... Hope we are on our way to meeting the real thing now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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