Ttouch..

Do any of you have any views of, or experience with this?

What is it?

I've read a little - it certainly sounds interesting but I must be honest, I've not heard or read enough to form an opinion. Would love to see it in action though!

have heard of it but no personal experiences, but have heard good things though

My friend is working through the courses at the moment.. She's just bought me the book to try and get me involved.. In a nutshell it's circular, gentle movements on parts of an animals anatomy, used with confidence building mazes and harnesses to change and develop cognitive function.. She swears by it and thinks I should try it with Biscuit and Max, but apparently it's one of those "you can't explain why but it works" deals!

I have heard of it but also no personal experience, sounds very interesting though.

Rachel I have had quite a bit of experience with ttouch and have met
Sarah Fisher who you may have heard of.
It is used a lot and a large number of dogs (and indeed other animals) are helped before being rehomed.  It works brilliantly to relax and calm a dog
and I use it on Harry when we have thunderstorms or fireworks for example as he
can get quite stressful. It can be used when a dog needs to be calmed down before training can start because they are over threshold and unable to learn in that state. It is also a lovely way of bonding with your dog
and it is wonderful to see them relax.  Harry will even come to me and
ask for it.   Have a look on youtube there are loads of clips showing it.
I believe that it was originally used on horses and later found to work
for dogs.  The only thing I would say is that bull breeds tend to like it
done a little harder than some dogs but I'm sure that won't surprise you   
Wraps can also be used, and Harry has a t touch harness.
Well worth doing. You will enjoy it too.  Good Luck

Sounds interesting will have a look on youtube Vin gets very stressed with Fireworks worth a go thank you   

Heard good things about it and the taster courses round here are always snapped up.

whats the book called hun?

Ella, look for anything by Sarah Fisher in UK or Linda Tellington Jones
USA.

Its not at all difficult to learn the basics and I would recommend it to
any dog owner. Done wonders for me and Harry.

thanks i'll have a look

Never heard of it before but it does sound interesting   

Thanks for your replies;
Lizzie it's so good to hear of somebody that's had experience with it, do you think it works with fireworks? Jess has seen amazing things happen with it in regards to aggression.. Biscuit's got a really bad firework phobia and is also people and dog aggressive and just generally a very worried (but fiesty!!) little thing. Max is overstimulated by EVERYTHING, an excessive barker and also a biter..very impulsive. So been looking into it to help him with training and boost Biscuit's confidence. What do you think of the harness? Yeah I can imagine, Biscuit loves a good, hard massage lol! Jess works quite closely with Sarah Fisher, told me quite a lot about her little rescue bull breed!

Ella, the book i've got is "Getting in Ttouch with your dog" by Linda Tellington Jones.. Seems pretty good so far, goes into detail with all of the touches and explains the background of it. I'm still skeptical just because I like to learn the sciences behind behaviour and training and I can't find much basis for this other than that they have seen it work themselves.. but I hope to be proved wrong.

Rachel I would honestly recommend you to try it with both.  My Harry, who
I love to bits has been somewhat of a challenge, hyper, anxious, easily
overstimulated, like you say by everything.  Hot Air Baloons, the Moon,
the Sun, loud noises, fireworks, thunder, new places, originally the car.
Visitors, other dogs of course and the anxiety he experienced when
out walking and meeting others led him to look like the hound of the
baskervilles and I misread it as aggression at first.  I was advised to keep him below threshold and to do that I had to literally teach him how to chill.
I learned how to do t touch at that point.  My lovely boy is now so much
happier, you can just see it when walking him.  Allright he will have a 'pop'
at a couple of dogs we meet, and always will no doubt, but the majority
he just walks past and his anxiety levels have dropped enormously. We are
both happier.  Did you know they use t touch on dogs that are people
aggressive by using an artificial hand through the bars of their crate until
they can eventually touch?  The science bit is something to do with the
blood reaching the parts of skin that is being touched. Some dogs are saved from being
pts. Bull breeds quite often hold the tension in the jaw area but you can feel where the tension
is as you go over the body.
Have a look at Sarah Fishers website at Tilley Farm.  If for no other reason, her partner
is the lovely Anthony Head who used to be in the famous coffee adverts years ago,
and more recently played Merlin in the BBC series on Saturday nights.
Sorry if Ive 'gone on a bit' and I hope I have persuaded you to at least
give it a try, you have nothing to lose and could be like me and have a
lot to gain.

Thanks Rach