By Linda White   

Geneva, an elderly Fort Lauderdale woman, found a friend and companion in her Lhasa apso puppy, Shelby. What she did not expect was that Shelby would start to bite her after four years together. As Shelby's biting progressively became worse, Geneva's daughter, Shane, told her that she would have to put the dog down. When Geneva was given the ultimatum by her daughter, she had to do something. This was her only companion; her daughter lived four hours away in Orlando. Through her veterinarian, Dr. Stephanie Johnston at Wiles Road Animal Hospital, Geneva was given my number. As a TTouch practitioner and Reiki Master, I use a holistic approach to enhance the mental, physical and emotional well-being of animals through touch. TTouch activates unused or underutilized neural pathways of a person or animal. Reiki is the act of laying hands on the human or animal body to comfort and relieve pain and is as old as instinct. After all, when experiencing pain the first thing we all do is put our hands on it. I met Geneva and Shelby, and saw that their relationship was lost. Geneva was afraid of Shelby, who was also unsure of her owner. After talking with Geneva, I found out that she was a bundle of nerves and under tremendous pressure from her family. Her hands were stiff and shook from tension, something they had never done before. I gently approached Shelby, but she pulled away. I then stopped. After the third approach, I started to do circular TTouches on Shelby's side. Her body was hard, carrying the tension from her owner's body. As Shelby gained confidence in me, she allowed more and more touches. She yawned a few times (a dog signal of calming down) and finally lied down, allowing me to do TTouches on her entire body. TTouch on Shelby allowed her body to relax just enough to open up unused neural pathways to her brain. This allowed Shelby to stop and think about what she was doing instead of reacting through fear. Shelby did not realize the tension she was carrying, she just knew she was uncomfortable. When Shelby bit her owner she was called aggressive. In reality, she was doing it out of a fear of getting hurt. Her owner's touch had gotten much harder as Geneva's life became more challenging. As a result, Shelby's body had become very sensitive and her muscles progressively tightened up. In short, her body was very sensitive or perhaps even sore. In this case, pain was the reason for her biting. Shelby had given her caregiver many warnings, but Geneva didn't know how to read her dog's body language. TTouch is a very gentle way of touching an animal on purpose, allowing them to think through a situation and giving them the ability to handle situations differently. I gave Geneva a lesson on animal body language so she could be more aware of what her dog was trying to tell her. When she first went to do TTouch on Shelby, the dog pulled away, and this time so did Geneva. The dog was amazed. Her owner was now listening to her body language. Geneva tried again and stopped when the dog showed signs of fear. Within minutes, Geneva was doing TTouches on Shelby's head without her pulling back. A week later, Shelby was acting like her old self, minus the biting. Now, Shelby not only lets Geneva do TTouch on her but also rolls over on her back so she could be TTouched all over. The fear Shelby once had with Geneva was gone. Not believing Shelby had gotten better, Geneva's daughter came down to see for herself how the dog was reacting to her mother. She was truly impressed with what she saw. Now Geneva could keep her little companion. In one day, Geneva learned to take the time to read Shelby's body language, to honor her fear and to use TTouch to regain her trust. -Linda White is a Certified Tellington Touch Practitioneer, a Reiki Master and a Puppy Specialist who owns Happy Puppy Kindergarten, Inc. For the past 24 years she has trained and worked with animals on a non-professional level. White can be reached at (954) 473-6525.

Top of Page

		Table of Contents  Our Latest Issue   Advertise   Chatroom  Comics   Contact   Departments   Discussion  Guestbook   Issues   Pet Links Katsation.com & PuppyStation.com Select Main   OR  Home About Advertising Comics Contact Departments Discussion Editors Guestbook Issues Related Sites Pet Links Directory Select Department Departments 20/20 Facts Ask Dr. Jane Ask A Trainer Bird Stop Book Reviews Breeds Cat's Meow Celebrities' Classifieds Dog Time Editorials Exotics Features Fishy Grooming Harry's Kitchen Holistic Care The Spotlight Kids & Pets Open Wide Pet Post Pets In Court Pet Travel While Away Wild Thing  OR Select Issue  Issues Main Covers 1995 Covers 1996 Covers 1997 September 1997 November 1997 Covers 1998 February 1998 April 1998 June 1998 August 1998 October 1998 Covers 1999 January 1999 March 1999 May 1999 July 1999 September 1999 November 1999 Covers 2000 January 2000 March 2000 May 2000 July 2000 September 2000 November 2000 Covers 2001 February 2001 April 2001 July 2001 September 2001 Covers 2002 March 2002 June 2002 November 2002* Covers 2003
	Have the Tyme? Suggest This Page to a Friend! Your Name and E-Mail: Your Friends E-Mail:		Search The Pet Tribune On-Line ! More Search Options !