TTouch Workshop

I am pleased to report that Brodie and Brooke checked out fine at the physio last week so are raring to go for the show season!! All three shelties are looking fit and well at the moment so long may it continue :)

On Saturday, Brooke and I had a day out at a TTouch Workshop with Maria Johnston. It was brilliant and I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in dogs. We learnt about the basic ttouches and calming signals and then had a go on our dogs. It was amazing how the adrenaline level in the room dropped (both human and canine) once we started working on the dogs. Maria demonstrated body wraps and face wraps for anxious dogs and bearing in mind all the dogs thought they must be there to 'do' something it was a steep learning curve for them as well, to learn to relax. 

In the afternoon, Maria demonstrated some groundwork exercises to improve the dogs confidence and proprioception. We all had a go with our dogs and it was great how Brooke started off quite stressed and offering different behaviours around the equipment but soon settled and focused once she was wearing a body wrap. Her concentration was so much better and she stopped being so 'busy'. Many of the dogs struggled with these exercises as round agility equipment we are constantly raising their adrenaline and telling them what to do. Maria was keen that the dogs were left to walk in their own balance and walk through exercises slowly without being told what to do constantly. Although Brooke didn't do much physical exercise, she was absolutely shattered after the workshop as they had really had to use their brains. Funnily enough, some of the groundwork exercises that we did are ones I used to use when I taught puppy classes years ago. I have a horse book about Tellington Touch and I had modified the groundwork exercises for my puppies and novice dog classes!

Brooke was over the moon on sunday morning as she found a ball on the fields! It was a bit big for her but she managed to pick it up and carried it all the way home. She does love collecting treasures still!! Next weekend is the start of the party season for the doglets so I'll have lots of trials and tribulations to report I'm sure. Only Brodie is competing next weekend as we are ring managing so I'll try and get a video. I'm sure he'll be wild! :)