Jazz has her degenerating right hip which at her tender age of 4.5 years, I want to continue her comfort and avoid a hip replacement for as long as possible, hopefully forever. It's her spirit that brought me to TTouch and so she is my most special "client". Her behavioral issues aren't much to speak of other than being a but unsocialized. My main objective with her has been to increase her comfort and willingness to swim. Swimming is so highly beneficial for joint issues as it places no stress while gently moving the body. And we have swimming available to us 24/7 during the warmer months.
Jazz's previous reaction to the invitation to swim was to cower by the back door in her swim suit (life vest), shivering with fear. If the invite was made for her to swim, she'd avoid coming down to the dock at all. Since returning from my TTouch session with Linda, Jazz has made remarkable strides in her swimming:
Day 1, she accepted her swim suit with joy and came down to the dock with us. It took quite a bit of encouragement but she would eventually make her way over to me, where I perched on the swim ladder, and after receiving more TTouches, would relax and allow me to lift her into the lake and the waiting swim float - allowing her to stand comfortably in the deep water. I would join her and do TTouches. Her relaxation was remarkable! Then, she would swim (with my support) to the shore and climb out. ..... The amazing part is... she would come BACK around to the dock to do it again! She made 3 assisted entries into the lake.
Day 2, I took Jazz & Nestle to work with me which is located by a public landing.... which means shallow water entry! So, I took their swim suits and we enjoyed a break in all things musical to go for a swim. Jazz really needed me "in" the water to encourage her, she entered the water on her own and swam to and from where she could reach the bottom many times..... with a smile! Very little TTouches were needed for her. She was in fine form!
Day 3, This was at home where we live on deep water (no shallows for anyone under 5' tall). To my utter SHOCK, Jazz took very little encouragement to come over to me at the swim ladder for lowering into the swim float waiting for her! She was smiling and her eyes were bright. She would brace a bit in anticipation of being lowered into the water, but this too was much reduced over the previous session and some TTouches help reassure her. .... She spent much longer in the float before deciding to swim ashore. She volunteered for these "assisted leaps" off the dock twice before calling it a day.
All in all, her swimming skills are growing steadily thanks to the security of her swim suit (flotation) and TTouches. Her confidence is amazing and has sky rocketed during these few swim sessions. In previous summers I have tried tirelessly to encourage her to swim - to no avail. TTouch has played a key role in her new found wet enjoyment!
Jazz at the Rockville, Maryland TTouch trainingNestle has always had issues with barking. He barks at everything. He barks at everyone. He barks to express himself. He barks alarms, both imagined and real. He is a barky boy! With regular TTouch time, his barking is reducing gradually and steadily. His greatest moment was with a client who entered our music store yesterday and was greeted with the typical behavior of two little dogs barking at his ankles. The fellow is a regular client, so he was not phased and held his ground, calmly. Jazz got the "okay" right away and went back to her bed. Nestle, however, continued his barking and I could see the tension in his croup, so I happily gave him a couple gentle TTouches and he was instantly calmed. His barking stopped (Yes, it was that instantaneous). He smiled and stayed to "check out" the client with a calm, happy demeanor. He did not bother the client the rest of the visit.
For Nestle, this is huge. He has "paused" his barking in the past only to continue as soon as the client moved about the store. And would occasionally go over and give them a few more barks for added measure. "I" didn't appreciate this barking behavior and I'll assume the clients didn't appreciate it either. What a gift to have a happy, quiet dog!
Nestle "Diving" from our shoreline
No comments:
Post a Comment