Testimonials
Dear Betsy,
Thank you for guiding my parents in the right direction!
Love,
Lucy (a young Chicago dog)
P.S. I love my body wrap!
Yesterday evening
after returning from your seminar, I practiced what you preached. I
performed the TTouch methods I learned on Gracie and oh my! What an
AMAZING transformation. She is so much calmer. She lies calmly and
hasn't been whimpering excessively. No pacing. I
"TTouched" her again this morning when the presence of the cat got her
cranked up. She immediatley calmed down and has been calm throughout the
morning.
Right now she is snoozing in the living room while
I'm at the computer down the hallway. Before your seminar, in this exact
situation, Gracie would either be in here pestering me non-stop or chewing
something to pieces in the living room. I wouldn't have believed it
unless I had used the TTouch method myself. Gracie has not been this calm
and relaxed unless she has run herself ragged with the big dogs at the dog
park! And she hasn't even had her morning walk yet!
Thank you SO much for conducting this seminar in
my area. What a lifesaver.
— C. T., Indiana
Both Skippy and Keeli [rescued Australian Shepherds with almost complete loss of both vision and hearing] are
doing very well with the techniques at home. They have been very helpful in
allowing Skippy to relax enough to allow us to brush/trim his mats out and
other things he normally was way too anxious to let us do. He is so much more relaxed now. It has made a night-and-day difference with him.
During the break in class, Skippy was actually relaxed
enough to be able to approach another dog appropriately. He walked right up to
Hershey outside and greeted her like he had known her forever. He normally
really has issues with this as he gets so nervous that he does not allow them to get close. I was so proud of him for
being able to relax enough to lie prone on his side while we worked on him.
That took so much for him to be in such a vulnerable position. He could not
have done that with other people and dogs so close to him without these
techniques.
It
will take time, but we are confident Skippy can overcome what's ahead of him. Thank
you so much for helping us be able to help him!
P.S. We have also used [TTouch] on some of our other dogs and their response has been just as strong as with Keeli and Skippy. Mika, our two-year-old Aussie, has a docked tail and has some real issues about [anyone] touching it. I can do TTouches down her body and can even take my fingers and tweak the end of her tail to finish the motion and she does not care. It's one of the few times she has allowed me to touch her tail; she normally jumps up and tucks her butt under so that I cannot get to it. I'm going to work on her a lot with this, as it may make it a lot easier when the vet techs take her temperature—easier for them and easier on her.
— A. K., Indiana
The wraps and touches you showed us got our dogs through the thunderstorm that night with very positive results. And the dogs slept peacefully through the next storm!
— B. K., Chicago
The workshop at the Anti-Cruelty Society was very helpful, and my dog is improving daily!
— C. W., Chicago
I have two border
collies. Two years ago my female, Red, went into full-blown storm phobia, after we had a series of banging,
crashing storms. During the last of those storms, she turned her crate into
a ball of wire, wrecked the dew claw on one leg, and destroyed her lower
canines in the process. The teeth had to be extracted. She went
from being a little anxious to this, in what seems like the blink of an eye. She needs medication, there is no question about it. There is no
desensitizing her in that state of mind, or allowing her to find comfort
somewhere. There is no comfort to be found. She barks, she destroys
anything she can get her teeth on, she climbs into lamps (I'll never understand
that one), she digs holes, she climbs into my crotch. It is painful to
watch her hit the wall. Sometimes, miraculously,
she can ride out a storm peacefully. Sometimes, rain sets her off. Sometimes, wind sets her off. Sometimes, low flying jets on a
cloudy day set her off. And certainly firecrackers she her off.
She refuses to go out
into the yard, at night, in the summer, once the first firecracker goes off.
I have developed a whole
arsenal of tactics for ease her, and my, suffering. [. . .] There is no getting
around the use of medication on days when there are frequent storms, but I try
to use it sparingly; for short-term events I like the other things. After seeing how you used the body wrap, I tried one on Red one night
when someone was shooting off firecrackers. I also wrapped Rafe, my male. He is not so crazy about
firecrackers either. In about three minutes they were both asleep.
A few days later, I
brought a wrap with me to a group class I was teaching, for a dog that was so stressed
she vocalized during the entire class the previous week. She was very
quiet in her "bandage;" her mother is a nurse, and she got a kick out of
it.
— L. B., Chicago (Dog Trainer)
OH MY GOD, THANK
YOU. I sat next to you last night during your demonstration, and I
just have to say again, thank you! I have two dogs; one is a very anxious dog that is highly
trainable and can do so many things but I have never been able to get him to
calm down when people come in. Also, when I get his leash out, he just barks and
barks and barks and if that is not enough he is jumping at the same time and he
is then past the teaching or listening stage. But after
listening to you last night, I went out and got an Ace-type bandage and in just one
day he is like a different dog. When the other dogs started to bark at whatever
was heard outside, I was able to refocus Cooper and then treat him. No
barking or jumping. I love the wrap you showed us with this simple tool. I had a friend
over today and she is amazed, also, and said if I told her she would not have
believed me but she saw for herself the difference in Cooper. Again, Thank You! Let me know if you will be doing any type of workshops in the future; I'd like to sit in. Please add me to your mailing list.
— K. M., Chicago (Dog Trainer & Pet Sitter)
I am a student at AnimalSense [dog trainer's academy] and I wanted to thank you so much
for giving such an interesting presentation. I was
utterly fascinated and cannot stop thinking about the way you
approach behavioral issues with dogs, particularly shelter dogs. Thank you again for
taking the time to speak with us.
— A. D., Chicago
Good news! We heard such great things about the workshop that the school and I want to invite you again! Thanks a million!
— J. A., Chicago
I must say, I can't believe how awesome that body wrap is! I put it on Nix right before the storm, and [instead of hiding under the bed] she stayed out in the living room with us the whole time!
— V. P., Wheaton IL
Thank you […] for an awesome workshop! We have heard nothing but great things about you and your presentation from those who attended.
Tucker is usually the more confident of my two guys, but it came to me, after hearing some of the things from your presentation, that what I have labeled as "unfocused" and "unpredictable" may very well be his way of shutting down from stress. I am definitely going to try the body wrap with both dogs and will let you know how it goes.
Many thanks for bringing TTouch to west Michigan!
— M. J., Michigan
Thank you again for your workshop. I put the word out to all my other animal-loving friends out of town, [telling them] how amazing your seminar was so maybe they would get a group together to hire you and benefit from your knowledge. I am also showing my husband the techniques, as my female 13-year-old shepherd mix is his shadow and he will work on her also. My 6-year-old male Golden Retriever/hound/St. Bernard mix is my shadow, so we are very fortunate to all have each other -- and we want to share with them the gifts you passed on in the seminar. So thanks again!
— J. J. T., Michigan
The touches must be meeting some need for Brady, as he finds them very relaxing. Also, he has not had another spell of persistent whining since the class!
— N. H., Skokie IL
I'm a dog walker at Animal Ark Animal Shelter. My dogs of choice? The ones who others don't usually walk. Today, they were different dogs. Martini, who is usually pretty crazed at the beginning of our walks, was beautiful and peaceful. She is usually the toughest of all to walk, but today she stood around calmly. She did not pull once. Her little head and ears were up. This never happens with her. She knew her beauty. This is a joy. I was ecstatic.
Update: Very shortly after your marvelous work with Martini, she was adopted! I'm a believer!
— M. S., Hastings MN
