I have been involved in dogs all my life. I spent a lot of my 20's going from club to club learning everything about training and dogs of all shapes and sizes. I also became an obedience competitor with my German Shepherd dogs. From the age of 15 onwards I started to loose my hearing so my dogs became an even more important part of my life and my knowledge helped me to train them to be "my ears." Due to this and only being able to manage conversations one to one - I found it difficult to be involved in training others or starting my own business...but I desperately wanted to be with dogs in a career - so about 10 years ago I took a groomers course, in the hope to get a job doing this.

Finally my perseverance and faithfulness to my vet paid off - I was offered a parlour of my own there. What made it so wonderful was it was perfect for me as the girls on reception are so lovely and do all my phone calls and bookings. So I am now on the search for the latest technology, courses and everything I need to know about being a successful groomer!

Being a qualified training Instructor, it has made me more aware of the effects us groomers have on dogs.. and I have seen some horror cases to our best friends on my travels. (Not to mention - the ones their owners inflict on them!) It never ceases to amaze me how really forgiving and loyal dogs really are.

I am lucky enough to have a best friend who is a TTouch Practitioner level 2, I am sure she will not mind me mentioning her name Marie Miller - she is a very lovely lady. She has taught me another approach to handling and training dogs, believe me I have seen them all and TTouch gives you a result that most of us dream of - it is well worth the time and money spent on learning about it.

So why is TTouch important to us as groomers? Well if you are concerned for the whole well-being of your clients read on...

The Tellington Touch is a teaching method for dogs and other animals, working on their neural pathways. It incorporates body work and ground exercises as appropriate to improve co-ordination and balance/athletic ability, whilst deepening communication, understanding and respect between an animal and it’s owner or carer and it helps to increase levels of self confidence and self control.

Body TTouches find areas in the animal’s body that indicate tension, fear of contact or discomfort. Specific movements and TTouches are used to improve circulation, release tension and promote a greater sense of well-being. The method is widely used around the world by animal lovers and people who work with animals.

It is not necessary to learn the whole TTouch approach to help the animals. Learning just a few of the body TTouches by working with a trained Practitioner or attending a workshop can make a difference to an animal’s behaviour whilst in your care. This is what, we as groomers need to learn about - as it reduces the physical and mental stress created by human contact, handling, and environment conditions.

Bad handling and bad experiences such as cuts/bruising during grooming, can often leave a holding pattern of pain in the injured area or fear of being touched there. This pattern persists below awareness long after healing is complete. Us groomers might be unaware of the past, but it is still strong in a dogs senses - making them difficult to handle directly because of there experiences or in some cases lack of them through lack of socialization to environmental conditions such as grooming. TTouch helps to relieve this, makes a dog become relaxed and trusting to you and so helps to relieve the stress, which it feels in a grooming parlour. With a continued use of TTouch, animals develop more ability to operate in a calm, focused mode and increases their levels of self-confidence.

So now I hear - we haven't the time for this!! This can be carried out by your helper while you are working - 5 minutes before starting on the dog or indeed during the grooming. I use hand strokes, gentle hair pulls and TTouch circles to lift and separate the hair, massaging at the same time during my time drying the dogs. Most of my short-coated dogs or clip offs are dried with my fingers NOT the brush all the time, which a lot of dogs dislike anyway. I have had Cockers and Springer's - yes Springer's, close their eyes while I was drying them and the next time they come back they settled much quicker - I dare any one to tell me it doesn’t work!

I believe you can only benefit from learning this - and the knowledge you can pass on to the owners not only impresses them - but helps the dog out when he/she goes home and I personally feel what ever happens once the dog walks out your door, that it has received the best possible experience whilst in your hands. If this isn't important to you - then you shouldn't be grooming a dog, their lives are hard enough with out been groomed by a bully who's only interested in a big fat wallet!

Article © Professional Groomers, and used here with permission.

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