The first time I met Gracie, a 7 ½ month old Akita, she wouldn’t come near me. She was a very shy dog. I threw treats and she still would not come up to me. She panted, barked, and paced. On the client form, Janelle answered “How can I help you with your dog?” with “Fear of people, on walks, strangers. Does pull on the leash. .  . Getting her (and I suppose me) to relax, trust, and not be so fearful.”  Gracie was especially fearful of men and would pee in the car.

During first session, I taught Janelle different TTouch® techniques using my stuffed dog, because I could not get close to Gracie. We also talked about how Janelle needed to relax and breathe when she saw something on a walk that Gracie might think is scary.

When I came over a week later, Gracie was in the yard alone. She paced but did not bark at me. Janelle came out and I entered the yard. Gracie took treats from me and let me touch her! Janelle told me she would talk out loud to cars (“It’s a Honda”) or dumpsters to relax herself during walks. As she talked to the “scary things,” Gracie also relaxed. After our first session, they walked to a coffee shop and Gracie was comfortable with the two dogs tied outside.

As our five TTouch® sessions progressed, Gracie relaxed more and became more confident. The fifth session Gracie did a play bow dance and ran up to me. Now she runs up to people at the dog park. She went camping and can stay alone in the car without peeing. Gracie is more confident and more relaxed.

See Gracie’s transformation over our five sessions in her video.