When I first walked in to Bruno’s shelter run many months ago, I was shocked at the level of fear and dread of humans he displayed. For him, being in an enclosed space with a person with nowhere to run was traumatic and frightening. He would either run from one end to the other or cower in the corner. I knew I had the tools to help him and boy, did he need it!

Because I couldn’t touch him with my hand I needed an extension of my arm so I got out my 3 foot white riding whip (actually we refer to it as a wand because of the magic it does) and in a crouched position I proceeded to stroke him with it. Fear and panic welled up in him as he snapped and bit at the wand and tried to press himself into the concrete corner. When the wand wouldn’t go away but yet didn’t cause any pain, he stayed crouched in the corner and stopped running. This was what I was looking for “ the moment where perceptions slowly melt and fear makes way for maybe this is not so bad I don’t remember anymore if it happened that same session or the next one, but very soon I put down the wand and made the first approach with my hand. With Bruno more comfortable behind me, and me sitting on his palette, I reached backwards and, avoiding eye contact, started to do the magical one and a quarter circular movements of the Tellington touch on his body.

During my initial meeting and interaction with Bruno I never got the feeling that he would bite me and to this day that has proved, incredibly, to be true. So it was, with my observer Cicely Blumberg ( and owner of Adopt a Pet) stationed at the door reading his eyes and expressions, and my excited heart pounding in my chest, I started to build a bond and a connection with Bruno through the power of TTouch. Cicely, reading his expression for me, told me that his eyes had started to melt and soften as he sat quietly for his first ever human contact.

Over the next few weeks with me visiting him once a week I had progressed to the point where, if I crouched on my haunches and made myself small, he would actually come up to me to be touched. I lovingly TTouched him wherever I could reach and he loved it! Then slowly I progressed to being able to stand up and touch him.

I carried on interacting with him like this for some time and then it felt right that we proceed to the next step which was to get him into a collar and lead. This however proved tricky as he was extremely suspicious of any object I carried in my hand, lead or collar. No amount of concealing it (trust me I thought I was going to become a magician) and trying to sneak it on worked. It only made him run to the corner again.

I had at this time become a full time employee at the shelter and one day I had a brain wave!! It was a daring move but I felt confident of his level of trust in me to try this. With the help of staff and Bruno’s long time canine friend Sam we cornered him in a narrow walkway using a palette to block their escape. Of course Sam, who has a wonderful sense of fun and humor, thought it was cool to be so close to the one person he loves most in the world
and proceeded to slobber all over me while I tried to brush him off so I could focus on Bruno, who was at this point, you guessed it, cowering in the corner!. With nowhere to run he patiently but yet with a certain amount of real fear allowed me to clip the collar around his neck. After adjusting it we set him free.

In the confines of his run he came to me but out in the open yard he stayed well away. Just another hurdle I was sure we would get over.

About 2 weeks later the day arrived for Bruno’s first walking lesson. I was sure he had never been on a lead before. Again we cornered him and Sam with the palette and I clipped the lead on. I instructed my helpers to move the palette back a couple of centimeters at a time but only when Bruno took a step forwards when I asked him on the lead. Freedom was his reward for coming forward when asked. He did extremely well so the next day I decided to take him out of the yard into another big enclosure where we could walk him for real. Now, you have to understand that Bruno had never been out of the shelter area so I suspected that he would be overwhelmed at life outside its walls. With him and his friend Sam both on a lead we opened the gate to the outside world. I gently applied the ask and release method I had learned from TTouch to Bruno’s neck. He reacted violently, jumping up in the air, falling on the ground and looking terrified. I calmly TTouched him and tried again. Each time he reacted less violently and soon he was responding to the signals on his neck. I felt so elated I had to phone Cicely who was almost in tears on hearing the news and proclaimed It’s a miracle, it’s a miracle! Cicely has always believed in TTouch and is my biggest supporter as well as my employer.

Now it was time for the open road and walkies! Although I never use choke chains I used one Bruno because of the fear that he may bite through the lead in panic. The choker at least gave me a length of extra chain that he could bite on if he panicked. I leashed him and Sam up and headed for the big silver gate and the great outdoors beyond.

Well, nothing happened. I think I was tenser than he was. Sure he jumped a bit every time there was a sudden movement or sound but he managed to contain himself and with the help of some calming touches, his first foray into the outside world was a resounding success!

The rest is just history. Now, on their walkies day, Bruno and Sam loudly remind me that they are due for their walk and they would like it now please! I can never disappoint them “ no matter how much work or how many interruptions I have. I let Bruno out of his run into the open yard and whereas before he would run from me, he now stands still and eager to have the collar slipped over his head. The three of us leave the premises and outside my volunteer waits to take Bruno’s lead from me so she can walk him and interact with him. We head off for anywhere because Bruno manages to hold his own in noisy traffic, shopping centre parking lots and strangers walking by. He has put on weight and kept it on for the first time in ages. He is starting to play with me and he has met many of my volunteers now and is comfortable with all of them.

I still have to pinch myself when I look down into the soft, loving brown eyes of a dog once so petrified of people who now shows such extraordinary bravery and willingness to love and trust. We are now at the point where Bruno can at last be homed. It will be a bitter sweet day when he goes but with the right owner it is my belief that he will blossom even more on his journey to becoming a whole, healed dog. Plus one lucky person will get all the love he has to give.

I can only say that this miraculous story would never have been written if it were not for the Tellington touch skills I learned in the past few years. This is truly an inspirational and extraordinary technique that can benefit many traumatised animals on the planet and it is my hope that many people will learn it and by using it on our animal (and human) friends we can truly change the world one touch at a time.