Second Weekend of TTouch in Buenos Aires

The second weekend of TTouch workshops in Buenos Aires was equally successful as the first. This time the workshops were held in Buenos Aires city at the North Liniers Sporting Club premises. There was a square with grass justopposite the venue but in the end we decided to hold all the activities indoors. This was interesting as working indoors for the groundwork session is quite different from the outdoors experience. In some ways it was more revealing for the participants because without any more distant distractions they were able to observe both the dogs and the handlers more closely.

There was a wide range of dogs with varied jobs to do in the dog world. On Saturday we had a cane corso and a Malinois both from the Buenos Aires Police Dog Unit and on Sunday a black setter sniffer dog from the Customs Anti-narcotics Unit. Saturday's participant included a number of dogs just returned from the Latin America and Caribbean Agility Championships in Santiago de Chile. These were mostly border collies but the Australian shepherd that took first place in the non-border collie class was also present. An elderly beagle also attended for the bodywork and wraps session to be replaced for the groundwork by his house companion, a two month old Jack Russell puppy. Sunday's group included another cane corso that, despite his huge size, was only seven months old, a Bernese and more border collies. The number of border collies was disproportionate to their presence among the dog population as a whole due to the fact that Claudia who organised the workshops participates in agility and so many of her own dogs' companions came along.

The range of human interests was also wide. On Saturday we had a doctor from the agility fraternity, two police dog handlers, another agility fanatic who is an architect in his "spare time", as well as a cross-section of other professions. On Sunday the group included a holistic vet and a veterinary student, a dog trainer and handler from the Customs sniffer dog unit who also teaches at the Dog Training Department at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Buenos Aires. She was particularly impressed with the effect she could see on her black setter's hind legs when first a wrap and later scrunchies were put on. The remainder of the participants were people who simply love their dogs and wanted to improve their quality of life.

Many of the dogs, particularly the border collies, presented a high level of anxiety and others had a variety of physical elements which could benefit from TTouch.

The feedback on both days was universally positive and, once again people expressed an interest in continuing the work and learning more in future events.

Claudia, her husband, Marcelo, and all three sons, Matías, Marco & Julián, put in a huge amount of work to make the workshops a success. For them it was a big gamble because they did not know me, they had little knowledge of TTouch but were convinced that it would be of benefit to Claudia in her dog training classes. How people would respond was also an unknown quantity but in the end I think the experience proved to be positive and I am immensely grateful to them for all the work they put in. Special thanks go to Julián who at 12 years of age is a fantastic cook and provided a full day service all weekend. What more can one ask?!