Three Questions for Betsy Lane
- May 21, 2014
- 3 min read
By Jamie Damato Migdal, CEO & Pet Industry Entrepreneur
The last couple of posts have been related to the use of dogs in a therapy setting, and so we're continuing that theme this week with Three Questions for CanineLink instructor Betsy Lane. Betsy is a Guild-Certified Tellington TTouch Practitioner for Companion Animals and the owner of PetKiDo, where she works with people and their pets to improve behavior, enhance well-being, and reduce stress. In addition to her private practice, she teaches TTouch workshops for AnimalSense.
Which dog has taught you the most, and why? Although every animal I work with teaches me something, if I were to single out one dog, it would have to be Martini, a Pit Bull mix I worked with during my TTouch Practitioner Training at a shelter in Minnesota. Martini was a fairly typical shelter dog in a lot of ways: she was constantly over-stimulated, which resulted in her acting like an unadoptable dog. She was completely unfocused, barking, spinning, panting, jumping on her kennel door, jumping on people, and pulling (hard!) on her leash. Martini taught me the power of keeping my mouth shut and my hands to myself. At first, any physical touch or verbal praise would send Martini into another round of hysteria, but after moving outside and working slowly and quietly through some TTouch movement activities, she was able to calm down enough to focus on the task at hand, stand calmly in balance, look around her, and even begin to walk nicely on a leash. At that point, I could touch her for short moments and speak to her softly without her flipping out again. Since we only had about an hour together, I returned Martini to her kennel and hoped some of this experience would "stick." The following day, I got an email from the shelter's volunteer dog-walker raving about how Martini was so much easier to walk that morning. Even better, she was successfully adopted a few days later!
How do you “pay it forward”? I am a big believer in volunteering, and I have spent many hours volunteering at shelters and for other animal-related groups. Sometimes this means doing TTouch, but other times it means picking up poop, stuffing Kongs, filling water bowls, or volunteering at an event. I am tremendously grateful for the wisdom my friends and mentors have generously shared with me, and I always try to pay that generosity forward by helping out others whenever and however I can. We are all greater when we collaborate than any of us could ever be singly.
How did you become a TTouch practitioner for companion animals? Another dog trainer mentioned hearing about TTouch through a third trainer, and suggested I look into it because she knew I was interested in how animals' mental/emotional states influence their behavior and training. I knew that many unwanted behaviors stem from underlying stress (caused by various things in a given animal's life), yet I didn't see too many trainers addressing this directly. I discovered TTouch was a way to help dogs (and other animals) feel more calm, confident, and comfortable in a sometimes challenging world. One thing I particularly value about TTouch is how it allows me to help people understand their pets' emotional states and then work on diminishing any negatives while building on the positives. This results in pets that are happier, safer, and much easier to live with, which makes life much less stressful for the pets' people, too.
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