Hello. Today I wanna share with you a simple and really powerful way of helping your dog. And it doesn't matter how old your dog is, you can do this with little puppies. You can do it with middle aged dogs, you know, active, healthy canine athletes. It'll help and it'll also help dogs that have been injured or maybe very senior dogs that are struggling a bit.
And so what I'm about to share with you won't cost you a thing. It's really an amazing, very gentle hands-on technique. And so let me give you a little bit of background. First. My name is Mary Debono and this is the Easier Movement, happier Dogs podcast. And I'm so glad you're here. So this technique involves very gentle touch done in a very particular way.
And I wanna give you a little bit, just a little bit of neuroscience behind it. So, you know, with ourselves and with our dogs, really most mammals there are, I would say all mammals have receptors throughout our body. So they sense, they sense pressure, they sense temperature, they sense all kinds of things. And so when you stroke your dog,
that stroking, that sensation of the stroking is being picked up by different receptors. And then the dog's nervous system makes some sense out of it. Well, there's a particular way of touching a dog that stimulates a particular type of receptor that is called A-A-C-L-T-M. And these receptors are different. They're, they're unusual in the fact that most receptors that that register touch are,
they reside in more of the, the part of the brain that's not the emotional part of the brain. These receptors actually reside more in the emotional part of the brain, which is going to be important in just a moment when I explain. So what happens is, when you touch a dog in this way, and in this way means with light, so very gentle contact done slowly and at room temperature.
Now you think, what does that mean at room temperature? But what it means is, is if you, if you were to take like a little prop, you had, you know, a, a pen or something, put it in the freezer and then touch your dog with it, it would be quite cold. It would not stimulate the CLTM receptors.
It would stimulate other receptors. And your dog might not appreciate it, but it wouldn't stimulate those. But if you touch your dog with your hand or with a cloth or something that was just at room temperature, it would Stimulate them. So they're very specific receptors, as most receptors are. They have, they're, you know, they, they get stimulated in very specific ways.
So these receptors are all over your dog's body where there's hair. In other words, they're not on the, the pads of the feet, for example. And they're all over us as well, except they're not on the palms of our hands or the soles of our feet, but they're on all the other parts of the body. And what's so cool about them is that when these receptors are stimulated,
they actually deepen the bond, the connection between the one who's doing the touching and the one being touched. So let's bring this to your dog. So when you touch your dog in this specific way, and I'm gonna give you more info in just a moment, what happens is you stimulate those receptors, the ctms and all kinds of wonderful chemical things happen in your dog's nervous system.
And your dog actually gets, you know, hormones are released. Different things like that gets to a place where the bond between you is actually stronger. It's, and I think there's an evolutionary reason for this. 'cause if you think about it, what makes a puppy want to be with mom? Of course they're getting nourishment, they're getting protection, things like that.
But, you know, evolution has required that we need to like get on this quickly. We need to make sure that if, you know, mom and the puppy are very, very bonded. So you'll see how mother dogs will lick the puppies, right? She'll clean them. Of course, there's lots of reasons to doing for doing that. You know,
it's an instinct and there's again, good biological reasons for the mama dog to be cleaning her puppies. But the other thing it's doing is it can be stimulating those particular receptors, which creates a stronger bond between mama and the puppies. So it's pretty cool, but there's more to it than just the bonding. Okay? The bonding is awesome. 'cause we all want that with our dogs,
right? I mean, we want that really close connection where our dog wants to interact with us. But another thing it does is it helps the dog be more resilient to stress. Now, who doesn't want more of that? We all want more of that to be more resilient, to stress, to let it like kinda just run off our back, you know,
like water off a dog's back as they say. So that's another wonderful thing it does. So there, it's, it also calms the nervous system. And this is important whether you have a dog that's a bit fearful, you know, a very sensitive dog as well as a dog, that you just want to quiet the dog a little bit. Maybe your dog is very hyper,
always wants to be on the go, wants to do things, and you just want, you know, you just want some quiet time. And this is a great way to actually help your dog be more relaxed, be more quiet. It's also super good for recovering from injuries because you can help the dog, again, have that deep connection with you and can help quiet the nervous system.
Now it doesn't act like a tranquilizer, so don't, don't imagine that, you know, dog who's really pent up. It's just going to magically be super chill. But I have seen this, I've been doing this for, for more than 30 years, and it's amazing the changes I've seen. So let's talk about the actual mechanics of doing it. Well,
this particular method that I'm gonna share with you involves a circular touch, but it's done in a very particular way because in addition to all those benefits I told you about, the increased bonding, the resilience to stress, the calming the nervous system, that wasn't enough for me. I wanted to add some more, you know, more, more juice to it,
if you will, more benefits to it. So what I discovered is that when you do this, this hands-on movement, which I'll share with you exactly how to do it, when you do it in a very particular way where you're emphasizing one direction. So in other words, you're doing a, a simple circle with your fingertips, kind of, your fingertips are curved.
You emphasize one direction. So one part of the circle is, has a little more pressure, and then you gradually reduce the pressure. So it's, you gradually increase the pressure around the circle, hold it for a moment, and then let it go. Now let me tell you why that's so important. That is so important because holding, increasing the pressure in that way in a particular direction.
And don't worry about which direction, just pick a direction. But what it does is it gives the dog a feeling of relief. So the soft tissue, you're, you're touching 'cause you're not just, you know, going very, very lightly, going a little bit into a tiny bit into the muscle. So it's still very, very light and delicate,
but you're helping the dog feel a little tiny bit of relief in the muscle. And what that does is the brain gets more information from that and says, ah, someone's taking over the work. I can let that go. So it's a really great way to improve body awareness in your dog. Maybe your dog, you know, isn't so balanced in their movement,
or you wanna reduce the risk of injury. Maybe you have a, a very athletic dog, you know, doing sports and you wanna, you know, reduce the risk of injury. I mean, there's so many reasons to do this. I've done this with dogs, you know, I do it a lot in between the ribs. And I found that it can really help them actually become more aware of their rib cage,
be able to round and extend their back, their spine more easily, be reduce tension in the neck and the hind end. I mean, there's so many, so many benefits of this. Now, it's very difficult to explain this to you if you're just listening to the podcast, but no worries, I've got you, I have got you covered because what I'm doing is when you sign up for this wonderful summit that's coming up that Marilyn,
my friend Marilyn Melee is, is doing, and I'll have the link in the show notes, okay? So wherever you're wa listening to this podcast, make sure you click the link in the show notes where you can register for it. It's totally free. It's gonna be 20 dog professionals, including myself, giving, you know, interviews, explaining, teaching.
And you will get a free gift, actually very valuable free gift because I'm including as my free gift to you, you know, a, a training video, actually several training videos that will take you through this step by step and show you how I do it with a dog and take you through all the steps to do it. So I'm super excited about that.
So, but you do need to sign up for the free Canine Summit, and again, I'll have the link in the show notes, and then you'll just see a link to, to be able to, to get my free gift and you'll get all the training. So I, let me say something else before we, we finish. This is just gonna be a short episode,
but I do wanna explain that what's so awesome about this, this particular technique, and I call them, by the way, rhythm circles. And I wanna say some of you may be familiar with another wonderful circular touch that's out there, and it's great, it does wonderful things, but it doesn't act in the same way. Number one, sometimes they're done fast and that won't stimulate the CLMs.
Now with that said, they stimulate other wonderful things. So it's not that one is better than the other, but the other big difference is there isn't an emphasis of one direction. So, in other words, the way that that circular touch is done, my understanding is the pressure stays even throughout the circle and it's very, very light. It's just on the c you know,
superficial skin level, which is fine, it's great, it does wonderful things, but it is different. So to get the benefit of the feeling of relief, you really, in my opinion, need to emphasize one direction. And again, I go over this in the video training for you absolutely no charge. And what's so great about that is when the dog starts to feel that sense of relief,
you leave them with a sense that they can feel different. So in other words, they're experiencing literally feeling different, different physically and different emotionally. And what that does is it gets the nervous system to start laying down or creating new neural connections. So in other words, there's more possibilities for your dog, both behaviorally as well as physically like movement and things like that.
So I have seen this work really transform dogs, again, both physically, you know, in their body, their movement, their overall wellbeing, their vitality as well as behaviorally. Dogs may be, again, more resilient to stress. So for those sensitive dogs, they may be more, more resilient also to physical stress. They can bounce back from injuries and things like that.
Again, this, and I wanna say actually didn't say it yet, but this work never, never, never replaces adequate veterinary care. I, so it's really important that you always check with your vet before doing anything with your dog. You know that if your dog is unwell, if your dog is injured, make sure you get clearance from your vet about what you're doing.
So I'm not a vet and I don't play one on the internet, so go to your vet, make sure it's fine, but it's really an amazing, very gentle way of helping crease the bond between you and your dog, as well as help your dog both physically and emotionally. So embody and mind and you know what's really cool about it. At the same time,
it'll help you as well, because think about it as you're doing this work, you're, you're feeling this loving connection with your dog and you're really focusing on the sensations as you do it. So you're feeling, oh, I'm gonna increase my pressure a little bit here. So what happens? Stress goes out the window. You don't have time for stress,
you don't have your, your attention isn't on, you know, that thing your boss said to you earlier today? No, it's on your dog. So you can practice being present with your dog, being in the now as they say. And that is such a beautiful place to be. And you know, it's just, again, it's that bonding experience.
It's, you know, deepening your relationship with your dog and helping your dog experience that they can feel calmer, they can feel more relaxed, they can feel better in their body and in their mind, and no matter what is going on with them, whether it's a physical thing or more an emotional thing. And then once you have that feeling, once an animal,
you know, that includes us humans. Once we realize we can feel different, then the nervous system is like, I like that, I wanna do more of that. So it's like you get to practice that feeling with your dog. So then maybe when you're out walking your dog and kind of a triggering situation comes up, you both have practice being calm,
being more resilient to stress. You know, you, it's like, you know, you're, you're developing that muscle, if you will. So it's pretty cool. So it's a simple, simple thing, although, you know, you have to, the training is totally free. So I'm really encouraging you to sign up for it. And, and again,
I'll, I'll link in the show notes where you can sign up for the canine summit and then you can get all the free gifts. So check out the show notes, make sure you hit that link. It's a free registration. You're gonna get tons of value from amazing experts in, in dog health and wellbeing, and I appreciate you listening and I look forward to talking to you again real soon.
Bye for now.