Why dogs like tummy rubs?
“Palette, do you like to go downstairs and watch TV?” That is when her ears perks up. When the magic phrase is heard, she stands up with excitement,passing through me very fast, and heading towards downstairs . By the time I come to the TV room, she is very ready to be pet and wait on her spot on the couch patiently.
When I sit down, she comes closer and, I give her a little head scratch,rub behind ears ,give her ear slides, rub her ribs/sides, and one,two,three.. she flips over for tummy rubs with her big doggy smile on her face with her tongue hanging out.
She sometimes gives sneeze, satisfied sigh,start panting,and legs twitches when I hit the right spot. Sometimes, she also wiggles with big grin on her face. Then, she sometimes yawns very big, and then fall asleep when I am petting her…
When she is still awake,enjoying the petting time, if I stop petting her, she soon would stand up, stare at me as if to say “Hey,don’t stop. I want more.”
Palette then would try to figure out what makes us pet more very hard. She tries licking our hands,nudge our hands with nose,tries placing her head under our hands,come closer and push her body more toward us.. She loves being pet that much, and hour long petting is not enough for her at all.
Pant..pant..pant..
Tummy rubs,please!
Ahh.. Tummy rubs.. I cannot get enough of it!
pant..pant..pant..
It is very interesting for me to see Palette flips over after some seconds of petting other area for her favorite “Tummy rubs”. I wonder what makes so special for the “tummy rubs”.
One thing I can think of is tummy is where dogs cannot scratch with their legs like they can with side of body and maybe being rubbed feels so good.
When I think about spots Palette love to be rubbed/pet such as under the chin, side of face, chest, behind or in front of ears, base of nub (tail), inside her thigh,behind the head … those area areas she herself cannot reach with her stumpy legs.
Palette seems to like tummy rubs but especially when I rub her tummy with slow circular motion. To rub/pet other areas, I tend to rub/pet with different speed,different fingers,different parts of hand, different motion,different pressure of hands and it seems getting her approval.
Petting your dogs also benefit you too. You can make your bond with your dog stronger, and petting reduce the stress in people.
For dogs, petting can get your dogs be relax, and enjoy all the attentions they can get from you.
As you already know, Palette is my first dog and she is the one to teach me a lot of things about dogs in generals, about herself and sometime, through her, I can learn about myself and I enjoy the life with her.
Since she is my first dog, I was curious about what areas most dogs enjoy to be rubbed, and how they like to be rubbed and I looked for the answer. I understand that each dog has their own preference, but knowing common areas dogs like to be pet wouldn’t hurt,I thought.
Then, I came across the massage technique called “Tellington touch” years ago. It is also called “T.T touch” for short.
What is “Tellington touch”?
According to ttouch.com website, it is a massaging technique based on circular movement of fingers, and hands that was developed by horse trainer Linda Tellington- Jones PhD.
Tellington touch is said to relieve the tension in dogs and, increase the body awareness. Also dogs can learn new things easier.
To read full article about tellington touch at ttouch.com,please click here .
What is the basic of tellington touch movement?
According to canineuniversity.com website, here are the steps of the touch
1. Imagine face of the clock on spot on your dog’s body
2. Curve your fingers at 6 o’clock
3. Move in clock wise circle one and a quarter times around the clock
4.Pick up your hands and move on to new spot
The one Palette loves is called “Ear T-touch”. It is basically a circular touch around ears.
It seems there are several ways for Ear T-touch but, she likes when I place my thumb on base of the ear (front) and place rest of fingers behind the ears and slowly make circular motion at the base of ear.
To read full article at canineuniversity website, please click here .
Also she like when I put my thumb on base of ear and place rest of fingers behind the ear and gently slowly slide through (Ear Slide).
I came across Tellington Touch youtube videos. This touch can be used for many animals and found the one with Linda Tellington Jones doing ear touch for cats, and the one explaining what Tellington touch is with dog.
Tellington touch with cats
If you are a blog subscriber or reading from facebook,please click here to watch the video.
Tellington touch with dogs
If you are a blog subscriber or reading from facebook,please click here to watch the video.
There are many books available on Tellington touch, and you can learn it with your pace.
What are your dog’s favorite spot to be rubbed/pet?
Rubbing/petting what part of the body makes your dog’s legs twitch?
What are your theories on why dogs like “Tummy rubs” so much?
