Being In Tune with Our Pets

Posted by Barbara Techel

 

My heart instantly melted and tears sprang to my eyes when I saw this photo on Facebook today.  In part, because I’m working hard on deepening my relationship with my English lab, Kylie. She has been such a good dog these past few years as my focus was on Frankie and my work with her. As that focus shifts a bit now, I’m finding more time to give to Kylie and enjoying it immensely.

I have felt some guilt with Kylie because it was my intent for her to be my therapy dog when I got her as a pup. We were working hard towards that goal for about three months before Frankie became paralyzed. As many of you know, my life took on a new path and a big goal with Frankie then. I didn’t realize at the time, but something shifted in Kylie. Though I can’t say for sure, I had felt like my focus being on Frankie, that it broke down the bond Kylie and I had established early on when she was a pup.

As it turned out, Kylie was not meant to be a therapy dog. For the past five years being so involved in my Frankie work, Kylie was such a good dog, being there, quietly standing by. As my shift changes, allowing for Frankie to enjoy her senior years, I’ve found myself able to spend more time with Kylie. WIth my new Reiki training, I’ve also been able to practice it on her as she is healing from knee surgery. It has been so very rewarding. I feel a new and deeper bond happening between us, and just writing those words now, has tears blurring my vision.

These new experiences have reminded me once again how vitally important it is to be in tune with our pets. I truly believe they take on alot of our “stuff” and we need to remind them they needn’t do that- and that we love them no matter what.

As I did a Reiki treatment for Kylie today she rested her head in my hands and went into deep breathing. It brought my heart such joy to see her trust in me and that I am able to help her heal…. and it is a magical and trans-formative place to be where human and animal connect on a level where no words are spoken.

 

I’m thankful for the new collars they now have, instead of the plastic “lamp shade” ones of the past. Kylie can actually use it as a pillow to rest her head when sleeping. Good dog, Kylie. Good dog.

Book Giveaway: Animals and the Kids Who Love Them

Posted by Barbara Techel

 

Last week I shared my review of Animals and the Kids Who Love Them by Linda and Allen Anderson on my blog.

I personally wrote a story for the book about Frankie (the walk n roll dog), my special needs dog, and her amazing bond with a special needs little boy named Jackson. All the stories are so touching and it is a book that will warm your heart. It also makes a great gift for the holidays, so do check it out today!

In the meantime I’m giving away a copy, so please leave a comment in the comment section to enter your name into the drawing. I will pick a winner at random on Friday, November 11th, so be sure to leave your comment by no later than midnight on November 10th. Please be sure your comment links back to you so I have a way in which to contact you if you are the winner.

Open to US and Canada residents only.

The Intricate Bond Between People & Dogs

Posted by Barbara Techel

I love quotes.  I have a journal with "regular" quotes and one with animal quotes.  So today as I looked for a quote to share on my facebook wall, I came across one of my favorite's by Author Caroline Knapp.

"Dogs possess a quality that's rare among humans- the ability to make you feel valued just by being you."

This was in Caroline's book called, Pack of Two which was about her relationship with her dog Lucille.   Caroline died in 2002 at the age of 43. and when I was reading the book a few years ago and then realized she had died, I was sad quite.  But I was so glad she wrote this book, because it was one of my favorite.

Here is a review from Amazon about the book published in 1999:

Caroline Knapp is head over heels in love–not with a human being, but with her mixed-breed dog, Lucille. From the moment Lucille first locked eyes with Knapp through the bars of an animal shelter cage, the intelligent, pointy-eared mutt began to transform Knapp's life. Reeling from the deaths of both her parents, a breakup with a long-term boyfriend, and her newly won sobriety after a 20-year battle with the bottle (which was skillfully chronicled in a previous memoir, Drinking: A Love Story), Knapp found in Lucille not only companionship, but "consistency, continuity, connection. In a word, love." Although she doesn't regard Lucille as a replacement for alcohol and lost loved ones, Knapp does believe "that in loving her I have had that sense of being filled anew and essentially redirected, an old identity shattered and a new one emerging in its stead." In Pack of Two Knapp, with the help of dog psychiatrists, trainers, breeders, and owners, explores the partnership between human and dog and the mysteries of the canine mind–how dogs love, how they think, and how they see human beings. And despite her findings that the dog will remain essentially "mysterious … unknowable," Knapp is ultimately at peace with this, still devouring the moments when dog and human can "transcend the language barrier" to "understand what the other wants and feels." This book pays homage to the wonderful and complex relationship between one woman and her dog. –Naomi Gesinger