Miss Jane’s Pet Sitting Blog

Archive for April, 2009

→   Leave your ‘agenda’ at home
Whatever it is, give it a 15 minute hiatus
→   Practice breathing - real breathing
It’s amazing how repeated, deep, three-part breathing (think: stomach first, ribs second, upper chest third - and HOLD), even for a brief time, relaxes your body, slows down you mind, takes you to WHERE YOU ARE NOW - What a concept!
→   Focus your mind SOLELY on your dog(s) - sniffing, watching, tasting, touching, licking, rolling over! Just for 15 minutes. Keep breathing, deep ones!
       •   They are the model: smaller brain, bigger sensory capacity = less thought, MORE ALIVENESS
→   Pesky Thoughts - let them in, let them out, don’t react, don’t evaluate; slap your face, if necessary! Put them on hold for JUST 15.
→   Think/Act like your dog: PANT heavily; Life is NOW; PAW the ones you love; Every moment is the MOST Important one; Smelling everything the world has to offer is the SWEETEST scent of all!

So…I leave you with this:
Life is short, so we must move very slowly.
Thai Proverb

If you’ve read all the ‘dog books’ you can take, but still find your dog’s (or other pet’s) behavior puzzling, take a look at Temple Grandin’s Animals in Translation - fascinating, frank and very different kind of book by acclaimed author who happens to be autistic - part of the reason she feels she understands animals in ways other people (including the ‘professionals’) don’t.  She doesn’t always say the things you want to hear about your pets, in terms of how they think and why they act the way they do, but she will enlighten you and give you fresh insights on your pet’s behavior. I picked up my copy at Mr. K’s Used Books at River Ridge in East Asheville.  Also, if you’re confused about the difference between negative reinforcement and punishment (in dogspeak), the author gives a great (and COMPREHENSIBLE) explanation!

Meeting some of the Pet Parents I meet doing Pet Sitting gives me fresh hope for how love can change the world…or at least make your day!  Annette R. in Chunns Cove has 2 wonderful small dogs: Molly, a 16 year old Yorky and Muffin, her exuberant (and protective) 6 year old Maltese rescue ’sister.’  The devotion Annette (and let’s not forget her patient husband) displays towards both dogs, but especially Molly, the older dog - who has chronic gastritis (they used to think it was pancreatitis), some heart problems, and now a spinal issue - may make some say, “It’s Just a Dog!” The array of medications, many of which are homeopathic/chinese medicine concoctions, amazes even me, who, as a pet sitter, encounters many constant and committed pet owners. Yet, Annette is no foolish woman, living in a fantasy world: she knows Molly is old and will not live forever…who can measure the meaning of love one receives from another being, whether human or non-human, and who can judge the quality of that love?  “Just Dogs” have given many of us the miracle of love and comfort at moments of despair, in ways that other, ’superior’ beings  have not been capable of (doing). Let’s celebrate love wherever and however it enters our lives.