Are You An Empowered Pet Parent? Focusing Your Energy to Help Your Dog Heal

By Shannon Cutts.

Last week our 11-year-old dachshund, Flash Gordon, was diagnosed with Cushing’s disease. Our previous dachshund fought a mighty yet losing battle against Cushing’s, so our emotional reaction to Flash’s diagnosis was equal parts fear, overwhelm and – honestly – guilt.

You see, before we knew better, Flash was fed a diet of so-called “high quality” kibble. Yes, the exact kind his conventional veterinarian sold us each month for years on end.

When Flash turned 7, we replaced the kibble with a fresh food diet. It took two years to fully wean him away from processed foods and onto a diet of gently cooked whole foods. Today, his gut still has occasional flare-ups, but the number of times we see yellow bile vomit or loose stool has decreased by 90 percent.

As well, over the years, Flash has also been treated to regular Reiki treatments, body work (chiropractic and acupuncture) and – of course – animal communication sessions….a perk of having a professional communicator in the family.

Yet after everything we’ve done “right,” here comes the Cushing’s again. So of course we felt demoralized, depressed, a bit hopeless, even.

As a pet communicator and energy worker, I am well aware that it is impossible to hide our emotional state from our pets. Often they know how we are feeling before we do!

So what can we humans do to step out of a stuck, sad or fearful emotional state and back into our role as empowered pet parents, taking charge of our pet’s care AND tending to their emotional wellbeing?

Learn 3 steps to move from joining your pet in their storm to becoming the calm in their storm.

Step 1: Do not skip over tending to your own emotional state

Step one is so simple that most of us completely disregard it. We grab that oxygen mask and rush to put it over our pet’s mouth, completely disregarding how we ourselves may be gasping for emotional air.

Everything is energy. You, me, your pet, the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we feed, the earth our homes sit upon. It is all energy.

So the first step to becoming an empowered pet parent is to tend to the energy in motion, or e-motion, swirling around inside our own energetic being.

This may mean stopping to do some deep breathing, inhaling deeply and extending your exhale to shut off your sympathetic fight-flight response and activate your parasympathetic nervous system. In just a few breaths, you can send your own nervous system a message of safety so you can think and act with more clarity and calm.

You may also need to MOVE your body (skipping, jumping jacks or even just shaking your whole body is great for this!) to literally “shake off” the shock or trauma response your body is experiencing.

Typically our pets do this much more naturally than we do, but if we don’t shake off our own emotional firestorm, our pets can’t avoid feeling it also. And that shared emotional shockwave absolutely can interfere with their healing at all levels.

Step 2: Cultivate the eyes to see your pet on their own brave hero’s journey

When our pet gets a diagnosis or exhibits a behavioral issue, or they come to us bearing clear evidence of past trauma or anxiety, it can take a multi-dimensional plan to help them through it.

We can find ourselves standing in the center of a logistical storm, juggling medications, appointments and other responsibilities we could not have foreseen. It is an important and necessary role, for sure, but can also move us out of our heart and into our head just when our pet needs our heartfelt support the most.

Flash’s recent Cushing’s diagnosis is a perfect example. Suddenly, we are facing an increase in vet visits, testing, medications and modifications to his normal daily routine to manage symptoms and quality of life.

Flash needs all of these types of support from us. But it isn’t the kind of support he needs most.

More than anything else, he will need us to continue to see him as the hero of his own life story, of which this most recent diagnosis is just one chapter.

Sometimes as pet parents, we get so consumed by a pet problem, be it behavioral, emotional, veterinary, something else, that we literally stop seeing our whole pet standing right in front of us. Our focus narrows. Everything gets filtered through the lens of the problem or issue.

So your job – and it is a role that only you can fill – is to zoom out again and see our whole pet, living their own hero’s journey, navigating hard times with courage, and not doing it alone because we are there to support them every step of the way.

So the second step to becoming an empowered pet parent is to cultivate the eyes to deeply see our strong, brave pet for all that they are, no matter what health or emotional storms they may be navigating.

Step 3: Incorporate tandem tools that can support you both through this time

As we just discussed, your pet will be leaning on you for support as they navigate the challenges their life presents.

But as pet parents, we are often so accustomed to leaning on our pet for support that when the tables turn, we feel too wobbly to show up for our pet fully!

This is so common that it is one of the discussions I have most frequently when I’m talking with pet parents. And if your pet is entering their end-of-life stage or is in hospice, it becomes an even more common issue.

So we have to address your mutual need for support in a different way than we might ordinarily think to do. The way I approach it is to choose tools with what I call “tandem benefits” – tools that can benefit you both and are accessible and affordable so you can access them frequently.

What are “tandem tools?”

Tandem tools address the syncing of your nervous systems so that the messages you are sending to each other are messages of calm, clarity and connection. In other words, you are both feeling as well and healthy as you possibly can under the circumstances. And you are on the same energetic page, and it is a page that promotes ease, peace and, wherever possible, healing and recovery.

The three tandem tools I recommend most frequently are EFT tapping, Reiki and social support. Let’s take a closer look at each tool now.

EFT tapping for you and your dog

One of the hands-down most powerful tools I recommend is EFT tapping. The reason it is so powerful is that it works for a wide variety of needs at all levels, and it works well regardless of species.

For example, you can tap to help your pet heal physically, emotionally, mentally, relationally and even at a soul level. And you can tap to help yourself with all of the same.

Using EFT in this way is what I call “tandem tapping,” and it is a uniquely powerful tool to support you both at home whenever you need its help.

The reason tapping is so powerful is because of how it impacts your nervous system. A single tapping session can lower cortisol levels by as much as 43 percent.

Cortisol, of course, is the stress hormone – what researchers call the “silent killer.”

The link between systemic stress, inflammation and dis-ease is well established. Tapping can go right to the source of the stress itself and de-escalate the stress response in your pet’s body and in your own body, allowing deeper shared healing and energetic harmony than might be accessible otherwise.

If you want more information about the benefits of tapping for you and your pet, you will enjoy this supplementary Happy Healthy Dog article about tapping for your dog.

Reiki for you and your dog

Like tapping, pet Reiki focuses on supporting your pet at the energetic level. As with tapping, Reiki goes right to the level of the central nervous system, dialing down the sympathetic fight-flight response and powering up the parasympathetic state of rest-digest-reconnect.

While the research into Reiki’s benefits is less robust than for tapping, studies do exist to support Reiki’s benefits.

Reiki promotes a deep level of energetic calm, which naturally reduces the body’s inflammatory response, easing pain and making way for inside-out healing. Reiki is becoming more prominent as a complementary modality in human hospitals and hospice programs for exactly this reason.

And just like tapping, Reiki is a tool that works for both your pet and for you.

If you want more information about the benefits of tapping for you and your pet, you will enjoy this supplementary Happy Healthy Dog article about Reiki for your dog.

PLUS: Social support your dog….and YOU

The other reason I often say that modern pet parenting takes a team is because even during the best of times, being a pet parent can be a lonely experience! And when your pet’s care becomes more challenging, often the loneliness grows.

Many pet parents I talk with confide that they feel isolated by their pet’s health or life challenges.

Sometimes family and friends don’t understand the depth of the pet-person bond and can even feel jealous or judgmental of the time and energy you spend caring for your pet.

So having caring social support is a key aspect of keeping your energy balanced and your nervous system regulated while navigating the challenges your pet may be facing and showing up for them in the way your heart craves.

Right now, finding a reliable source for effective at-home tools like EFT tapping and pet Reiki PLUS caring social support for pet parents can feel hard to come by.

So the third step to becoming an empowered pet parent is finding effective on-the-spot tools and caring social support to “fill the gap” when you and your pet are at home and you both need some extra compassion and balance.

Connect with Shannon: I am in the process of creating a new empowered pet parents’ community offering caring social support paired with at-home pet wellness tools like EFT tapping and Reiki. If you are interested in being notified when the new community opens up, join the waitlist here: https://www.animallovelanguages.com/pl/2148832570