Month August 2021

Dog looking anxious

Tough tasks can build your animal’s trust

Nancy Crowe
Anxious dog
Learning how to calmly and effectively handle tasks your animal friend doesn’t like helps build trust and confidence.

The pill you’re trying to give your outraged cat. The overdue hoof or nail trim. The drop-off at the boarding kennel. Doing things our animals don’t like can challenge even the most competent pet parent.

“I’ve tried adding ‘because I said so’ to every command,” said Linda Lipp. “It works about as well on the dog as when my parents used it on me.”

Difficult tasks and events are opportunities to build our animals’ trust in us, our trust in the animals to learn and cope, and our trust in ourselves. Drawing on my own experience as an animal communicator, Reiki practitioner, and pet parent; and from that of friends and clients, here are a few ways to do that.

Put your own leash on first

That’s a variation on the flight attendant’s instructions to put on your own oxygen mask before helping your child with theirs. Get any instruction or help you need to give injections, clean ears, handle hooves, etc. with confidence. If you are calm and clear, your animal is much more likely to be.

Allison Wheaton, director of Summit Equestrian Center, tends a crew of some 20 horses, many of them rescues; along with barn cats, her canine assistants, and more. “Honestly, it seems everyone does better when I am calm and deliberate while being sensitive to their needs,” she said.

I would add: leave enough time to trim the nails, get the cat into the carrier, get to the clinic, or whatever else with time to spare. If you are rushed, they will feel it.

Keep the good in mind

While you’re calm and unrushed, tell the animal what’s happening and what’s in it for them. You can speak out loud or silently. In either case, hold an image or feeling of what will be better once it’s done. Shorter nails mean less chance of painful snags and infections. The dog will feel cooler and more comfortable after being groomed. The cat will be able to urinate without pain, and everyone in the household will feel less anxious, if she swallows that pill. The horse can comfortably stand and move about with his herdmates if he cooperates with the farrier.

If you are about to travel, picture your dog having fun with the sitter who loves him, or at the boarding kennel you’ve carefully chosen. Show him a picture of how happy and relaxed you all will be when you’re together again. If your grandchildren are visiting, reassure your cat that you’ll provide her a safe space away from the kids and daily one-on-one time with you. (Then follow through.)

Treat ’em right

Positive reinforcement helps the animal associate good things with what we want him or her to do.

Demi Thomas has found it helpful to integrate new and potentially challenging tasks such as nail trims into the animal’s routine until it’s not a big deal. Then she immediately rewards with high-value treats, toys, and “favorite itchy-spot pets.”

For example, her dog Tucker didn’t like having his feet touched when he was a pup. “So, if he wanted on the couch, I played with his feet. He’s 3 now and it’s no issue!”

Rebecca and Jeff Cameron’s dog, Stella, is even less of a fan.

“Out of sheer desperation one day, I held a paper plate smeared with peanut butter in front of her while Jeff clipped nails,” Rebecca said. “I feel like we took the low road with straight-up bribery, but we’re working on actual training so she’ll allow the trimming sans PB distraction.” Stella will still get a tasty treat once it’s done, she added.

Make it a partnership

As with the Let Animals Lead® animal Reiki method I practice, things can go much better when the animal is allowed some agency.

Duke, a rescued draft horse at Summit Equestrian, lives with post-traumatic stress. Having his feet worked on or handled in any way is a potentially dangerous trigger. Allison has worked with him extensively on this.

“Duke is willing to let me wash his legs as long as I use minimal restraints, when he has more participation and things are not being done to him,” she said. “Otherwise he can get nervous and tries to get away or squish me.”

Squishing — not good. Building trust and confidence — excellent.

Because of my pro bono work and the generosity of Fear Free®, I am certified through the Fear Free Shelter Program. Fear Free educates veterinary professionals, trainers, groomers, and others in animal care methods that reduce fear, anxiety, and stress.

In fact, here — from the Fear Free Happy Homes Program — is a four-minute video on nail trims.

(Photo by Alexas_Fotos on Pixabay)

Animal Reiki and ‘people’ Reiki: key differences

Nancy Crowe
Woman on massage table in Reiki session
Rescued horse after Reiki session

Animals speak energy like a Ph.D. We speak energy like a kindergartner.

Kathleen Prasad

“You practice Reiki with animals? How does that work?”

Great question! Reiki is a Japanese stress relief modality, and relaxation helps the two-legged and four-legged alike feel and function better. While the benefits are the same, the methods of animal Reiki are different from the Reiki you’ll experience in human offices, hospitals, and spas.

I don’t invite the animal to hop up on a massage table (cats leave and horses laugh). The hand positions I learned in my “people” Reiki classes don’t apply, and that’s not because of different anatomies. Animals are much more sensitive to physical space and presence. Touch is unnecessary, even invasive, for them. A person can feel energy from the practitioner’s hands, but a horse can feel energy from a person standing across a pasture.

When I began studying animal Reiki years ago, I used the hand positions with my dog Ellie as I sat with her on the floor. If she had a hot spot on her foot, I lightly held her foot. More often than not, she’d get up and leave. I now understand that was too much for her. When I sat quietly and meditated — and better yet, ditched any expectation about the “problem” or what should happen — Ellie was more likely to come and lie down nearby.

My teacher, Kathleen Prasad, had a similar experience. That’s how she developed the Let Animals Lead® method I now practice. It puts the animals completely in charge of whether and how they participate in a Reiki session. They are free to decline. They can come closer, move away, sit, walk around, eat, sleep, etc. while the practitioner holds space in quiet meditation. Letting animals lead is important for a couple of reasons.

First, it respects the animals. They may have been abused, neglected, moved around, treated by veterinarians, or had their hooves worked on for the first time in years. Mind you — rescue efforts and veterinary treatment may be for their best and highest. So is the chance to choose.

That’s why I always ask for the animal’s permission before I begin. If I get a no, either telepathically or through body language, I thank the animal for letting me know and move on.

Second, how much more can animals relax when doing so is up to them? (Raise your hand if you relax on command. Didn’t think so.)

Every animal is different. Some will immediately come and lean on me or want to be petted; others soak in the energy from a distance. It works regardless.

I’ve worked with rescued horses who have rarely, if ever, had a chance to choose or say no to anything. One day a retired draft horse, recovering from trauma, decided he’d had enough Reiki and walked back into the shed. I thanked him and moved on to the chickens a few yards away. A short time later, he stuck his big head out of the shed and asked: “You got any more of that?” (I did.)

Another horse, recently rescued from a kill pen, declined the energy and moved away. A few minutes later, she came back to where I stood at the pasture fence and asked for more. This happened several times in the course of half an hour or so. She was astonished that interacting was her choice. The next time I saw her, I tentatively held up my hands, telling her I’d lower them or step away if she preferred. She placed her head in my hands and stood perfectly still. (The photo above is of her drifting into a post-session nap.)

Animals understand energy better than we do. A horse senses the presence of a predator in the distance. A cat curls up next to someone who is sick. The kids’ new puppy stays away from Mom because he’s the only one in the house who knows how angry she is.

Just don’t ask that puppy to stay still for the Reiki practitioner. He doesn’t have to … and Mom is welcome to join in.