My dog Meesha and I go on a considerably long walk every morning. She has a “job” that she is very much committed to and no matter how I feel, there is simply no stopping her from fulfilling her work duties. The intensity of the look that she gives me should I be acting as though I might think I'm going to laze about instead of taking her out in the freezing cold morning air boarders on intimidation.
True to her small percentage of beagle (yea, I had her DNA tested, nothin' wrong with that) and her large percentage of shepherd (part of her "job" has to do with protecting "her" territory), she "must" sniff the perimeter of three large building lots, as well as one cul-de-sac. If permitted, she will also do a check-in on the status of a nearby church parking lot to make sure that everything is status-quo.
It is on these walks that I am often reminded that Meesha is a dog. At times, animal communication can have me forgetting this factor. It is always amazing to me the things that animals are capable of talking about in our sessions. However, sometimes we have to just let them be their instinctual biological animal selves.
It has never been more clear to me that Meesha is "just" a dog (of course, I mean that in the best possible way) as it was the 4 or so times that she broke free and took off after: 1) a deer (didn't catch it, 2) a smell , 3 & 4) God knows what. Do you think this animal communicator was able to "talk" this dog back at any point during these escapes? Nope. Meesha's animal to human communication had switched off/was being ignored and she was purely and biologically an instinctually bolting dog. Free at last.
What did stop Meesha from running?: 1) a dead animal carcass lying conveniently right in her tracks that was simply too delightfuly aromatic not to stop, drop and roll in (actually, this happened twice...tell me there's not a God), 2) a sudden realization that she was in the middle of a long line of stopped traffic with nowhere to go & 3) me screaming my head off.
Did I try doing animal communication with her during these scary moments? Did I try to control my complete freak out that she was off and running by centering myself in the midst of the chaos and asking her to please stop because she could get lost or killed? You bet. Did it work in those moments? Nope.
Why didn't animal communciation work during these incidents? Because Meesha was in "dog" instinct to run, sniff and hunt mode. Do I have an incredibly well-"trained" dog. I will admit I do not. Have I worked on this but need to keep trying? Yes and yes.
The cats also have a thing or two to say, as Meesha's also has a genetic code to act as collie. They don't really appreciate being (gently) herded in the "right" direction by Meesha when they go off in the "wrong" direction.
This blur of brown fur is Meesha. This is a picture taken this morning of Meesha leading me (with every ounce of her strength) into a very damp, wooded area with lots of prickly branches that are poking at my face and arms. I'm trying to keep my balance while rather stupidly taking a picture with one hand. Luckily, there were no escape incidents as a result. It obviously takes me a multiple experiences to learn a lesson.
This is a photo of a TiTi (calico blur in lower right). She's not actually being herded here but this is what it might look like if she were. If I were better at design I'd edit in a photo of Meesha behind her to
make it look real.
Disclaimer: Meesha would never hurt and has never harmed any cat and no cat was harmed in the taking of this photo. I love my cats and they are safe in their home with Meesha.
