Bringing peace to the household
One of the great things about Reiki is that it works just as well from across a room as it does being hands on. This means that if you find yourself in a situation whereby an animal is showing aggressive tendencies, there is no need to put yourself in harm’s way.
Aggression in dogs can happen for many reasons and can be directed towards many things. Today I’ll be talking about one of the most common issues I have encountered – when dogs are at war in the household!
Of course, we can simply send Reiki to the situation and circumstances. This is a very good starting point.
We can also look deeper into the issue and help the owner understand what is happening with their dogs’ energies, which is in turn affecting their behaviour.
Becoming aware of the dog’s energies
When an owner becomes aware of how the dogs’ energies change before the aggression is shown. They can often stop the undesired behaviour before it escalates into a full blown dog fight.
When one dog is attacking another in the household, it is important to take into account the energy of both dogs. You will often find that the dog who is being attacked isn’t acting in the correct ‘doggy manner’ – he isn’t portraying the energy that he should be. Perhaps his energy becomes nervous or over excited. This in turn can cause the other dog to ‘tell him off’. It is common for the issue to start with the dog who is being attacked. I’m not saying that this is his fault; in fact it’s not a case of blame at all. It is a case of one dog being highly sensitive, probably due to inherited factors.
From a dog training point of view it is important to only reward desired behaviour. I often see a dog ‘misbehaving’, said dog is then told ‘no’, he may then sit and the owner says good boy. This is rewarding the undesired behaviour.
When a dog has exhibited any signs of unwanted behaviour we must be careful to not give him a reward. For example, if I walked into my house and one of the dogs growled at another, I would send the growling dog out of the room and then ignore him until it is all forgotten about. When taking this approach it is also important to reward the good behaviour. So when I walk into my house and the aggressive dog doesn’t growl at the other I tell him he’s a good boy, stroke him etc.
How to feel your pet’s energies
In order to help the owner feel the energy of their dogs, we can point out obvious physical signs, but we can also talk them through the following exercise where they firstly become aware of their own energy and after some practice they can more easily and readily perceive their pets’ energies.
- Sit or stand comfortably
- Close your eyes
- Take a few deep breaths, each exhale brings your body to a calmer, more relaxed state
- Continue breathing and relaxing for a few minutes
- Become aware of the energy around your head – does it feel light/thick/heavy? Does it feel calm or erratic? Is there a colour that comes to mind?
- Continue focusing one at a time on each part of your body – shoulders – arms – elbows – hands – torso – pelvis and lower back – thighs – knees – lower legs – feet.
- Once aware of the energy around your own body you can think of calming it and bringing it to a nice feeling.
- After a few times of trying out this exercise on yourself, you may be ready to try it out on your pets
It is important to do this exercise regularly. In return you will begin to pick up the energies of your dogs without having to try. You’ll simply feel it, rather than having to go through the exercise.
Once you are able to feel the energy of your dogs, you’ll be more susceptible to the energy changes that they have before an issue occurs. This meaning that whilst the dogs are still relatively calm , you can either send one of them out or ask them to sit and send them Reiki to calm the situation.
Interested in learning more about Animal Reiki?
Sarah Berrisford specialises in writing about and teaching Equine and Animal Reiki. If you’re interested in learning more about how to treat dogs and other animals, then follow these links:
Animal Reiki book or Animal Reiki eBook
Animal Reiki practitioner live training course
Animal Reiki home study course
Photo credit: bkang83
Reiki works wonderfully with my dogs, but you cannot guarantee what you are writing. If I had done what you say, when my Irish wolfhound attacked one of my Silkens, we would have had a bloodbath! There was NO sign whatsoever, not in the other dogs either, who would have been aware.
He had a brain anomaly, the first time ever I had a problem with a wolfhound – and with the tick treatment it had gotten worse so I had to have him put to sleep.
Reiki works wonders, the gentle way, not in crisis situations like this, and I worry when I read these statements, they should perhaps be a little more to the point.