What are your favorite animals?
Stone, Bear, Pepper, Midnight, Willow, Hazel and Peter. All pets that are not really mine, but kind of are because they belong to my people. The people I love most in the world, their pets are my favorite animals (because I KNOW them).
Stone was my first grand. I met him when my son picked G and I up from the airport one time many years ago. He was a rolly poly puppy who stole our hearts as we meandered through traffic. Was getting a puppy a good idea? Uh? Now? By the time we were dropped off and for every day after we were in love. Both G and I will agree, probably the whole family will agree, Stone was the best. Best. Dog. Ever.
Then one by one along came the others. Each with its own personality and drama and love to add to our lives.
I have so many stories. Stone and the skunk, Stone and the coyote pups, Pepper needing emergency surgery the morning the kids were set to leave on a trip. They dropped their kiddos off at school, her off at the vet and I later collected the three from after school activities and drove to the vet for one sweet post-op cat. Even the vet commented on her personality. Pepper purred and purred as she was being pushed into her carrying crate. Best surgery patient I’ve ever met, (humans included) A story for another time…
Here’s one about Bear and I.
Bear is the yellow lab who had to follow Stone. (the black lab puppy turned wonder dog). Stone was smart and beautiful and calm. He could win anyone over with his polite attitude, good looks and playful charm. Stone was a very hard act to follow.
Bear was cute. At first anyway, but he quickly grew out of cute and into ‘the chewer’. He chewed up EVERYTHING! Shoes, toys, delivery packages, sunglasses, plants, clothes, pens, walls, furniture… you name it, no matter how many dog toys or chew items we bought for him, nailed down or not, he ate it. The yard went from plush to baren And fast. They had to get him a special bowl so he wouldn’t eat his food in three seconds. He was dopey and pushy and jumpy. He had trouble receiving attention. Even the calmest pat would excite him so entirely that he became a biting jumping crazed monster. (I say this with love)
I’m the baby/pet sitter who never says no. (Did I mention these are my baby’s babies and that I love them?)
So here I was watching Pepper and Midnight, the nocturnal cats and three year old Bear who has calmed, but is still himself, for two very long weeks.At the end, my marriage was still intact, maybe loosely but we’re all fine now…
I had hurt my foot and was coming down with a cold and it was raining. Bear pulled hard on the leash when I walked him so I tried walking him up hill as much as possible. He struggled to settle at night and woke up long before dawn at my house, so I ended up at his house and alone due to all the non sleeping, rain and coughing.
On a particularly rainy stretch of days, I binge watched a dog training show that helped dogs and owners nix bad post lock down behaviors. The guy kept reminding the owners to portray ‘calm confidence’ which is my favorite term for being regulated. I started watching as a tired, sick and injured spectator. Then one morning, I looked at Bear and thought, we should try to ‘master the walk’ (apparently the hardest thing) Which we magically DID! I confess that I was part of the pulling, over excitable problem. Did you know dogs can feel how you are feeling through the leash?? And guess what? I learned to feel how he was feeling through the leash right back!
I learned that I can change my energy on purpose with intention, even in less than ideal conditions and in seconds!. I have that much power. We all do! I saw one person after another learn to communicate calm confidence to their dog. I learned how to teach Bear to respect my space. How to calm, how to not pull at all! Bear didn’t chew up a single thing and to this day he sits very still to have his leash attached and waits to be invited forward. I, who am more of a dog un trainer, then trainer, taught him. (animals in general tend to act like they know me, even when they don’t, it’s weird, sometimes they don’t act their best, it’s a thing from my childhood, Dogs and cats followed me home ALL the time. I can’t explain it) I bring out the worst in other people’s pets, so you can imagine how the grand pets act when they see me or my car or someone who looks like me.
Without treats, without commands Bear transformed. He became calmly confident.
Stone embodied calm confidence. I used to think confidence was something you were born with or were taught in childhood. Bear and I learned how to teach it to ourselves and encourage it from each other, even from the other dogs and people we passed.
I will never forget seeing calm confidence in action. Watching the transformations on the show and then in real life seemed pretty magical. Learning how to conjure up this state even when I wasn’t feeling it, still feels magical. Leading Bear into that state, looked impossible, but was easy and even fun! I went from dreading every walk, to adding extra walks and enjoying them!
Crazy, full on Christmas miracle?! Maybe..
I do love my favorite animals, they always have much to teach and give and add to my life.
Peace Kit 