As a Trust Technique Practitioner I work with all kinds of animals, not just horses.
This week I worked with a couple and their 3 dogs. They had asked for my help with the newest member of the household who was unexpectedly and randomly launching at house guests. Strongheart had already experienced many traumatic events in his short life and household guests were just about the last straw.
The Trust Technique is about building trust and confidence through relationship by working at the emotional level with everyone involved. It turned out that Strongheart, the new dog hadn’t really been welcomed into the home by Empress, one of the other two dogs. The third dog, Alaska, was generally highly sensitive and was sceptical with even this gentle approach.
In a household of more than one individual, in this case 2 adults and 3 dogs there is a relationship between each individual and each one of the others, that adds up to quite a few relationships!
A relationship is the way two or more individuals are connected, or the way they behave toward each other.
When even one of those relationships is less than harmonious it puts the whole household dynamic out of balance. With this undercurrent of anxiety, new individuals (guests) entering the house can be the tipping point.
So we made a start on helping the dogs find peace with each other. We worked with Strongheart and Empress on the leash and Alaska was able to take part at his choosing- which he did and he also benefitted.
Because Amy and Ken live on the other side of the world from me, this was all done over a Zoom call. They have already laid some good foundations with the Trust Technique, so this wasn’t starting from scratch, but moving on to the next phase in strengthening their relationships and building trust with and between their dogs.
I got this wonderful feedback shortly after the session:
“Wow, what an awesome session we had with the dogs this morning. You are so talented, so peaceful and so clear. I am so grateful. I now understand on a deep level how much un-peace the original dogs (Empress and Alaska) experience. This summer with the arrival of Strongheart I came to understand much un-peace I carried around, and just how much “work” I needed to do on myself before I was going to be able to have enough peace to give to the animals.
After this session I went from intellectually understanding how much non-peace Alaska and Empress have to knowing in my heart how much non-peace they experience. If I let myself think too much it is overwhelming how much non-peace we have to move out of here. I mean, all the animals are suffering, but, today also reaffirmed to me that we can do it. We can do this. We can give the animals the great home I thought I had been providing but wasn’t.”