Dogs, Butterflies and Reiki

I spent most of last spring "tutoring" Kino on yard etiquette - repeating over and over again "The butterflies are our friends" and "We don't eat the butterflies" - because my darling boy couldn't stop himself from trying to devour our lovely visitors each day.

Fortunately, by the time summer rolled around, Kino finally understood and for the rest of the summer and all through the fall, we peacefully co-existed with our daily butterfly visitors.

So, you can imagine my disappointment when the butterflies reemerged a few weeks ago and I found Kino chasing after them. Once again I was reminding him again and again to leave the butterflies alone.

Last weekend, we were out in the yard and Kino gave in to his instinct to go after one of our beautiful visitors but amazingly, before biting down on the butterfly, he suddenly remembered that he wasn't supposed to and he backed away from the butterfly and then looked at me as if he deserved a treat for remembering.  :-)

Unfortunately, he had already slobbered all over the poor thing and because his wing was bent, the butterfly wasn't able to fly away. Sitting down on the ground with the butterfly, I began to give him Reiki in the hopes that he could recover from his German shepherd encounter.

After about 10 minutes of Reiki, the butterfly climbed up on my hand.  He stayed there for a while and then he decided to walk up my arm, and eventually made it up to my shoulder.  He sat on my shoulder for another 10-15 minutes, which was fine with me, as it was much safer for him to be up there where Kino couldn't reach him.

Eventually he tried to fly off my shoulder but he didn't make it very far and ended up on the ground.  Putting my hand down next to him, I offered him some more Reiki and once again he climbed up on my hand.  When I looked at the clock and realized I had to leave soon for an appointment, I placed him in one of the flower pots in the yard so he would be safe.

When I got home, I was delighted to find that he was gone and since Kino was tucked away safely in the house while I was away, I know the only way the butterfly could have left was on his own. It was a really cool experience to give Reiki to a butterfly - and while I feel blessed to have had the opportunity, I don't want to have to do it again, so Kino's refresher course will have to continue.  :-)

Setbacks and moving forward

A few weeks ago, I wrote about my German Shepherd Lucky and her battle with cancer.  At the time, I was excited to see that her tumors were finally shrinking and I was feeling confident that we were going to beat it.  

This week, the Universe threw me a curve and Lucky's tumors started growing again.  I felt defeated, overwhelmed and scared.  I cried a lot and worried that I wasn't taking care of her as well as I had promised her I always would.  I struggled to listen to my intuition.  I want to do everything I can for her.  I want us to heal the cancer so she can stay with me longer but I was feeling lost as to how to make that happen.  

After a couple of days of feeling helpless, I felt guided to adjust the dosage of cancer fighting herbs I was giving her, although I didn't trust the guidance completely.  I made the change and then still felt fear that it wasn't the right change or that we weren't going to be able to make the tumors go away.  As much as I tried, I couldn't completely quiet the voice of fear in the back of my head.

The next day, I took Lucky to her water therapy session.  With her back legs being weak, she isn't able to exercise by walking and chasing the ball like we used to, so we started doing water therapy a few times a week to help keep her muscles in shape and help her stay strong.  When Lucky got into the water with Connie, the water therapist, I began telling Connie that the tumors were growing again and that Lucky wasn't doing well.  Just then, Lucky took off, swimming into the deep end of the pool, which took both Connie and I by surprise.  She never swam into the deep end, even when we tried to encourage her to do so.  Connie looked at me with a questions on her face and at that moment, it was crystal clear to me.   Lucky was showing me that I was wrong when I said "she isn't doing well" - she was showing me that she was still strong and still feeling good.  There was no question in my mind at all.  She swam out to the deep end at the exact moment I was telling Connie that she wasn't doing well.  She wanted me to see that my fears were unfounded, that she was doing just fine in her opinion.

I know from my work with animals that they do hear us and they will respond to what they hear us say.  I have seen countless examples of animals responding in the moment to what it being said so I couldn't ignore what Lucky was showing me.  The heaviness that had surrounded me all week lifted and I realized that I needed to pay attention to her and what she was telling me.  I needed to listen to her more and listen to my fears less.  

That night, she was goofing around for hours.  She pulled a bag off the table that had a dog toy in it and began making the hilarious sound she makes when she is happy, something similar to a whine, but deeper and with a tone of contentment.  She wanted me to toss the tennis ball to her, she did a few play-bows.  Everything she was showing me was positive and I couldn't ignore it.  If she was going to be so positive and happy, then I needed to be as well.

I still don't know if we are going to beat the cancer.  I don't know if the current dosage of herbs I am giving her will make the tumor shrink again.  What I do know is that Lucky is telling me that she is OK right now.  She is telling me that she is happy and that she is capable of living and enjoying life.  It is a reminder to me that I need to enjoy every day that we have together.  I need to take time out to be light and playful.  I need to stop worrying about "tomorrow" and be present with her today because that's what we have - today.  

If you have an animal, I encourage you to pay attention to how they behave when you are talking about them.  I know they are trying to show us all the time if we are right or wrong regarding the things we say about them.  What you see may lift your spirits or give you new information about what they are thinking and feeling . . so watch them . . . and enjoy them . . . and love them for everything they are.