Category: consciousness

Four-legged healing marvels.

Day Two of the healing power of our wonderful dogs.

I was reminded of the incredible healing power of our dogs in a recent article published by author Deborah Taylor-French.

Before going on to that article let me say a little more about Deborah. Most easily done by offering what is detailed in her bio:

Deborah Taylor-French, M.A.

Deborah writes mysteries full of dogs, positive dog leadership and animal rescue. Deborah was awarded and served as a guest artist for California’s Artists in the Schools. As an arts educator, Deborah has led over a hundred residences and teacher workshops.

An active member of Redwood Writers, Deborah continues to serve as Author Support Facilitator. Redwood Writers is the largest branch of the California Writers Club. The true story of Sydney’s adoption, “Punk Rocker With A Poodle Brain” is published in “Vintage Voices Four Part Harmony.” Her fiction and memoir published in eight volumes of the Redwood Writers Anthology.

Deborah was also very supportive over my book and wrote an endorsement:

In “Learning From Dogs” author Paul Handover returns us to our origins where we find how early humans and dogs mutual survival and social relations. Visit the rich evidence of man and dog’s co-evolution. Dive into this man and species adventure. Reading this changes out perspective on dogs, wolves and humankind. Most importantly, “Learning From Dogs” values life on planet earth while offering ideas on peaceful co-evolution. Handover holds out a hand to readers, a hand called hope. A gem of a book.

So, all in all, it is a delight to be able to republish a recent article that Deborah published over on her place that you will all love reading.

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Six ways dogs help us heal

Dogs show empathy.
Dogs give us affection.
Dogs give us their complete attention.
Dogs give us physical comforting. They snuggle and lie in our laps.
Dogs live in the moment, sharing enthusiasm and joy.
Dogs possess sensory abilities beyond our sensory capacity.

They hear into the distance beyond our hearing range. Dogs alert us to the approach of other people and animals. With their gift of night vision, dogs often guide us, just go camping with your dog or walk a dog at night.

Examples: Therapy dogs of every kind help the blind, the mobility challenged plus visit the sick and in-firmed. Dogs sniff out cancerous tumors, this field is now being explored by science with the goal of creating a laboratory replica of how dogs detect cancer. Many dog lovers witness their dogs seeking out members coping with illness. The world over has many truth stories of dogs comforting the sick or dying.

Dogs sensing seizeures before they happen so they can maneuver their person to a safe position, such as sitting or lying down.

Give back to dogs

Want to help homeless dogs and cats but can’t adopt?

Click here and visit The Animal Rescue Site. Through this site you can download an app, which gives money to feed needy shelterless pets. This app is called Pet to Give. Just like its title, every pet gives a selected shelterless funds to feed dogs and cats.

Check out the Greater Good. I like it because they respect my time. When I signed up for email updates, I learned that I could put in vacation holds on email updates. This is the only site informational source that I have never unsubscribed from.

Please share to spread the ways dogs heal us. In this terrible time following the mass murder in Orlando, Florida, I hope we all will spread loving kindness and healing.

Don’t have a dog right now?

No problem. Make dog friends.

If you do not have a dog, take some fresh sugar snap peas (cut or break them up for small dogs) sit in a park. As dog walkers if their dog is friendly with new people. Once the dog’s person says it’s okay to greet the dog, LET THE DOG COME TO YOU. A friendly dog will wag his or her tail and slink up to sniff your hand. After you have a relaxed connection, ask the dog’s person if you can give him or her a treat. Show them the snap peas. Hold one in the palm of your hand and let the dog eat off your hand like a dinner plate. There you go. You’ve made a good friend. Now go make another.

For eight years we lived in an apartment and could not have any pets. I missed having a dog so much. Most dog lovers know that pain and will be sympathetic. Dogs always have enough love for everyone.

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Hope you loved this as much as Jean and I did.

Please come back tomorrow where we continue the theme of the ways in which our dogs comfort us.

Our healing dogs!

Is it me or is the world becoming crazier each new day!

What with the ‘Remain/Leave’ EU referendum coming up in my old country and Presidential politics in my new country it seems these days as though the need for healing is growing in leaps and bounds. Thank goodness for being able to hug a dog or two (and Jean) to be reminded of what matters most of all.

I was reminded of the incredible healing power of our dogs in a recent article published by author Deborah Taylor-French. That will be republished tomorrow, with Deborah’s kind permission. However, I wanted to make this message last for more than a single post and to achieve that I’m republishing a guest post that appeared in this place towards the end of last year.

But first my introduction to that guest post.

Forget about the big world out there, be loved by our dogs.

Monday’s post about the precariousness of man’s future on this planet if we don’t prevent the melting of the Antarctic ice sheet was a bit gloomy, however true it might be. The gloom continued with yesterday’s post about the VW scandal illustrating the “unethical culture endemic in business”.

So what a nice change to think about the way that our pets keep us bright, cheerful and healthy.

All of which is my way of introducing a guest post from Vee Cecil. Now I am fairly cautious about guest posts from those who want to promote their businesses, for obvious reasons. But Vee’s essay is so lovely that it truly deserves to be shared.

Firstly, here is the email that Vee sent me back in August,

Hi!

In the U.S., 91 percent of pet owners say they consider their pet to be a member of the family. And for good reason! Our pets are constant sources of comfort and companionship.

What many pet owners may not realize is how great their furry family members are for their physical and mental health. For example, studies have shown that pet owners have lower blood pressure than people who don’t have pets and that being around pets also makes us “less anxious and less stressed.” And that’s just the beginning. There are many other wonderful health benefits that result from owning a pet.

May I write an article for learningfromdogs.com on this topic? The article will be approximately 500 words, unique to your site, and complete with resources.

Please let me know – I am always looking to spread the word about how we can be healthier and happier and having a pet is a great way to achieve both!

Best,
Vee

Here then is that article.

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Feeling Under the Weather? Learn More About the Amazing Healing Powers of Pets

Ask any dog owner and you’ll find out just how remarkable a dog can be. They can turn a terrible day into an amazing one with one lick of the face or wag of the tail. But more and more studies are showing that our four-legged friends might be even more awesome than we previously thought.

As The Washington Post explains, research is showing that being around dogs can help us feel better and less stressed, while also improving our physical health. For example, the article cites studies which found that our pets can lead to “lower blood pressure, lower resting heart rates and less risk of hypertension.”

And that’s not all. Here are four other health issues and how dogs help their human companions:

Cancer. As this CBSNews.com article explains, a recent study at Mount Sinai Beth Israel found that therapy dogs had a very positive impact on patients receiving chemo therapy. The patients showed improvements in “emotional well-being and quality of life.” The director of the program that provided the therapy dogs also noted that patients felt less stressed and anxious. The article notes that this was a ground-breaking study as the impact of therapy dogs on cancer patients hadn’t been examined before.

Alzheimer’s Disease. Therapy dogs are also proving to be extremely helpful for patients with Alzheimer’s. In this article, a man with early on-set Alzheimer’s explains how his therapy dog helps him with daily tasks. Through the help of his therapy dog, the man says his stress and anxiety levels have significantly reduced.

Surgery recovery. Chances are if you were recovering from a painful surgery you wouldn’t turn down a snuggle from a pet. But, as The Telegraph shows, researchers have found that pets can do more than just provide you with a little tender loving care. A study led by a researcher from Loyola University found that pet therapy can reduce the amount of pain patients experience after surgery. In fact, according to the article, the patients in the study, who had had joint replacement surgery, “needed 50 per cent less pain medication if they used pet therapy.”

Diabetes. And perhaps most remarkable of all is what therapy dogs can be trained to do for diabetics. In this case, dogs put their acute sense of smell to good use. As this article explains, dogs exhibiting a better-than-average sense of smell can be trained to help diabetics. Once trained these dogs use their sense of smell to detect signs of hypoglycemia and low blood sugar (based on their human companion’s breath). They’re also trained to get a sugary food for their diabetic, get help if the person goes into diabetic shock, and more.

As more research is conducted to see the benefits of not only service dogs, but pets too, it will be interesting to see how dogs are woven into more medical treatments. They are truly amazing creatures, who can help us mind, body, and soul.

***

Vee Cecil keeps busy by being a wellness coach, personal trainer and bootcamp instructor in Kentucky. She also recently launched a blog where she shares her passion for health by writing about her favorite tips, activities and recipes.

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If proof was needed of the quality of a relationship that can exist between a person and a dog then just look at the following photograph.

It has healing power stamped all over it; for the young boy and the Shepherd Dog!

Picture parade one hundred and fifty-two

In memory of a very beautiful dog: Hazel.

(Must admit that when I was posting last week’s picture parade I had no idea that today’s would be in memory of Hazel. The lesson of always trying to live in the present!)

Hazel offering such openness and love in her eyes. June, 2014.

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Pharaoh, and Hazel, Dhalia and little Sweeny. January, 2012. — Pharaoh, and Hazel, Dhalia (also no longer with us) and little Sweeny. January, 2012.

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Hazel - January, 2012. — Hazel – January, 2012.

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Hazel doing what she did so well - sleeping. April, 2013. — Hazel doing what she did so well – sleeping. April, 2013.

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The purity of a dog's heart! — The purity of a dog’s heart!

Pharaoh and Hazel saying 'Hi' through the fence to Kaycee. February, 2012. — Pharaoh and Hazel saying ‘Hi’ through the fence to Kaycee. February, 2012.

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Jeannie, Hazel and cat feeling trust for each other. November, 2015.

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Picture taken by our guest Don Reeve of Hazel (and me). April, 2015.

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Come here, Hazel! I need some loving! October, 2013.

And I shall close today’s picture parade with the photograph I included in yesterday’s eulogy. For more than any other photograph this one has the camera looking deep into Hazel’s soul.

A Eulogy for Hazel.

This dear, precious dog!

Back in March, 2014 when I was writing a series of posts about our dogs, I published a Meet the dogs – Hazel post. This eulogy consist mainly of what I wrote then, with a few minor changes to bring it up to date, and a closing thought.

Hazel

I first met Jean in Mexico; namely, in San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico to be precise. Just a few days before Christmas, 2007. At that time, Jean had 16 dogs, all of them rescues off the streets in and around San Carlos. Jean was well-known for rescuing Mexican feral dogs.

In September, 2008 I travelled out to Mexico, via London-Los Angeles, with my Pharaoh. Jean and I have been together ever since. In February, 2010, because we wanted to be married and to be married in the USA, we moved from San Carlos to Payson, in Arizona; some 80 miles North-East of Phoenix.

One morning, just a few days before we were due permanently to leave San Carlos and move our animals and belongings the 513 miles (827 km) to Payson, AZ, Jean went outside the front of the San Carlos house to find a very lost and disorientated black dog alone on the dusty street. The dog was a female who in the last few weeks had given birth to puppies that had been weaned. Obvious to Jean because the dog’s teats were still somewhat extended.

The dog had been abandoned outside in the street. A not uncommon happening because many of the local Mexicans knew of Jean’s rescues over many years and when they wanted to abandon a dog it was done outside Jean’s house. The poor people of San Carlos sometimes resorted to selling the puppies for a few Pesos and casting the mother dog adrift.

Of course the dog was taken in and we named her Hazel. Right from Day One Hazel was the most delightful, loving dog and quickly attached herself to me.

The truest of love between a man and a dog!

Of all the dogs that we have here at home, and, trust me, many are extremely loving, my relationship with Hazel was precious beyond description. She was in Pharaoh’s ‘group’ (Pharaoh, Cleo, Sweeny, Pedy and Brandy) so slept in our bedroom at night. Most nights Hazel was tucked up against me.

Plus frequently during the day Hazel would take an interest in what I was doing, as the next photograph illustrates.

Hazel taking an interest in my potterings. — Hazel taking an interest in my potterings; March 2014.

If ever one wanted an example of the unconditional love that a dog can offer a human, then Hazel was that example. Precious creature.

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Just stay with me for a little longer.

Recently there was a documentary on the BBC about Koko the gorilla and how many hand signs Koko had learnt. As Wikipedia explains (in part):

Hanabiko “Koko” (born July 4, 1971) is a female western lowland gorilla who is known for having learned a large number of hand signs from a modified version of American Sign Language (ASL).

Her caregiver, Francine “Penny” Patterson, reports that Koko is able to understand more than 1,000 signs of what Patterson calls “Gorilla Sign Language” (GSL). In contrast to other experiments attempting to teach sign language to non-human primates, Patterson simultaneously exposed Koko to spoken English from an early age. Reports state that Koko understands approximately 2,000 words of spoken English, in addition to the signs.

The reason why I mention this is at the end of the programme it is stated that Koko’s ability to communicate shows very clearly that she is capable of feelings and emotions. Indeed, the way that Koko hugs Penny is very moving.

The presenter of the BBC programme concludes how things have changed over all the years from the birth of Koko some 45 years ago to today. As in back in the ’70s’ the idea that animals had emotions was just not accepted whereas nowadays there is mounting evidence that many warm-blooded animals have emotions; are capable of emotional feelings.

Why do I mention this?

For there isn’t one shred of doubt in the minds of Jean and me that Hazel was full of feelings of love and affection towards her human friends.

That is the epitaph with which Hazel will be remembered! This is her legacy.

Picture of Hazel taken in the last twenty-four hours. — Picture of Hazel taken in March, 2014.

Hazel died earlier today.

At 2:25am Pacific Daylight Time to be precise.

Jean and I were awoken around 2:15am to the sounds of Hazel having some trouble breathing.

We both were instantly out of bed and comforting her.

A little later she stopped breathing and then her heart ceased to beat. It was 2:25.

There has been so much interest and concern over her from you all that I wanted to post this without delay. We will be arranging to have the exact cause of death determined so that, too, may be shared with you all.

I will also write up an eulogy to be published in a few days time.

Thank you, dear friends.

Treasures Within and Without.

We must never let go of admiring beauty.

It’s Sunday lunchtime and I have come in from outside to check my emails and to put together the post for today. For reasons I can’t exactly put my finger on I’m feeling a little distracted. I sense a yearning for being transported away from the ‘outside world’ and turning inwards: Even giving blogging a rest for a couple of weeks (but I won’t).

So thank goodness for the blogging contacts we make all around the world. Just last Saturday Sue, of Sue Dreamwalker’s blog, published an exquisitely beautiful poem. Sue very promptly gave me permission to republish it in full. Sue’s poem speaks to me just now; speaks to me in this rather introspective place. I hope her wonderful words speak to you as well.

Here it is.

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Mother Gaia ~ The Blue Dot.

11 Jun 2016 by Sue Dreamwalker.

How many times have you gazed at the stars?

To ask the question of whom we are

This Blue Dot in the vastness of space

Have you questioned the existence of the Human Race?

Did we really evolve from Neanderthal Man?

From Ape to Human imagine if you can

Woolly Mammoths along with Sabre Tooth Tigers

Ice Ages and Floods, Volcanoes and Fires

Mountains crashing, rising from ocean floors

Fossils created into stony forms

Petrified wood in glaciers saved

While Crystals grow beneath deep dark cave

How many times have you asked ‘Who am I?’

As you gaze longingly at the starlit sky

So many treasures now upon this Blue Dot

So sad that we’ve evolved, but we also forgot

That we Humans just like the Dinosaur race

Could soon disappear without a trace

As our superior brains seemed to have lost the plot

Of our coexistence within this amazing Blue Dot

As we pollute our Mother who brings such life

While we rage in greed creating more strife

We poison our land modifying crops

Caring less and less until the last Bee drops

Long after we’re gone as the planets realign

A new dawn will break over the memory of mankind

His legacy I’m sure one day will be discovered

As some future traveller his fossils will uncover.

But it’s never too late to alter our future

When we live in harmony and learn to nurture

Holding onto LOVE and Letting go of Hate

We can all help our Blue Planet Regenerate.

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(Please view the full slide show here.)

Sue then completes her beautiful post; as follows:

There is so much more that lays hidden beneath our Earth Mother, as well as within ourselves.

If only we dig deep enough to find the Treasures Within.

Love and Blessings

~Sue~

I am still digging Deep How about You?

Life is an endless dig to find treasures within.

Beautiful, Sue!

In praise of wolves

Three stunning photographs of wolves.

In my post yesterday, A Eulogy for OR-4, I republished a passionate and moving account by Rob Klavins of the killing of a magnificent wolf. It included these words:

He escaped kill orders and poachers. He endured at least 4 collarings and he beat the odds. There aren’t many ten year old wolves out there. Today there is one less.

OR4 was shot and killed today. And it hurts. Anyone celebrating his death, the killing of his likely pregnant partner, and two of his pups, must have a hardened heart indeed.

All I am offering for you today is the contents of a recent email that I received from the Endangered Species Coalition.

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Paul,

We are excited to announce the winning entries in our first-ever Wolves in the Wild photo contest! While we received many beautiful photos of gray wolves, the difficult task of choosing winning submissions was carried out with much deliberation by our panel of judges.

The Grand Prize winner is:

Runner ups are:

We are enormously grateful to everyone who participated! Your photos were all amazing and I assure you that choosing a winner was a difficult task for the judges. While the contest was fun, we hope the photos will serve a very serious purpose in helping to show decision makers in the Pacific Northwest that wolves are important not only for their role in a healthy ecosystem, but as a driver of tourism and associated economic benefits.

Thank you for your commitment to disappearing wildlife and wild places.

Sincerely,

Danielle Moser
Pacific Northwest Wolf Organizer
Endangered Species Coalition

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Let me just repeat that key sentence from Danielle, “While the contest was fun, we hope the photos will serve a very serious purpose in helping to show decision makers in the Pacific Northwest that wolves are important not only for their role in a healthy ecosystem, but as a driver of tourism and associated economic benefits.”

Exactly!

A Eulogy for OR-4

Wolves in the wild.

Humanity has such a strange view of its earliest beginnings.

In the last few weeks there has been much publicity surrounding the science about the earliest domestication of dogs. I’m sure you have seen this but if not then read it over on the Science Mag website; an article that opens:

Asian dogs like this Tibetan mastiff have been separated from European breeds such as Labradors for more than 6000 years. Darko Vrcan/Alamy Stock Photo

Dogs may have been domesticated more than once

By David Grimm Jun. 2, 2016 , 2:00 PM

For years, scientists have debated where dogs came from. Did wolves first forge their special relationship with humans in Europe, or in Asia? The answer, according to a new study, is yes. This week in Science, researchers report that genetic analysis of hundreds of canines reveals that dogs may have been domesticated twice, once in Asia and once in Europe or the Near East, although European ancestry has mostly vanished from today’s dogs. The findings could resolve a rift that has roiled the canine origins community—but the case isn’t  closed yet.

Read the full article here.

David Grimm‘s words in that second sentence points to the fact that, irrespective of where on this Planet, wolves forged a “special relationship with humans”. In my book I offer evidence that this special relationship may have been crucial in our, as in humanity’s, ability to evolve from hunting and gathering to farming and thence the long journey to modern times.

Ergo, across the world we should recognise the wonders of that relationship and the magical qualities of the wolf.

Yesterday, I mentioned that Jean and I are supporters of Oregon Wild and that in the current newsletter author Rob Klavins had written a eulogy for an Oregon wolf and given me permission to republish it.

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A Eulogy for OR-4

Rob Klavins Mar 31, 2016

or4 We met three times, but I imagine that I barely registered in his life.

To him I was no more than an occasional scent on his trail or the source of a tortured imitation of a howl.

But to me, no nonhuman animal ever has been or likely ever will be as important or consequential in my life as OR4.

He escaped kill orders and poachers. He endured at least 4 collarings and he beat the odds. There aren’t many ten year old wolves out there. Today there is one less.

OR4 was shot and killed today. And it hurts. Anyone celebrating his death, the killing of his likely pregnant partner, and two of his pups, must have a hardened heart indeed.

He became a symbol for those who revere wolves as well as for those who hate them and hate the wild. Even some of the most cynical wolf haters paid him begrudging respect.

He was imperfect. He challenged us. He was loud. But he was tough and he was tenacious. He was resilient, and he was a good father.

OR4 and his partners OR2 and a wolf known as “Limpy” leave behind an unparalleled legacy. His offspring include OR7, the first pups in California in nearly a century, OR3, and wolves both known and unknown quietly living their lives and retaking their rightful place on the Oregon landscape.

He never set paw in Salem or DC, but for better and worse, he had more impact on policy and politics than any animal I know of other than Cecil the Lion.
He also leaves behind questions. Lots of questions. Questions about our future – the future of his offspring…and ours.

Above all, as I heard the helicopter take off near my home this morning, I wondered if our society will leave room for the wild on the landscape…and in our hearts.

Despite his collars and dayglo ear tags, OR4 was wild.

OR4 is dead, and we killed him.

But we’ll keep fighting for his legacy as imperfectly and tenaciously as he did.

The story of Oregon’s biggest and baddest wolf didn’t end in “happily ever after”. But the story for wolves and those of us who value the wild is still not fully written. It’s a new chapter. I’m no starry-eyed optimist. So I’ll stubbornly cling to hope and tenacity.

The alternative is surrender. OR4 was no quitter. And we shouldn’t be either.

He was loud.

And he was annoying to those who hate the wild. We should be too.

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Enough said!

Reaching out to the wilderness.

This is where our solace is.

Jean and I are members of the Oregon Wild organisation. As their home page states:

Oregon Wild supporters help us protect and restore our wildlands, wildlife, and waters as an enduring legacy for future generations.

In their last Newsletter (Volume 43, Number 2) there was a heart-breaking item about the killing of a wild wolf. I asked them if I might have permission to republish that and it was promptly granted.

Then early yesterday morning, around 7am, the early morning sunlight picked up two deer, a young stag and a doe, who had come to feed on the molasses cob that we put out twice a day.

I grabbed my camera and went quietly out to where they were feeding. Although both creatures were familiar to Jean and me, and they are not too uncomfortable with us out there putting cob down, this time my different behaviour and especially the cold, dark ‘eye’ of the camera lens made the two deer pretty twitchy.

So I’m putting off the sad eulogy of the shot wolf until tomorrow and offering up the magic of being trusted by these beautiful creatures.

P1160172 — The young stag in the foreground and the doe feeding on the cob both without being freaked out by my presence.

P1160173 — But two further steps towards them by yours truly had them instantly watching me very closely.

P1160175 — Now I’m on the verge of getting too close.

P1160176 — One last photograph grabbed before they disappear into the forest. But what a magnificent, beautiful animal is that young stag!

See you tomorrow and the sad story of wolf OR-4

Pharaoh’s weekend!

Pharaoh was thirteen years old yesterday.

Yes, Pharaoh was born on June 3rd., 2003 in Devon, South-West England close to where I was living at that time.

I deliberately didn’t mention it yesterday as I wanted to devote both days this weekend in celebration of this wonderful doggy friend.

Pharaoh being held by Sandra Tucker, the breeder. Date around late Summer in 2003. — Pharaoh being held by Sandra Tucker, of Jutone, the breeder. Date around late Summer in 2003.

So rather than write reams about this wonderful relationship that I have had with Pharaoh all I am going to do both today and tomorrow is to share with you a few memories of these fantastic years.