if you ask anyone involved with animals if animals thrive under stress, or if they love drama fests or if they do well in emotional or hysterical tornados...pretty much everyone would say..no they don't. animals prefer to be surrounded by stability, and calmness...it helps them to feel safe.
yet...
it is a big learning curve for we humans to keep control of ourselves...to keep a lid on our emotions around animals. but it is an absolute necessity...if we are panicking or freaked out or frustrated or angry or having a bad day, you can bet your bottom dollar that any animal in the vicinity is sucking up that overwhelming negative energy and feeling suddenly totally at risk and unsafe.
whenever anyone tells me the animals had a bad day here..where their emotions are escalating and they are irritable and causing problems..i always try to find out..what was going on with the humans? did we set them up to have a bad day because we allowed human emotional chaos to invade our saints animals home?
everyone do an experiment with your dog...
spend the next 5 minutes staring at them, peering at them closely, watching every single move that they make...did they suddenly get nervous?
now spend 5 minutes babying them, giving them the poor little suffering you treatment...did they suddenly seem to become vulnerable..unsure of themselves..worried?
next go into the kitchen and act like you are frustrated looking for something you can't find..or pick up the phone and start yelling at some pretend someone...does your dog slink away to escape your notice? I bet that they do.
finally just sit in a chair and silently list every single crappy thing in your head that makes your life difficult..don't say a word but really feel the unfair crappiness of it all and then look at your dog..does he look happy and at peace?
people in rescue do not have the same liberties of those not responsible for the wellbeing of another species. everything about us impacts everything about them. whenever we indulge in negative things, it is like tossing a rock into the peacefulness of their emotional ponds..we stir them up, and it is not fair to them.
we bred dogs for the last several thousand years to read us by not only our body language but by the emotional energy we create. they are very sensitive to our moods and our feelings. and because we know this, we must be very sensitive to how our emotional energy can negatively affect them.
be calm and rescue on..find that peaceful and calm rescue mind space and all rescued animals in every shelter everywhere, will be grateful.
How is Phoebe doing? I haven't heard much about her, and I know she is getting
on in years.