Chihuahua & Chiweenie Christmas Love!

December 24, 2009 · Filed under Chihuahuas & Chiweenies, Dogdom, The Cat Box · Tagged , , ,

A Bundle of Chiwee Love . . . in New Christmas Outfits! Chiweenie Tucker (bottom), Chihuahua Frida, and Lily

Whatever arguments prevail about which is the better small dog to be the human companion of, Chihuahua or Chiweenie, one thing is certain:

BOTH HAVE THE BIGGEST HEARTS YOU COULD EVER HOPE TO FIND.

And what is Christmas, if not a time for heartfelt love? My two little ones, Chihuahua and Chiweenie alike, offer their love no-holds-barred — to me, to the big dogs in their life, and . . . to our one and only resident feline, Lily. Now THIS is what I call the true spirit of Christmas!

None of my other animal companions interact with Lily like the Chiwees do (“Chiwees” is my nickname for Chihuahuas and Chiweenies in the same household). My three big dogs do not fawn over Lily. They do not cuddle up to her in bed — whether it be my bed or theirs. They do not welcome her into their food bowls.

But Tucker and Frida, my Chiweenie and Chihuahua, respectively, do. All of the above. They lick Lily and cuddle with her and share food with her. And — can you blame her? — Lily has come to prefer their company at bedtime to mine. Not that we aren’t all piled up in my bed together, we are. But the exact spot Lily wants to cuddle down in is somewhere in between the two Chiwees, not necessarily next to me.

Who says animals don’t have emotions like we do?

I don’t know who that is, but one thing I DO know is that they’ve never had a Chihuahua or a Chiweenie. If you want to experience true “heart” in a small package, then these dogs are the way to go. Become their companion and you will never lack for attention, love, and pure-dee devotion — to the point of worship. And that goes for not only you, but for any member of your family, be he or she of the humanoid, canine, or feline variety.

God bless the Chiwees! And Merry Christmas to all!

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Horse Lovers Beware: Your Horse Can Read Your Mind!

December 21, 2009 · Filed under Animal Communication, Case Reports, Horsin' Around, The Animal's Point of View · Tagged , , , ,


Here’s another wonderful blog post borrowed

Stephanie

from my friend Stephanie, the “Zen Cowgirl”. Boy, is she right on the money with this one!

Are you thinking about attending a horse bodywork seminar? Perhaps going to a tack fitting clinic? Or how about participating in an animal communication workshop?

If so, good for you. And also, be forewarned!

Once you have learned something new that will improve your horse’s life, your horse will know. Your horse will read your mind and know what you know. A previously forgiving horse who patiently put up with an ill-fitting saddle will likely buck you off after the tack-fitting clinic.

The swaybacked horse who has always come right up to you in the pasture will now kick up her heels and run the other way when she sees you coming if you don’t plan on doing bodywork that day.

And the horse unhappy in his job but doing it well? He’s likely to make an ass of you at your next horse show … especially since you went to an animal communication workshop but refuse to heed his pleas for a new career.

What the Heck is Going on Here?

Unfortunately, many a horse lover has had to discover the hard way that our horses are telepathic, they can read our minds, and they know what we know. Somehow most horses are willing to forgive us in our ignorance, but the minute we learn something that will make their life better, they expect us to use that knowledge … right now!

So if you are planning on opening the door of knowledge for better horse health care, better horse feed, and better horse management, beware! Once that door is opened, it can never be slammed shut again. Your horse will make sure of it!

A friend of mine is an animal communicator, and she tells me that she often notices that people who communicate with their animals, and then fail to take action based on the resulting conversation, tend to pay a big price. Whether it’s the dog peeing on the carpet to indicate that he’s “pissed off” or the horse going into a bucking frenzy, forgiveness isn’t the picture.

Marcus Aurelius & Stephanie

Marcus Aurelius: A Case In Point
Marcus, my first big-time jumper horse, was hugely forgiving and easy to ride when he first came to me. We did well at shows, won championships all over the place, and I thought we had a great relationship. Unfortunately, Marcus was a cribber, which affected his teeth, spine, and performance. Thinking that cribbing was bad, I used to try all kinds of techniques to stop him from cribbing. Nothing worked. He continued to crib but he never seemed to resent my efforts to stop him.

Then I had the brilliant idea to try animal communication. During the conversation I asked Marcus what it would take for him to stop cribbing. His reply was short and sweet: “How about if I asked you to give up eating?” In other words, he was telling me that cribbing was an essential part of his nature and his life.

Despite hearing this, I continued to try to stop him from cribbing. Now he definitely resented my efforts. He started turning his butt to me when I went to catch him, and broke as many objects in his stall as possible. He issued his strongest complaint, though, by refusing to jump at the shows. Neither my trainer nor I could get him to jump around courses reliably, even on courses he used to love.

Back to the animal communicator we went. Marcus made his demands clear: “Let me crib or forget showing, and count on having to replace everything in my stall often!” Wow, was that clear or what? So thereafter, we let him crib. He started doing his job again and loving it.

He now lives with my former trainer, Sally Francis, in Texas, has his own cribbing tree, and a couple of cribbing buddies. These days he is one happy cribbing camper. He still takes adult amateurs and small children around three foot courses and, as long as he’s allowed to crib, all is right in the world with him. Yes, his teeth suck but he’s very happy!

I’ve had similar experiences with almost all of my horses, especially the mustangs. They are more forgiving to start with (when I’m ignorant) and much less forgiving later. They have elephantine memories, which they use often. But once you give then what they want, they will also work harder and better for you than most domestic horses.

In any case, consider this article a “buyer beware” to the horse lover who wants to learn more about horse health care, training, tack, or you-name-it. I’m all for it. Definitely go for it and learn as much as you can. Just be prepared to use what you learn or you’ll pay, pay, and pay!

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Rose Goes to the Chiropractor – for “Vestibular Syndrome”

December 19, 2009 · Filed under Case Reports, Dogdom · Tagged , , ,

What you are looking at here isn’t just Rose being coy and inquisitive, cocking her head and wondering why I’m taking her picture. No. It is the after-effect of her bout with what’s known as “vestibular syndrome” about six weeks ago.

I was out of town and my daughter and son-in-law were taking care of our place and all the critters. When they got home that Sunday evening they found Rose on her bed, unable to get up in her hind end, and with her head screwed on all cockeyed. It had happened very suddenly, so we all thought she had had a stroke.

Rose is 12, and what I know now, after our visit to the vet, is that she was struck by vestibular syndrome with no warning, as older dogs often are, and that it can definitely mimic a stroke. In layman’s terms, what happens is that the little hairs in the inner ear become disturbed and out of whack, which then causes the dog’s sense of equilibrium to go haywire. The world tilts, and the dog has extreme vertigo. And, as in Rose’s case (as if the vertigo weren’t enough), often the axis of the spine, right up under the skull, can become jammed, which interferes with all the signals being sent along the spinal cord to the hind end. Thus the lack of control of the caboose.

Enter chiropractic care. My friend April was visiting a couple of weeks after this happened, took one look at Rose, and said, “Oh, Leta! You’ve GOT to take Rose to my chiropractor,” and went on to describe to me the amazing results she has seen with several of her animals after chiropractic adjustments. One of Rose’s eyes was bulging slightly, which April said in her knowing way is always a sign that the axis is out, and once it’s adjusted the eye won’t bulge any more.

So of course off we went, as soon as we could get in. And lo and behold, Rose’s eye isn’t bulging any more. And she can plant those hind feet and hold a square stance as well as any of my dogs. The head tilt is still there — in some dogs it never goes away — but she is happy and hungry and playful, and only occasionally gets off balance now.

I often work over my animals’ bodies myself, using many different touch and energy techniques I’ve learned over the years. And I think it’s important that we all do that with our animals — not just “pet” them. But sometimes a true expert is required, and if you can find one who is as sensitive and caring in her work as you are, it will pay off big time. We are so lucky to have found such a person in one of our local animal chiropractors — a woman who used to be a “people chiropractor” but changed because she loves animals so much. And Rose is holding her adjustments, and we will now go monthly to make sure she doesn’t backslide.

I can’t urge you strongly enough! Don’t hesitate to seek out this kind of help — if your animal has a cocked head or not. If something tells you things just aren’t quite right, follow your gut and get your animal to a good chiropractor.

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A Horse for Your Child? For Christmas?

December 16, 2009 · Filed under Horsin' Around, Uncategorized · Tagged , ,

THE FOLLOWING POST IS FROM MY DEAR FRIEND AND HORSE VET, MADALYN WARD, DVM, WHO HAS DEVELOPED A SYSTEM OF TYPING HORSES ACCORDING TO THEIR PERSONALITY. I THOUGHT THIS WAS A VERY TIMELY, INTERESTING, AND FUN TOPIC TO CONSIDER SO CLOSE TO CHRISTMAS. CHECK OUT THE LINKS AT THE BOTTOM TO TYPE YOUR PROSPECTIVE KID’S HORSE, YOUR OWN HORSE, OR YOURSELF!

What do you do if your kid asks for a horse for Christmas?

Supposing you say, “Yes,” how do you go about picking one?

How do you choose a good horse for kids? How do you find a horse who is kind, gentle, loving, and willing to please? Just as important, how do you stay away from horses who buck, kick, bite, and have other horrible vices?

These are all important questions to ask when you shopping for a horse for kids. My answer is simple:

To find a good horse for kids, choose one with the right horse personality type.

There are certain horses with personality types custom-made for kids, and other types that should definitely be avoided. When it comes to the safety and fun of your little ones, you definitely want to go with horse personality types that make good children’s horses. Luckily, that’s not difficult. There’s even an online test to help you do just that.

Five-Element Horse Personality Types
If you have been around horses for any length of time, then you know that each has a distinct personality, just like humans. Some are mischievous while others are competitive. Some spend their lives trying to please while others only want to win at all costs. Certain horses are tough as nails, others are as soft as marshmallows. It all depends on their personality type.

The Five-Element horse personality typing system I developed predicts a horse’s behavior and health challenges, as well as the best career and management style for the horse. The system is based on the five elements of Traditional Chinese Medicine: Water, Fire, Wood, Metal and Earth. There are five straight types (based on each of the five elements), as well as six combination types.

The Best Horse Personality Types for Kids
So which horse personality type should you choose as a good horse for kids? Based on my experience, the best children’s horse is a horse that has one of the following three personality types:

#1: The Earth Horse Personality Type
The Earth horse is generally sweet, gentle, and has a sweet tooth. His motto is, “Let’s be a team!” The Earth horse loves children and makes a reliable lesson horse. Fond of routine, once an Earth horse learns his job he can be depended on to do it well. He is perhaps a bit on the sluggish side (he likes to stop and graze), but other than that makes an excellent children’s horse. He is usually too lazy to bother with bucking or running, and as long as he is well fed and has a steady routine, he makes a great kid’s horse.

#2: The Shao Yin (Fire/Water) Horse Personality Type
The Shao Yin horse is highly intelligent, fun-loving, and can make an excellent horse for kids. When trained, the Shao Yin horse is a wonderful caretaker for beginner riders and children alike. This kind of horse loves to figure things out. He is also gentle, affectionate, and kind. Shao Yin horses don’t do well under pressure, which makes them perfect horses for low-key events like playdays or gymkhanas. Because they love attention and are very sociable, these horses enjoy hours of grooming, grazing, and “quality time” with kids.

#3: The Yang Ming (Metal/Earth) Horse Personality Type
The Yang Ming horse is a loyal horse who tries his best to please. Once this type of horse has learned his job, he will never forget it. He will perform flawlessly in a number of disciplines, being highly versatile as well as reliable. His only demand is that he be treated fairly. While not as affectionate as the Earth or Shao Yin types, the Yang Ming horse works hard and is a good caretaker. His steady disposition and reliability make him an excellent children’s horse.

Two Other Possible Horse Personality Types for Kids
While Earth, Shao Yin, and Yang Ming horses are my top picks as horse personality types suitable for kids, there are two other types that can also be good children’s horses when well-trained: Metal and Tai Yin horses. If your child is older, more experienced, or wants to be competitive in rodeo or on the show circuit, either of these two horse personality types may work well.

The Metal Horse Personality Type
The Metal horse is extremely hard-working, can stand up to a rigorous training schedule, and, once trained, never forgets his job. Early in his career, the Metal horse must understand his job or he may be prone to bucking, making him a poor choice for children. However, the well-trained and experienced Metal horse can make a good children’s horse. He will do his job well and without complaint. He isn’t the “best friend” type of horse, but is a suitable horse for the kid who wants to do Little Britches rodeo and be competitive in the show ring.

The Tai Yin (Earth/Metal) Horse
The Tai Yin horse can also make a good horse for kids as long as he gets along with the child. This kind of horse is often a “one-person” horse and does not get along well with everyone. However, if this horse likes your child he will try his heart out. Although the Tai Yin horse is not highly affectionate he will often demonstrate caring through hard work and fierce loyalty. This kind of horse will do almost anything for a person he likes, and thus makes a good kid’s horse for any child he likes.

Test a Horse’s Personality Before Buying
Now that you know which horse personality types are suitable as children’s horses, how do you know what kind of personality a horse has? Suppose you are considering several horses to buy for your child. How do you know which to choose? Simple. Just test the personality of each horse you are considering.

Visit the Horse Harmony Test website to test each horse’s personality. This online horse personality test will tell you the personality type of each horse. You can then read a short summary of each horse at Horse Harmony.

If you don’t know the horse well enough to type him, ask his current owner to test the horse for you. You might be surprised. The seemingly gentle horse with a gleam in his eye may look like the perfect children’s horse, yet the Horse Harmony Test may reveal the horse to be a Jue Yin, a tricky horse not at all suitable as a horse for kids.

The test is no-cost, so it can’t hurt to type any horses you are considering for your child. For that matter, if you already own horses, it may be interesting for you to test them as well. You can also test your own personality on the same site, just for kicks!

Horse Personality Typing Resources
To recap, here are all the places you can learn more about horse personality typing to help you find the perfect children’s horse:

Horse Personality Type Test

Horse Personality Type Information

Horse Personality Type Book

Horse Personality Type Ebooks

Horse Personality Type Educational Audios

Have fun typing prospective or current horses, yourself, and your children, and learning lots about all kinds of personality types … and good luck finding the best horse for your kids!

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Animal Communication – It’s a Blast!!!

December 14, 2009 · Filed under Animal Communication, Interspecies Communication, Leta's Philosophy 101, Thoughts About Animal Communication · Tagged , ,

Is animal communication fun? You bet it is!

I’ve written a lot of posts about the pitfalls and obstacles encountered by the person on the path to practicing animal communication, the ethics that must be carefully observed, the difficulties involved in maintaining a “clear channel,” and so on. Enough already! Let’s focus on the good stuff!

No two ways about it: animal communication is a barrel of fun. You’re an animal lover, right? If you’re like most of us animal lovers, you probably have at least a few at home, perhaps of several different species. You probably enjoy spending as much time as possible with them and find them to be some of, if not THE, best companions you know.

If you’re an animal lover then it’s probably obvious to you why doing animal communication for a living would be fun. But here are a just a few of my favorite reasons:

1.  You get to meet a lot — and I mean a LOT — of interesting different animals who you’d probably never have an opportunity to meet otherwise.

2.  You get to meet a lot of interesting people too and make lots of new friends!

3.  You learn a lot about how different personalities operate, and this ends up being very helpful in your own life. Plus, it’s just downright fascinating.

4.  You get to help solve lots of problems for animals, which often means their lives become a lot better.

5.  You get lots of praise and thanks from the folks you help — always a good feeling.

6.  You have many opportunities, at animal shelters, etc.,  to do pro bono work and be of service in a unique way — and nothing makes one feel better than reaching out and helping others in need.

7.  As an animal communicator you’re in business for yourself. You can create your own schedule, work from home, and call the shots. Yippee!

8.  Offering the gift of animal communication, whether through a session or a class, often helps open up new horizons for other people, broadening their outlook on the world and enhancing their own understanding.

9.  You can choose your own area of specialty in regard to the kinds of cases you take and can therefore practice what you like to do best, AND what you’re best at doing!

10.  This is not top of the list, but it IS necessary, and yes, it is fun too:  You can make money.

There are lots more things that can be added to this list of why doing animal communication is fun, and I’m sure you can think of several  that are unique to you and your circumstance. Yes, there are lots of things to watch out for if you practice, but you’ll learn those along the way. So if you’re tempted to start an animal communication practice, I’d say go ahead and dive in! You’ll have lots of fun!

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Is Empathy a Help or a Hindrance in Animal Communication

December 11, 2009 · Filed under Animal Communication, Leta's Philosophy 101, Thoughts About Animal Communication · Tagged , , , , , ,

Empathy — the trait of feeling what others are feeling — is something most of us possess to one degree or another. And often we aren’t even aware of when it’s happening. We may wonder why we’re feeling so blue after an outing to the grocery store, when we started out the day feeling on top of the world. Could be because we picked up some moody emotions from a few folks in the super market.

Most animal communicators possess a high degree of empathic awareness, which can be very helpful in understanding what is going on with the various animals they talk to. But a skilled communicator has learned to discern when the emotions she is feeling are hers and when they are the animal’s, AND how to clear the ones that don’t belong to her once a communication session is over. Using one’s empathic awareness this way takes a lot of understanding and skill and doesn’t come overnight. And if it is not harnessed and properly understood, it can wreak havoc in one’s life. What follows is a very sad example of how it literally ruined one person’s life.

Several years ago there was a lovely woman in one of my beginner-level animal communication classes who was quite clear that she wanted to learn the skill in order to practice it professionally. I will call her “Grace” because she was a lovely, mature woman who obviously had great compassion and wisdom.

But as the day wore on and we got into practice sessions with animals, I noticed an odd thing. No matter what animal Grace connected with her feedback was filled with grief, and she would be in tears while conveying the sad impressions or messages she had received from the animal. These dismal emotions were the only ones she was able to pick up from the animals, regardless of their situation. I didn’t want to single her out by identifying what I thought was going on for her, so instead I took this opportunity to familiarize the class with what I call the Velcro Effect — explaining how similar vibrations in two different individuals magnetize each other. Grace clearly had a lot of grief and sadness in her psyche, so those were the emotions she tended to identify with in others, including the animals.

Needless to say, by the end of the class poor Grace was emotionally devastated and totally drained. She did seem to understand the lesson about how empathy can be like Velcro, and how that had affected her practice sessions with the animals, but I was worried about whether she would be able to internalize this and use it to protect herself from taking on so much heaviness from the world around her.

I never saw or talked to Grace again, and not long after the class I received a call from one of the students to let me know that Grace had committed suicide. I was speechless and shocked, and very, very sad, but on some level I was not surprised. I had clearly seen that Grace was  a “psychic sponge” who absorbed much of the negativity and sadness she came in contact with.  She was probably severely depressed, and  not just due to her own personal issues. If she did not understand this, and was not able to get the right kind of help for it, it is no wonder that her life became unbearable to the point of wanting to end it.

I prayed for Grace’s soul and that she might find peace. And I also felt a lot of pain in wondering if I could have done more to help Grace learn to manage her empathic gift so it would not have been her undoing. I wish I had reached out to her more actively after our class was over.

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TO READ A LITTLE MORE ABOUT EMPATHY AND ANIMAL COMMUNICATION:

Is Animal Communication Really for Animal Lovers?

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Animal Communication – The Velcro Effect

December 9, 2009 · Filed under Animal Communication, Leta's Philosophy 101, Thoughts About Animal Communication · Tagged , , , ,

What in the world does Velcro have to do with animal communication?! Well, nothing, really. The “Velcro Effect” is just what I call something that happens a lot between people and animals, or between people and other people for that matter.

It has to do with empathy. As defined by the online Mirriam-Webster dictionary, “empathy” is the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another.

I’ve talked a lot about empathy in previous posts, but in this post I want to describe how empathy can be like Velcro, so first I will tell you about my own experience when how this works was brought home to me in a BIG way. And it happened in an advanced animal communication workshop.

We were doing an exercise that we were not told the purpose of. Nine of us sat in a circle and each of us looked at the person on our left — naturally at the back of their head, since they too were looking to their left. We were to focus on the person for about 20 or 30 seconds and jot down the first 2, 3, or 4 impressions that came to us. We were not to wonder why, just jot down the impressions.

Suddenly the young woman on my right, someone I had never met before, burst into tears. She was so deeply aggrieved that she had to leave the circle and indeed was incapacitated for several hours following the exercise. Since I, like everyone else, still had no idea what this exercise was about, I didn’t know what had happened.

Once our instructor had helped this girl find a level of comfort and settle down in another room, she came back and we finished the exercise. We went around the circle, each of us reporting the impressions we had received while looking at the person on our left. Most of the words were things like “joy,” “nurturing,” “sadness,” “playfulness,” “service,” etc. Our teacher then asked me if I was grieving. I said no, but that I had been through a very deep and serious period of grief during the previous year.

She then explained what it was we were to learn from the exercise. I paraphrase here (and the Velcro analogy is mine):

When you are tuned-in to another being, the vibrations the two of you share the most at that time will come to the forefront and will be what each of you notices most about the other. Those vibrations magnetize each other and kind of stick together, like Velcro.

She then explained that the girl to my right was in a very deep period of grief, and, since I still had vestiges of grief left in my vibrational field, that is what she picked up the most. My grief, although quelled and in the past, triggered hers actively and caused her to fall apart.

Gee, did I feel terrible. But wow, what a lesson we all learned from that exercise.

How does this apply to animal communication? Well, if you are an empath, or one who has a lot of empathy, it means you are very tuned in to peoples’ and animals’ feelings. And, unfortunately, until you have learned how to control and manage your empathic ability, you are going to experience and feel the emotions and vibrations your subject and you share the most, which may have nothing to do with the subject at hand.

This is not a bad thing, and empathy is a great asset in animal communication. But it is really, really important to understand how it works and to beware of the Velcro Effect, since it kind of has a life of its own and can therefore interfere with what it is you are trying to learn from the animal you are talking to.

In my next post I will relate a very sad story indeed, about someone whose level of empathy became her undoing. Stay tuned.

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Animal Communication: Is It Really For Animal Lovers?

December 7, 2009 · Filed under Animal Communication, Leta's Philosophy 101, Thoughts About Animal Communication · Tagged , , ,

This person obviously adores her mule (and her mule adores her!), but would she make a good animal communicator? Maybe . . . and then again, maybe not.

Yes! ……… but … well, maybe NO. It depends on why you want to do it.

I know that question sounds really stupid coming from an animal communicator. ALL animal communicators obviously love animals. They do, they surely do. So how in the world could animal communication NOT be a really good thing for an animal lover? Before you decide that I’m making a heretical, anti-animal communication, statement here, please allow me to explain.

I can’t tell you how many times, when asked why they are interested in animal communication, I’ve heard my students say things like:

“I like animals soooo much more than people!” or

“I want to learn how to do animal communication because I don’t really like people that much.” or

“I feel like I understand animals so much better than I do people.” or

“I don’t relate to people very well.”

A big UH-OH is the silent response in my head when I hear this kind of remark among serious animal communication students — for at least a couple of major reasons. And what then follows, throughout our workshop, is a careful process of not only helping this type of student learn to communicate with animals, but also to become familiar with the many people-oriented pitfalls and obstacles she will face if she chooses to do animal communication professionally.

The main hurdle for the animal-lover/people-shunner who practices animal communication is that the profession, if practiced carefully, conscientiously, and ethically, requires working with people first and foremost. It is people who are going to contact the communicator for help and with whom most of the communication is going to take place. As stated in an earlier blog, it is the animal communicator’s job to serve as an intermediary and translator between people and their animals and to help resolve issues with diplomacy and compassion. NOT a role for the faint of heart, and certainly not for someone who doesn’t like people.

The second obstacle on the road to becoming an effective animal communicator for the devout animal lover is that they are probably so intensely in tune with animals that they have become empathic sponges. This means that they often feel everything the animal is feeling, and perhaps the people around them too. This can be a very valuable asset in interpreting an animal’s situation, but unfortunately most such empaths can’t separate their own feelings from those they are picking up from others so the resulting “translation” becomes a mish-mash of confused information, and their psyche becomes overly burdened with emotions that don’t belong to them. And there is no way a person in this state can remain clear enough to conduct an effective communique between a human and an animal.

So if you’re thinking about becoming an animal communicator because of how much you adore our furry, feathered, and finned friends, think twice . . . and think carefully. T’ain’t necessarily an easy road for the devoted animal lover.

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YOU CAN READ MORE ABOUT SOME OF THE CHALLENGES FACING AN ANIMAL COMMUNICATOR HERE:

Animal Communication – Being a “Clear Channel”

Animal Communication – Protecting Your Power

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Chiweenie Update

December 5, 2009 · Filed under Chihuahuas & Chiweenies · Tagged , , , , , ,

If you have read this blog before, then you know that I have a Chiweenie, Tucker, and a Chihuahua, Frida, and have posted about them not infrequently. I have to say, as a new “owner” of (though, in reality, it’s more like I’m “owned by”) each of these breeds, I am utterly entranced by each of them, not to mention astounded at their popularity and the traffic they have brought to this blogsite. Who woulda ever thought?!

Tucker, just yesterday, lounging in my arm chair, where I am supposed to be able to sit and do my deep-thinking kind of work. (Maybe he's doing it for me?)

I adopted Tucker, a Chiweenie, from the local Humane Society, in September of 2008. But NOT because he was a Chiweenie. In fact I didn’t even know Chiweenies existed at that time. I got him because, well, first of all, I fell in love with him, but secondly, because I had three very large dogs and wanted a smaller dog who would be a good watch dog in the house (not that my big dogs don’t come in the house — they do, any time they want, but I just wanted a little dog too). And, I ask you, which small dogs are known to be more fierce and watchful  than Chihuahuas and Dachshunds, which is what Chiweenies are made of?

So, a good friend, who just so happens to be President of the Santa Fe Animal Shelter & Humane Society, said, “We have just the dog for you,” referring to Tucker … and the rest is history.

So, not to ignore or in any way put my adorable Chihuahua, Frida, into the shade here, I felt it time to report back on all the reasons why yes, in fact, the Chiweenie is the absolute, most incredible, delectable, desirable small companion dog imaginable. (And it’s not because the Chiweenie is a “designer breed” [spare me, please] and oh so popular now.)

Here’s my Chiweenie Update and Report. Here are the things I notice about this particular new “breed” of dog. I have no idea how they compare with other small dog breeds, but I submit this for your perusal and pleasure, should you be thinking of becoming the human companion of a Chiweenie.

NUMBER ONE: I have never met a more joyous spirit. Tucker was picked up “on the streets,” a stray, at 2 or 3 years of age, unneutered and terribly underweight, and was in the shelter for almost a month before I adopted him. In no way did his joie de vivre suffer. He has the most playful spirit of any animal in my experience. Now how many of us could say that after the hardships he went through?!

NUMBER TWO: I have never met a more alert and watchful guard dog. (And yes, people are afraid of him, all 18 pounds of him.)  Yet he’s totally sane. Tucker responds to just the right things, at just the right time. But, if I tell him “It’s okay,” he settles down and welcomes the new guest or situation. In fact, he loves them. In fact, he cuddles in their lap and wins them over …  forever. More than one person has said they want to take him home with them.

NUMBER THREE: I have never met a more loyal companion. Granted, I adopted Tucker from the Shelter, so in a sense “saved” him (and I do believe rescue animals know when we ’save’ them and are forever grateful), but, I tell you, this little guy would literally kill for me, if he were just big enough.

NUMBER FOUR, AND MAYBE THE MOST IMPORTANT: I have never met a dog more adoring, loving, and devoted than Tucker. What can I say.  Just thinking about Tucker’s devotion brings me close to tears.

If you have a Chiweenie, and would like to add comments, I would love to hear them. And I will incorporate all of them into another, future blog. Because I am now a true fan of the Chiweenie.

And yes, by all means, if you are considering a Chiweenie companion, please, be my guest … and enjoy one of the best dog rides of your life!

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FOR MORE ABOUT CHIWEENIES, CHIHUAHUAS, TUCKER, & FRIDA:

Chihuahua vs. Chiweenie

The Devotion of Our Rescues – Including Mine

How to Keep Your Chihuahuas & Chiweenies Happy, Healthy, & Wise

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The Cat & Mouse Game — Reconciling the Predator/Prey Phenomenon

December 3, 2009 · Filed under Animal Communication, Case Reports, The Cat Box · Tagged , , , ,

A while back I posted a blog that questioned whether we could override an animal’s instinctive behavior through animal communication (you can read that post HERE). In it I talked about how I appealed to my cat, Lily, to please stop killing birds. Mice in the house were allowed, but no birds.

I found myself later embroiled in one of those internal philosophical arguments about why I would say killing mice was okay but killing birds was not. After all, it is natural for Lily to want to kill both, being a predator, and killing either is not an immoral act for her species. It was I who made the choice about which was fair game and which was not, seemingly arbitrarily.

I guess most of the time, in my belief system and lifestyle, the predator/prey phenomenon seems natural and okay. I have almost always lived in the country where it was a very real part of life. On my ranch in Texas we had coyotes, foxes, big birds, cougars, and wild boar, to name just a few of the predators who were eager to eat my chickens … and my cats if they could catch ‘em. Here in the New Mexico high desert we have at least as many, and as fierce and bold, predators, if not quite the same mix.

I feel it’s my job to set things up so that my prey animals (i.e. my cats, chickens, and small dogs) are not subject to the predators that would catch and eat them. But I don’t hold it against Mr. Coyote or Mrs. Owl that they view these animals as snacks.

But some folks do. Some people cannot stand to see a wildlife film where the natural drama of predator eating prey is played out and shudder and cover their eyes when a kill is made. Or, another example, one friend of mine, an avid bird lover,  is so adamant about cats not killing birds that she thinks all cats in North America should be destroyed. I kid you not.

I’ve been to Africa twice now. The first time I went, within minutes of touching down on African soil out in the bush, I felt the impact of a visceral awareness I had never expected:  I was WAY low down on the food chain, and there were quite a few animals we were passing in our 4-wheel drive vehicle who would happily have done away with us! Boy, does that gut-level realization take one down a notch! And the fact is, lots and lots of people on safari are killed every year by these big predators. You just never hear about it because it’s too damaging to the African safari business.

So the “cat and mouse game” is part of life. But, if I accept that and live with it, then back to my internal argument with myself. Why did I allow Lily to kill mice and not birds? All I can come up with is that the mice she was going after were encroaching on my space, including my counter tops and cookware. Not hygienic, especially since I live where mice and rats carry plague.

Lily still hasn’t touched a bird, ever since that talk I had with her. And she hasn’t even brought me a mouse in some time. But I see no more evidence of them in the house either. For whatever reason, Lily is not currently engaging her natural predator instincts, but if she does, at any time, I won’t judge her too harshly because the cat and mouse game is simply part of her make-up.

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MORE ON THE SUBJECT:

Can Intention Override Instinct?

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