Care

Can exposure to color change your health? What about tapping on key acupuncture points or other body parts? And is there any way to focus or concentrate naturally occurring energy so that it has a more therapeutic effect? Veterinarians and other healthcare practitioners who experiment with energy healing deal with these and related questions when they address the “etheric body,” the invisible part of the patient that is also described as the vital or energy body. Improving the etheric body’s energy flow or state, they say, stimulates a self-healing mechanism that encourages the body to repair itself, often in record time. In the past four issues, we’ve described a number of “energy medicine” tools such as homeopathy, flower essences, Reiki, crystals, acupuncture, and therapeutic touch. In this article, the conclusion of this series, we’ll describe several more modalities that can be used alone or in combination with conventional or alternative therapies and are widely considered to be free from adverse side effects.

Who doesn’t have at least one quartz crystal, turquoise pendant, jade figurine, or amethyst geode? You probably have a strand of beads, too, maybe aventurine, bloodstone, citrine, coral, garnet, or sodalite. What you may not realize is that, according to crystal enthusiasts, these items can help both you and your dog improve your health, balance your emotions, and enhance your quality of life.Whether they’re novelty items or elegant jewelry, crystals – precious and semiprecious gems as well as humble stones and river rocks – have been valued for thousands of years for their healing and aesthetic properties. The more people explore the use of crystals, stones, and gems, the more their dogs, cats, horses, and other animals are likely to benefit from this branch of energy medicine. Your pets can sleep near crystals, wear them, drink water that has been “charged” by crystals, and in other ways receive the energy that is said to be unique to each type of stone.

You're contemplating the addition of another canine family member to your pack. You've thought it through and are convinced that it's the right time. However, if you already have dogs in your home, you'll need to prepare for the potentially stressful process known as new dog introduction." There are a number of factors to keep in mind that can increase the likelihood of a positive outcome when introducing a new dog into your home. A peaceful first introduction sets the stage for long term relationships. The more heavily you can weigh the odds in your favor for that first encounter

Walking with a dog in the dark can present a number of challenges for many dog owners. You may not be able to see well in the dark; this can make you take a hard step off a curb or trip on a rise in the sidewalk. Finding your dog's poop at night (so you can pick it up and dispose of it properly) is also a problem. Although definitely in the minority, some people walk their dogs off-leash at night. I've met a number of people at night who were walking off-leash dogs on the wide trail that tops the river levee that parallels my town's main street. If I wasn't a dog person, I would probably be unnerved by the fast approach of a strange dog in the dark. And as it is, if the dogs were mine, I'd be worried that one of them would wander off or get lost if I couldn't keep sight of them.

Reading Whole Dog Journal is one of the most frustrating experiences I have each month. Side-by-side with the outstanding training articles by Pat Miller and Editor Nancy Kerns’ excellent series on dog food and diet, you publish the most mind-numbing foolishness about alleged alternative healing and medicine. Your training as a journalist was seriously deficient if it didn’t teach you to investigate all such claims before your implicit endorsement by printing them.

Two dogs have itchy skin and small open sores on their legs. One goes to a conventional veterinarian and receives antibiotics, steroids, or other symptom-suppressing drugs. The other goes to a veterinary homeopath, who studies the dog’s symptoms and asks all kinds of questions about his behavior and actions while looking things up in a book or computer. The homeopath selects a remedy, gives the dog a single dose, and instructs the owner to wait, watch, and report back. The remedy is chosen not because it reduces or eliminates the dog’s symptoms but because by itself, when given to a healthy patient, it actually produces those same symptoms. And the remedy is so dilute that it contains not a single molecule of the substance on the label. Welcome to the world of homeopathy, one of the most interesting and controversial alternative therapies and forms of “energy medicine.”

You've no doubt heard the adage, You can't teach an old dog new tricks." If you have an older dog

Energy medicine, once so exotic that it was dismissed out of hand by America’s physicians and veterinarians, is now going mainstream. In addition to the canine therapies described last month, energy healing techniques such as flower essences, animal communication, and kinesiology are used by holistic veterinarians in the U.S. and around the world. Understanding what these therapies are and how they work will help you decide which energy therapies might be appropriate for your canine companion.

Every aspect of a dog’s life affects every other aspect, which can make it difficult to decide where you should start with a dog with problems. No single effort you make, no matter how huge, will miraculously turn everything around. The good news, though, is that a multi-pronged, holistic approach, comprised of incremental, intelligent improvements in his life, just may save the dog.

We asked several Canine Veterinarians who use complementary and/or alternative medicine: “What are the most basic precepts of ‘holistic dog care’ that dog owners should understand and employ? The points that you want them to absorb if they are to become your regular clients? What dog care practices do you consider to be the bedrock of a vibrant wellness program, and why?” As one might expect from individuals who have explored highly divergent paths in holistic medicine, their answers were idiosyncratic.

Ever had a dog who won't give you his bone or toy if you try to take it from him? Or one who gets uncomfortable or growls if you get close to him when he's eating? Or snaps at you if he's on the sofa and you want him off? Or lifts his lip in a snarl if your friend tries to get close to you? Answer yes to any of the above, and you've successfully diagnosed your dog as having a guarding issue. The catch-all, technical term is "resource-guarding," and can include guarding of food bowls (or food), places (crate, dog bed, sofa, etc.), items (rawhide, bones, balls, tissues, etc.) and less commonly, people.

We call it the spark of life for good reason. From birth to death, all living creatures generate and transmit energy. Entire healing therapies, some of them thousands of years old, have been built around energy. Once dismissed by Western science as impossible or ridiculous – and still viewed with suspicion by conventional physicians and veterinarians – energy medicine is slowly gaining acceptance in the United States. Several energy therapies are taught in American universities or are used by a growing number of healthcare practitioners. Can energy therapies help your dog? The descriptions and resources provided here may help you decide.