As a parent educator and life coach, I have often used animals to teach character traits and heart values to those who have not had good human examples. Pets exhibit the best examples of authentic and unconditional love, loyalty, innocence, forgiveness and trust.
They are never concerned with guilt, manipulation and treachery unless they have been taught by negative and mean human beings.
How Dogs Handle Anger
It is a great example of the proper way to handle anger when you watch a dog in a confrontation. The animals circle one another, snarl, growl and the hair rises on their back as they prepare to fight. When the argument has been stopped, they do not hold on to the anger. They circle around and shake their muscles. They are literally shaking and twitching off the anger and confrontation. They keep moving until they have relaxed their muscles and then they lie down quietly and let the incident pass and take a nice nap.
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Verbal & Non Verbal Communication
Pets communicate with one another and with the pet parents by using body language or non-verbal communication. As we learn to read their cues and clues, we come to understand what they need and are trying to tell us.
Children and other family members communicate the same way. Verbal language is the communication of information and is only heard and understood about 20% of the time. That is why we have to tell pets, kids and spouses over and over to not put their dirty feet on the sofa. But non-verbal language is the communication of relationships and is accepted and understood more than 70% of the time.
So a verbal NO, with a hand wave indicating displeasure, or even just physically removing the feet while frowning will convey the message. A couple of times doing that and the dog will no longer jump on the sofa. The kids, maybe not so much!
Role Models of Forgiveness
Animals don’t bear grudges. They don’t pout and punish you by not loving you anymore. They don’t think about ways to get even. They don’t feel guilty or try to make you feel guilty. They don’t keep retelling their sad story. They let it go. They are so pure in spirit that they realize that their energy is better spent doing something productive, like taking a nap or passing gas.
To learn even more about how and why we love our animal pets, please go to www.IlovePetStories.com it is filled with stories of love and guidance from our fur friends.
Judy Helm Wright is a “Pet Grief Coach” who assists those mourning the loss of a beloved pet by capturing the story in a tribute book, or many other memorials. Many pet loves have enjoyed the resources available at www.deathofmypet.com You will too.