Animals AMAZE me because they are so smart. Think about how much they are asked to adapt to a human world. And they do. But let me tell you a few things they dont understand, and never will.
* Jokes. Playing jokes on pets causes distrust and confusion. This applies to every pet in every situation. Social media tries to make us believe otherwise. Their reactions, that humans find funny, are baed in fear, confusion, and anxiety. Animals have a sense of human, just not like we do! They’d rather make YOU laugh with their silly behaviors.
* Yelling. Yelling at animals is not discipline, it’s fear provoking. They don’t understand yelling the way humans do. They don’t understand you can yell one minute and then be happy the next. Animals avoid confrontation, ALWAYS. It’s a last resort. Yelling carries a very scary energy for animals, even if they act ok. These animals that act ok are internalizing it.
By yelling I mean, at the animal or at each other! If you yell out of anger or frustration at a human, but the animal hears it, they panic.
* Delayed discipline. If you come home to a mess, it’s too late. You can not discipline your animal. They don’t live in the same “time” we do. All they know is they are happy to see you when you walk through the door. If that happiness turns to anger or frustration, you will literally break their heart. And they will have NO IDEA why you are mad, even if you think you are being clear. You aren’t.
It’s only human of us to humanize our animals. But when we do it to the degree that we lose sight of what they actually can and do understand, humanizing them becomes a burden for them instead of a more blessed life.
If you could truly see into an animals heart the way I do, and the way some others in my life of work do, you would never, and I mean never, ever, EVER get frustrated, angry, or impatient with them no matter WHAT they do. I sincerely mean that.
My dogs could rip my cough apart (they wouldn’t, LOL, but could because they are dogs!), and if I came home to that I would be discouraged, but I would greet them with love, smiles, and hugs like I always do. I would ignore the couch. I would be upset with myself for missing a cue, that led them to that behavior. I would NOT be upset with them. Not even upset with them. Not even 1%. Why? Because I know how they think, I know what timeline they live in, and I know what their hearts are made of.
Now if I caught them doing it, I would take them away from the couch, tell them NO, softly and quietly, ask them to sit while I pick it up. Not let them be involved in picking it up (because I don’t want them to thinking its a fun activity WITH me!). LOL. And then move on with my day never to mention it again.
I wasn’t always that way. I used to get frustrated with animals at times, just like everyone else. I made plenty of mistakes, like everyone does. But when I started developing this gift years ago, I changed. And if you need to, you can change too. We can only change when we learn. But you are all here to learn, and through this, you will change and show up more fairly for your animals too.
My current pets have the best version of me and yours can too. We can’t change the mistakes we have made in the past because we didn’t know any better, or we let emotion get the best of us, but we can choose to learn as much as we can so we can show up for our pets in a way they understand and in a way that is fair.
And remember our pets from the past knew exactly what they were choosing and they still chose us, even if we were not our best. They helped us get to where we are NOW for our current pets. How much more does that make you love them now?
Tomorrow I want to talk about the word “No” and the word “Yes”. A very important part of our communication with animals.
If you want to know how to show up better for your animals, I promise a reading will help you do just that. 1.207.849.0096 Text. AngieAngieMorin.com
