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Greetings!
 It's a great time to watch great horses!
Those venues showcase the best of the best, and the equine athletes who star in racing, eventing, dressage, and cross country performances are well loved and well cared for. They are the lucky ones.
But even these elite competitors are not necessarily immune from a brutal fate when their careers are over. The slaughter of tens of thousands of horses each year--many just off the racetrack--is something that most people don't want to think about, let alone talk about.
There are no slaughterhouses legally operating right now in the U.S., and that's good news. But even as the doors of these places of death were shuttered, the trucks bringing hapless equine victims across the border to Canada and Mexico started filling the interstate highways.
I don't usually use this space as a soapbox, but I'd like to make sure you're aware of the recently introduced Conyers-Burton Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act of 2008, which would ban the slaughter of American horses for human consumption overseas, and prohibit the transport of horses out of the country for the purpose of slaughtering them. Please ask your U.S. Representative to become a co-sponsor. You can find your Rep's position on animal advocacy issues at the Compassion Index site (just type in your zip code).
Together, we can stop this.
From my heart to yours,
Maureen
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  Book Review
Through a Dog's Ear: Using Sound to Improve the Health & Behavior of Your Canine Companion
by Joshua Leeds & Susan Wagner, DVM, MS
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 This is a noisy time of year, with the sounds of fireworks and thunderstorms crashing through open windows.
It can be a scary time for animals, and their caretakers are often at a loss to find ways to offer comfort from the stress of violent sounds whose origins can't be seen and whose frequency can't be anticipated.
Intermittent, seasonal sounds are not the only problem. We are all, it seems, victims of a relentless barrage of noise from the rhythms of everyday life: appliances, TV, radio, traffic, lawnmowers, and screaming kids. We may not realize it, but over time, this soundscape is doing a number on our nervous and immune systems, and those of our animals.
Through a Dog's Ear is not just about how sound affects animals. It's about how it affects us, too. This ground-breaking book made me turn off the TV, and really bring some awareness to the constant background noise in my home environment and what it might be doing to the health and wellbeing of all of us who live here, humans, dogs, cats, and canaries.
Joshua Leeds and Dr. Susan Wagner have been able to demonstrate that certain kinds of soothing classical music can provide a calming antidote when animals are stressed and losing their cool. Not just from the effects of unwanted noise, but when they are fearful, aggressive, suffering from separation anxiety, or terrified by the prospect of a ride in the car. Until now, behavioral modification techniques and drugs seemed to offer the only relief from these problems.
What's interesting is that not all classical music has this pacifying effect. The authors tell a fascinating story about Petey, a dog who howled with delight when a visitor in his home played Grieg's Piano Concerto, but who walked out of the room when she practiced Mozart or Bach!
In a pilot study, they found that "solo instruments, slower tempos, and less complex arrangements had a greater calming effect than faster selections with more complex harmonic and orchestral content."
As a result of their pioneering work, Leeds and Wagner have developed three CDs: Music to Calm Your Canine Companion, Vol. 1, Music for the Canine Household, Vol. 1, and Music for Driving with Your Dog, all of which contain "psychoacoustically designed" classical music selections to assuage canine fear, stress, and separation anxiety.
The book itself comes with a sampler CD, with excerpts from Music to Calm Your Canine Companion and Music for the Canine Household. It also offers suggestions on how and when to use the CDs for optimal behavioral response. |
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Animal Communication Tip of the Month
WHERE DOES IT HURT?
Carly just wasn't herself. The thoroughbred mare had been seriously injured almost a year before, in a freak accident, and her owner, Melissa, had painstakingly nursed her back to wholeness. Carly had gone back into light training and at first, seemed to be doing okay, but now, something was wrong. But what?
Carly's heart was just not in her work, to the extent that one of her trainers suggested to Melissa that she sell her. But after so many months of working with Carly to help her to recover from the traumatic effects of last year's accident, Melissa's bond with her mare was strong. She certainly didn't want to give up now, but she was becoming increasingly frantic in a search for clues as to why Carly seemed so out of sorts.
This was the situation when Melissa approached me earlier this summer, asking if I could communicate with Carly to find out if she could tell us why she seemed so uncomfortable when she was under tack.
In accordance with the Code of Ethics to which I, and many other animal communicators, subscribe, I take great care never to step into the shoes (or on the toes!) of an animal's veterinarian, who is the only person qualified to diagnose medical condtions and prescribe medications. But when I am energetically connected with an animal, what I can do is to perceive sensations in my own body that very often mirror the pain or feelings that an animal is experiencing. It is one of the ways that an animal can tell me what's bothering her.
In Carly's case, she let me know that her front feet were hurting her, and that she was resentful of the bit, suggesting that one or more of her teeth may have grown sharp edges.
A few days later, Melissa called to let me know that her veterinarian had examined Carly and found that indeed, there were some issues affecting the mare's front feet, and that a few of her teeth had developed edges sharp enough to create discomfort. We were thrilled to realize that Carly had successfully identified the source of her problems, and that she had been able to communicate them so clearly to me.
At last, Carly's reluctance to be ridden could be explained by real physical problems that caused verifiable pain. Now that these issues have been diagnosed and treated, Carly has been able to resume training, and she and Melissa are again moving forward together.
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A Word of Thanks
From an Appreciative Client
"I was somewhat skeptical of the idea of animal communication, but after my former thoroughbred racehorse, Squiggy, displayed some erratic behavior at a dressage show, I contacted Maureen.
"The report I received back from her sent chills down my spine. She told me things about my horse and his background and experiences that she could not have found out from anyone but him. The information she provided enabled me to understand his behavior and approach changing it in a different light.
 " Squiggy has had intermittent lameness during the last several months, and I was trying to figure out what was going on with him.
"Maureen spoke to him, and although he was reluctant to tell her what he was feeling, what he told her was confirmed when the chiropractor came later that day to work on him. He was out in all the places he told Maureen he was feeling pain. He even told Maureen he knew I was thinking of having a vet he'd never seen before come out to examine him, and said he was very concerned about this. Thus his reluctance to tell her where he hurt. I had never mentioned that to him, though I had discussed it with my trainer and my husband. He must have gotten the idea from my thoughts--it's scary how much they can pick up on without you saying a word!
"Using an animal communicator is a great tool in understanding your pets' thought process and avoiding the frustration of second-guessing or assuming. Our animals communicate with us every day in many ways, but we are not able to be as "in tune" with them as Maureen is. Although I am not exactly sure how she does it, I am a firm believer in animal communication and its benefits."
Susan Smith
Quakertown, PA
July, 2008 |
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 Last Issue's Survey Results
Do Animals Grieve?
 Yes, Our Respondents Say!Overwhelmingly, 87.5% of those who responded to last month's questionnaire answered that they do believe that animals grieve for lost loved ones (whether those loved ones are other animals or people).
Three quarters of those who participated indicated that they had actually observed their animals in mourning, most often citing a sad expression and lack of appetite as unmistakeable signs of sadness, often lasting for a month or more.
When asked how they helped their grieving animal companions, a few mentioned using Reiki, but the consensus seemed to be, as one caring caretaker put it, "As with us humans, only time will heal the wound. Allow them the dignity to grieve in their own way."
Terri Altergott, a friend and client who breeds and shows Australian Shepherds, shared an amazing experience she'd had with a dog who demonstrated an extraordinary psychic connection with his owner:
"I was professionally handling an Aussie for an elderly gentleman who had liver
cancer. The dog and I were scheduled to be part of a show, but when I went
to pick the dog up, his owner met me at the door not looking well at all. I wanted
to skip the dog show and take the owner to the hospital. He declined and told
me to go finish his boy's championship. That's what he really wanted.
When we came home after the show, the owner didn't answer the door. The
door was unlocked and his car was in the garage. As I walked through the
house calling the owner's name, I was scared to death that I'd be coming across
a dead body, but his dog was so calm that I felt like everything must be okay.
As it turned out, the owner had just gone to lunch with his son, but I was
obviously not going to leave the dog there alone until I knew what was going on.
The dog came home with me and when the owner and I finally connected, I
asked if it would be helpful if I were to keep the dog with me for a few days
until he was feeling better again. He gratefully accepted my offer.
The next morning, his dog, who was sleeping in my bedroom with me, began
to howl mournfully. It turned out that his owner had passed away at
approximately the same time that this happened.
Right then and there, I accepted that dogs are wired very differently than
humans and have abilities that we don't possess. I learned to trust my dogs
in a way that I had never done before."
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 Participate in our New Survey As always, the results will be shared in a forthcoming issue.
DO YOU TAKE YOUR ANIMALS WITH YOU WHEN YOU GO ON VACATION?
Do you bring your animals with you when you go away? If so, please share your stories about how you do it and how it affects your overall travel experience. If they don't accompany you, please tell us more about what arrangements you make for their care--do you hire a petsitter, bring them to a kennel, or drop them off at a relative's home? Whatever you do, how's it working out for you?
And, do you ever send telepathic messages to your animals when you're separated from them, to let them know when you're returning?
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To Benefit Local Humane Societies and Rescues
Now in its 10th year, this annual festival exists to promote kindness to animals by offering a fun-filled day of contests and events such as an adoptable dog parade, a performance by the New England Trailblazers flyball team, Canine Good Citizen Tests, a free rabies clinic, a doggie water park, a cat photo contest, book signings, and live music all day. |
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| What's Up With Your Animals? |
 There are so many ways to communicate with animals, as these stories attest. Animals are natural telepathic communicators, and it's because they're so good at it that I can "hear" them.
If you think that you and your animal would benefit from a telepathic consultation, please drop me a note or give me a call.
Until Next Time!
Maureen Harmonay |
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