Trauma not only affects our lives but also can affect and even limit the lives of our beloved pets. This story was sent in by one of our new practitioners.
While watching the training (Algorithm level online) you mentioned how the tapping works on animals and I was really eager to see its effect. I own 3 pets, and the third one is a female German Sheppard named Mika. She was my dog in my previous marriage and due to the fact I had the other 2 pets, I was hesitant to bring her to my new home.
Due to some unforeseen circumstances and to the deep desire of my son to take her with us, she came to live with us while my ex-husband was on a vacation. Continue reading “Trauma Affects Our Pets”
A graduate of the TFT Boot Camp shares how past traumas severely limited the life of her female border collie:
Client B is a 6 year old female Border Collie. She is a rescue and has been with my family for 2 years.
Her condition: massive anxiety. The reason: In her past home she was low dog on the totem pole. The couple had 5 Border Collies total and they were all working dogs. Client B had been attacked by one dog and then the rest had piled on (pack mentality). She had to go to the vet after each one of these attacks ( I believe there were 3) and have stitches. After the last attack she was on crate rest for 6 months, severe damage had been done to the tendons and ligaments in her left shoulder.
I am excited to share some of the successes, and some of the non –successes of my work with horses using Thought Field Therapy. It is not something I ever planned on doing, but after learning of the helping potential of TFT with Equines, I wanted to give it a shot. I also have an affinity for horses (and ponies are okay too, I guess), so when asked if I could work with a horse, I quickly, although nervously, agreed.
I received a call from a woman, Sylvia, whose horse, Red, shied away from, and tried to refuse to go into tall grasses – anything over about 8 inches or so. This behavior seemed to come on suddenly with no obvious stressor causing it.
All the work we did was via telephone. First I had Sylvia (dismounted) lead Red toward the grass, until Red started showing signs of anxiety (ears flat, breath quicker, eyes tending to roll upward). When the anxiety appeared, Sylvia stopped, and I had her first pat the horse’s PR spot, right behind the shoulder. Then we moved on to Sylvia tapping herself as a surrogate while holding a hand on Red.
We didn’t know what caused the stress, but a general rule of thumb I use is that something happened to cause it – an experience that then provided a memory. So, we started with the complex trauma algorithm. Again, Sylvia tapped her own points while touching Red -Eye Brow, Under Eye, Under Arm, and Collarbone. She needed to do the series twice, and then the horse calmed down.
We took the horse closer to the grasses until the anxiety surfaced, and then stopped in order to do the points again. Closer and closer to the grasses we went. It took about
Interview on KAOI talkradio in Hawaii with Bob Stone, co-producer of the TFT Foundation’s documentary “From Trauma to Peace” and Joanne Callahan, co-developer of Thought Field Therapy (TFT) and president of the TFT Foundation.
I have been visiting an animal rescue center and recently had the opportunity to work with a dog that was traumatized. She was at the center for re-homing and was lying shivering in her basket. She would not move from it and braced her feet against the side so that it was almost impossible to move her.
As she lay trembling, I talked to her and tapped using the trauma algorithm. I next used algorithms for complex trauma, anger and rage. Gradually she became a little more interested and did not tense her body quite as much.
I was able to lift her to a sitting position and then, after some more tapping, she stepped out of her bed and came with me for a walk. It had taken about 30 minutes. She was still very nervous, had her tail between her legs and pulled back when she saw another person or dog.
While visiting a friend’s farm recently, the farmer’s daughter shared with me the story of her 7-year-old mare, who was extremely fearful of people—and especially hostile to men. The horse had been mistreated by its previous male owner. By now, it needed veterinary treatment to trim its hooves—which were overgrown and causing the horse extreme discomfort.
Unfortunately, the local veterinarian is a man and couldn’t get near the horse, even to examine it. Not wishing her mare to be sedated, the farmer’s daughter shared with me her dilemma.
Could TFT help calm this anxious horse, I wondered?
I explained briefly about TFT, then asked the daughter to stroke the horse’s forehead, and tap gently under its eye. I then asked her to tap behind the horses foreleg (as close to where I imagined the arm point would be), then tap the horse’s chest—as close to the collarbone as she could get.
Since it was impossible for me—a man—to get near the horse initially, I asked the daughter to tap out the algorithm instead. As she tapped away to my instructions, I could see the horse calming down from a distance. I entered the field and slowly walked to the animal, repeating the algorithm where the daughter left off.
In just a few minutes, the mare was almost asleep.
I asked the farmer’s daughter to walk away and leave the field. By then, she was extremely surprised to find the horse calm, receptive and unaffected by her departure—particularly when the mare had not been bridled in any way, nor had I used any treats.
Later, as I walked about the field, the horse followed me, nudging me in the back—her fear of people (and men, in particular) completely resolved. Even another male visitor to the farm that afternoon couldn’t change the anxiety-free state of the mare.
Of course, the veterinarian was able to treat her hooves with ease. But getting her to hum a tune while tapping was a different matter entirely!
