'Tis the season to...

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SLEEP!
New Year's Resolution #1 - To be more like my dog. To at least follow her lead when it comes to important issues like sleeping – deeply, and in the sun.
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Being in possession of the ball

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When you're a Labrador, it's important to have your priorities straight. Easy when you only have three: swim, play and eat.

I guess another lesson to be learnt from my dog - KISS (with a side helping of dog slobber!)

Keeping it simple and focusing on only a couple of priorities, or in Lab-Speak, not taking your eye off the ball.
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Not so dark after all

.Spending a night in the "real" countryside, I looked up and gasped with delight...the inky blackness of the night sky was encrusted with the milky way. I can't remember how long it's been since I last tilted my head back and swiveled 360 degrees to take that sight in. Suburbia living ensures that the pin-prick light of the stars is swallowed by the glow of city lights. Funny how, in this time of "enlightenment" I long for the dark...
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What animal lovers have known all along...

“I’m incredulous at how much stuff is coming out all the time on animal emotions and the general rubric of animal cognition. We’re rewriting our stereotypes about animals with good scientific data,” says Marc Bekoff, a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder. “What’s really exciting about all of this [data] is that it has huge implications for how we interact with, and treat, other animals.”

Marc Bekoff is quoted in this interesting article which basically confirms what we've known all along - that animals are as bright as we think they are. That they DO experience "human-type" emotions and that our pet's health is influenced by the nature of their environment.

It seems quite obvious to me, but now it must be fact - 'cause science says so!

The evolution of the horsehuman relationship

Slowly the wheels turn, as evidence of our relationships with these timeless creatures continues to evolve. Horses have patiently waited for human beings to wake up and recognise their value.

That to be more horse-like is to finally have the courage to deepen the relationship we have with ourselves.

That to be more horse-like allows us to discover the freedom of living an authentic life.

That to be more horse-like, we can begin to experience true presence and the bliss of being...

I am so excited about being alive, on Earth now. To see the changes and feel the new energy as it shifts mindsets, making us question who we are. I too have been looking for answers to endless questions. So I am grateful that a horse led me to a place where I could fling myself down a path, eyes closed, guided by a sense of wonder and purpose, to arrive here now. All the painful steps along this journey have gotten me a place where I finally understand, and can guess what some of the answers to those questions might be.

That to be more horse-like is to be patient with those slow to understand.

That to be more horse-like is to be graceful and dignified...

Still so many lessons to be learned...

Labyrinth of Animal Remembrance

The Labyrinth of Animal Remembrance can be found at Satori Place of Healing & Enlightenment in Magaliesburg, South Africa. This unique healing centre caters for both animals and humans and is situated at the foothills of the Witwatersberg Mountains in a tranquil valley.

This stone labyrinth is dedicated to all God’s creatures, and is mainly walked by students attending the Animals: Our Soul Companions Workshop, which is taught at the centre. Participants paint the names of their animal companions who have crossed over, onto pebbles, and place them at an appropriate spot along the path as they walk. It is an unique and interactive manner of honouring their departed animals. Over time the names on the pebbles will weather and fade, just as the pain and loss of a beloved animal eases with time. Chunks of rose quartz crystals dominate the centre, for healing the heart and to symbolise the unconditional love we receive from our animal companions.

Over the years both Colleen and I have encountered many people who were grieving the loss of a beloved animal, so we created the labyrinth to assist them to find inner peace in their hearts and minds, assisting them to cope with their loss.

Labyrinths have existed for over 4000 years and can be found throughout the world. In medieval times, people undertook pilgrimages to distant lands, those unable to travel long distances walked the labyrinth found in some cathedrals instead. The spiralling designs of ancient labyrinths are thought to be inspired by nature and in keeping with the early earth religions were constructed from stones, pebbles, small trees, shrubs and even seashells.

The Labyrinth of Animal Remembrance is open to the public by appointment only.
Payment is in the form of a donation in aid of FOR A (friends of rescued animals) on the West Rand. To book an appointment you can contact Carol .

Get the tissues

Anyone who followed the tragic events of Hurricane Katrina will never forget what they saw... Being subscribed to many newsletters and blogs – I read with mounting hysteria – of the unfolding animal welfare crises. I wondered how I would have coped, had I been stuck on the roof of my house with my three dogs. I wouldn't have gotten into any rescue craft without them, thats for sure! But that is what happened to so many people, already traumatised by the loss and devastation which surrounded them, when help arrived, they had to make the heart-breaking decision to leave without their animals. I couldn't bear the thought of that.

I choose not to read heroic animal tales, I can't bear the tragedy, even if there is a happy ending. In light of that, though, there are two books I can't wait to get hold of... Pawprints of Katrina includes nearly 200 heroic rescues, heartwarming reunions, and stories of selfless efforts of strangers brought together by a disaster to save animals at the Best Friends Animal Society triage center because their owners were unable to. You can watch the video clip here.

The other interesting book I discovered, was in the August issue of Animaltalk. Leaving Jack is a novel by South African author Gareth Crocker. It tells the story of a dog handler in Vietnam, who, at the end of the war, is faced with the realisation that he must leave Vietnam - without his dog!

"... a controversial new novel, entitled Leaving Jack, published in hardcover (Robert Hale Publishers: May, 2008) offers a fictional account of what a soldier endures after learning that the dog which served his platoon with such distinction in Vietnam, has been classified as 'surplus military equipment' by the US Government at the end of the conflict, and is ordered to be left behind.

Although Leaving Jack is a work of fiction, it is based on actual events at the end of the Vietnam War and was written to highlight the little-known plight of the Vietnam War Dogs."

Tear-jerker-stuff, but interesting how the impact of the human-animal bond has become a popular topic. These stories allow us to show our vulnerability and provide opportunities to explore compassion in ways that society has previously pooh-poohed.

Even better then, that Leaving Jack is penned by a man, who wrote this story in the company of his three dogs.