By Patricia Kyritsi Howell, Mountain City, GA
Willie is a 6 year old Black and Tan American Coon Hound. He was found in the mountains of North Georgia five years ago by some friends of mine. He was dragging a severely crushed back leg, had broken ribs, many open sores and was almost a skeleton. The vet who examined him said it had been several months since he was injured. She was unable to save his leg and so it was amputated. The day after the surgery, he came to live with me.
Over the years that Willie has lived with me and my family he has become radiant with health. He gets along great on his three legs and is well loved by our family. However, because he is a pure bred coon hound, and a trained hunting dog, he is constantly in search of good scent. When he does pick up a scent, he turns into a different dog. His nose goes down to the ground and he is oblivious to any commands I give him. Because he no longer has the strength to follow a scent for miles, as his breed is known to do, I have lived in constant fear that Willie will get loose, follow a scent and be unable to return home. We live surrounded by about 69,000 acres of national forest so there are plenty of places for him to run to and plenty of animals to hunt.
I contacted Carol because my fears about Willie were getting to the point that I frequently had dreams of him escaping. When guests came, I was neurotic about being sure the gate was closed after they drove onto the property. I was afraid to leave him in the care of anyone else in case he should run away from them.
When Carol and I talked before she did a long distance session on Willie, I told her of my fears. I was also worried about the level of pain Willie still seemed to be experiencing and I suspected he suffered from phantom pain in his lost leg. During the time Carol was working with Willie, he curled up in a tight ball and his breathing became very deep. He seemed oblivious to all noises around him. When I spoke with Carol after the session she told me she had communicated to Willie that his job had changed and he was no longer responsible for hunting. Instead he was responsible for being a companion and protector of me and my family. She also did some energy work to reweave the energy field of the phantom leg back into his body. Carol told me that the word I was to use with Willie when I took him out for a walk or when he was responding to a scent was "remember". The rest of that day he seemed sleepy and vulnerable.
The first thing I noticed after the session was that he no longer seemed separate from our family. Usually he would lie on his bed on the porch during the day. Now he made a point to come wherever we were in the house or yard and settle down nearby. He seemed to be watching us more closely. His entire energy was calmer and less distant.
When I took him out for a walk the next day, I was amazed. Gone was the frantic pulling I had become accustomed to. Instead he walked beside me in a comfortable "heel" position. When we encountered a scent and I saw his body tense, I said "remember". Instantly he relaxed and fell back into place beside me.
Together we began to enjoy our long daily walks. I no longer felt like I was restraining him. We were walking together, stopping along the way to smell and look, but in an easy flowing manner.
The next thing that I noticed is that he stopped his nightly barking spree at the gate after dark. Bear, dear, raccoon, possum, and panther roam our woods at night so there is plenty to get a dog's interest. Usually, when I let Willie out for his last walkabout before going to sleep in the living room, he would run down the driveway to the gate and bark like a maniac, often staying down there, barking insanely, until I was forced to put on shoes, get a flashlight and a leash and go retrieve him. Now, I let him out and when I went back 15 minutes later, he was waiting at the door to be let in! I really couldn't believe my eyes the first time it happened. Now this is our "normal" bedtime routine.
Another
surprising change has been with my other dog, Burdock. Since the session
with Carol, he too has been more attentive. He is trained to be off leash
when we walk but often, when we passed one particular place near a lake,
he would take off to smell some thing that was living along the shore.
Sometimes he would ignore my calls and dig a lot of holes and generally
do his version of hunting. Since Willie's session, he comes when called
and seems to go out of his way to keep us in sight when we are walking
in the woods. It's almost as if he "listened in" on the session
and overheard the message to remember. Whatever happened it has resulted
in a lot more harmony between all the species attempting to live together
here.
But the thing that has been most amazing for me personally is the change in my dreams. Since the session with Carol I have had 3 dream in which Willie is running free and I note this without any anxiety or fear. The first time I had this kind of dream, I woke up and cried with relief. I felt as if Willie and I had entered into a relationship of mutual trust and interdependence and I didn't need to worry that he would forget about me and run away.
I am very grateful for Carol and her work. She has given Willie and me a wonderful gift of understanding that I believe we both longed for but didn't know how to achieve.
