“I think he’s upset with me.”
I have heard this many times from an animal’s person who is coming to me for help with an animal family member’s behavior.
However, it amazes me the myriad of ways that I have made mistakes and my animals always forgive me. They just seem to “move on.”
I often find that when people think their animal is upset with their person that there is some other underlying cause for a particular behavior.
I worked with a cat named Tyrese who was only using his litter box about half of the time. The veterinarian had ruled out any medical reasons for this behavior and referred the family to me; seeking my skills as an animal communicator to get to the root of the problem.
Tyrese’s family actually thought the reason that he was not using his litter box was because he was reacting to the addition of a dog, Skylar, to the family about 3 months prior to contacting me. Tyrese did show me an image of Skylar. However, he proceeded to show me Skylar going to Tyrese’s litter box and “snacking.” I could feel Tyrese’s anxiety around this invasion of his “private area.” I would not say that Tyrese’s behavior was done out of “spite.” It was a response borne out of frustration at not knowing what else to do. “I guess I’ll just go over here,” was Tyrese’s response.
Once I had discovered the problem, the issue was easily rectified by restricting Skylar’s access to Tyrese’s litter box area.
I have found in my experience that animals rarely harbor what human’s would call “resentment.”
For instance, my dog Cheyenne plays every morning with her dog friend/neighbor, Bentley. However, when Bentley’s dad comes home in the afternoon, Bentley expects to play fetch with him. Cheyenne begs to go outside to see her friend. And every day, Bentley completely ignores her. Bentley sees only her toy and is oblivious to the presence of Cheyenne. No harm, no foul. Cheyenne and Bentley still play in the morning like nothing happened. Although my human reaction is to want Cheyenne to have some sense of “self-respect,” she really doesn’t take it personally. She’s just happy to be outside, near her friend.
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| Cheyenne and Bentley playing in our recent snow storm |
So what is it about animals that is different from humans that allows them to forgive so easily?
Animals live in the present. They are not lamenting about past wrongs and they are not worrying if their needs will be met in the future. Part of that involves something I mentioned in a previous article, “That Love Thing,” in which I discuss how animal’s brain waves are most often operating in the more relaxed states. (For previous articles http://anneangeloanimalcare.blogspot.com/)
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| Bentley loves to play fetch – ceaselessly! |
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