Toofy our 14-year-old rescue dog was terribly neglected, so skinny and anxious when we got him. He obviously was rarely fed, and malnourished, so badly that most of his teeth had rotted out, and the remaining had to be removed. Honey, our 12-year-old rescue, never skipped a meal and was treated like a princess on the food front before we got her aged 6.
When we put down the dogs’ meals, how they approach them is completely different. Both wolf their food, but you could easily pick Honey up halfway through a bowl of food, and she would just wait until you put her down again. If you even so much as nudge Toofy, even by accident, he goes absolutely nuts, to the point of growling, barking and trying to attack your leg. We have had to once or twice try to move his bowl while he’s eating and the scariness was too much to bare! He’s ferociously protective of his food. Left alone though, he slowly, patiently, eats his food.
When we moved to London, we got them new dog bowls. Traumatically, when we fed Toofy, it was like he was attacking his food bowl, he would growl, sometimes yelp and go mental. It was really distressing and took us a few days to realise that the bottoms of the bowls had no grip, so he thought someone was trying to take away his bowl when he was eating. Each time he would go to eat, it was sliding around a bit, and he must have figured someone was trying to drag it away. Heartbreaking. The solution was to put a little cloth under its next meal. It immediately stopped the bowl sliding, and he returned to patiently eating his food.
It reminded me of our minds. We think something is happening, even when it isn’t, and we go into mental attack mode. It might be perceived by criticism or judgement. It feels real, so we respond accordingly. But it’s just delusion. It’s old programming that’s coming up for us and blinding us to what is, in the now. What would little anti-slip cloths for our minds look like? Something to keep things stable, so we can be more patient and present? I’ve been considering all mine a lot. Meditation is definitely one of them.
Also if you have a pet, and feeding them meat isn’t your thing, check our this new company YORA, the intro video is amazing and we are moving Honey and Toofy to this dog food. Their policy is if they dogs don’t like it, no need to return it, please gift it to another pet or a pet shelter. Amazing.
Sent with love,
Jac x