Pets and anger

This is excerpted from Ann’s upcoming book, “Animal Lover.”

Anger. Everyone feels it, even if you are a saint. Like Deepak Chopra says, “If you have a physical body, you are not evolved totally, and still have your dark side.” My father was a “rager.” That means that when he had a flat tire, a hog got out, or the cattle didn’t want to do what they were supposed to, he would go off on a tangent, screaming, shouting, and throwing stuff around. When I was small, I was afraid his head was going to blow off–exploding just like they did in the cartoons.

So I, like many people today, did not have an appropriate role model for becoming angry. All I knew was that I did not want to do what my father did. Anger itself is not bad, it just means that you are not getting something you want or need. It is like someone stepping on your foot, and you have to say, “Hey, get off, that hurts!”

A very destructive part of anger is that if it does not move forward, and through your body, it becomes stuck, which then becomes depression. Many women have this, because they were taught it wasn’t “ladylike” to be angry or mad.

Animals that are empathic for their humans may absorb anger that is in the home. Once I witnessed a woman who had a pit bull, that viciously attacked another dog walking past the restaurant where we were seated outside. The woman grabbed the pit bull and put it in a submissive posture. While she was doing this, the guides projected to me that the anger was not the dog’s possession; the anger belonged to its owner. This is an important point, because like food dye on a wet sponge, dogs will soak up our emotions without even thinking about it. As caretaker of the canines that live with us, we need to ground and dispose of our own anger and not allow it to disseminate to our pets. If the anger does, many times tragedies occur that can very easily result in the death of the dog.

My golden rule about anger is that I do not interact with animals from that angry place. Dogs, cats, and horses feel anger immediately, and usually respond by going into a fear zone. What may not be instantly apparent, is even if you are angry in any way, just being in your presence will change what experience your animals are having.

I have worked with shelter animals, adopted pets, and pets from experiences such as Hurricane Katrina or the California forest fires. What I have found is that fear is very present in their lives, and if they have been abused in any way, it only makes the fear worse. The amazing fact is that if you clear the energy on these animals, they will drop fear and move into present time. I have talked to pets that have been kicked, shot, hurt violently and abused. Anger has no place within a home that has pets. And adding drug addiction or alcohol to this type of situation is like throwing a match into a can of gasoline.

And if you do have anger, do you know what you have created with it? Anger should be felt, released, and then it should be gone. Anger ideally should never hurt someone in any way, physically or emotionally. This includes animals. Many people think as long as they are not physically hurting someone, anger is okay directed at another person.

Honor yourself and your animals by knowing when you are angry and expressing it in a constructive, non-damaging way. When you are mad, get off your horse and try again the next day.

If you would like to share your favorite ways of dealing with anger, we’d love to hear from you. Drop us a line at annh@rosezellasway.com