Joanna Taylor & Associates
  • Home
  • One-to-One Therapy
  • Clinical Supervision
  • Hypnotherapy Recordings
  • Courses
  • Diploma in Clinical Hypnotherapy
  • About Joanna
  • Resources
    • What is Stress?
    • Stress in the Dental Practice
    • How NLPt can help the Dental Profession
    • Conversational Hypnosis in the Dental Practice
    • Interview for The Incisal Edge Podcast
    • What is Self-Hypnosis?
    • Techniques for Self-Hypnosis
    • NLP - A Practical Philosophy of Being
    • Goal Setting
  • Contact Us
  • Blog

Teachings of Dog: What's in a Name...?

1/4/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
Mungo arrived into our lives a few weeks ago... confused and scared, he had been rescued from a puppy farm, where he had spent the first five years of his life as a stud dog - without care, kindness or even a name of his own.  His escape from this grim life was probably because he needed some expensive veterinary care, which he was unlikely to receive, unless he was surrendered into rescue - and fortunately for Mungo, this was the path that opened before him, thanks to the lovely folks at Friends of Animals Wales...

Following the removal of 33 teeth, funded by the wonderful Schnauzerfest charity, who supported all his veterinary costs whilst he was in rescue with FOAW, he then spent the first eight weeks of his new life with a kind and patient foster family, who began to teach him what it feels like to be loved...

Fast forward to the end of February, and this little boy had yet another huge upheaval when he moved yet again... this time to his forever home, with two little Lhasa sisters to show him the ropes.  However, it is very clear to us that although he is completely free from that old life, the abuse and neglect has deep roots, and he is still beset by the demons of his past... 

To begin with, he wouldn't eat.  I wasn't too worried at first, because of the stress of his move, but after a couple of days he began to taste - and then he stood back and just stared at me.  I suddenly got the message - he didn't like the bowl!  I turned his meal out onto a plate, and he devoured it ravenously; so now, Mungo eats from a plate... and not just any plate - he has three rather beautiful Art Deco plates that we bought specially for him.

For all of us, it's a journey of interpreting feelings and needs... the tilt of an ear, the twitch of a tail or the droop of a head can tell us so much when we are prepared to pay attention.  Unlike with people, there is no story to listen to, and be hooked by - we can only imagine what he has been through.  Just like many people though, when we do not have the self-worth to believe that we deserve to have our needs met, it was clear to us that Mungo felt deeply unworthy of many things in his new life.

It's an incredible joy when he responds... the first time he came towards us and stood to have his head scratched... the first time he lay down next to us on the sofa... the first walk, with tail and ears up, and eyes bright... all of these things mark a small rite of passage for him - the sign that he has given himself permission to accept this part of his new life and, in doing so, hopefully also to release part of the old.

But here's an interesting thing.  We chose his name because we liked it, and because it fit with our previous boy schnauzers (Theo, Hugo...).  In an idle moment, I looked it up, to find out the meaning.  It turns out that St Mungo is the patron saint of those who have been bullied, which is actually pretty perfect, and his feast day is 13 January.  As Mungo didn't have a proper birthday either, that seems pretty perfect, too, just like Mungo himself...

Mungo's Teachings:
  • Listen carefully and compassionately to others... that way you can pick up the needs behind the behaviours, even when the behaviours look unuseful.
  • Don't become a victim of your story... change is always possible.
  • Treat one another with kindness, patience, respect and love, because in the end we are all connected.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Joanna Taylor

    ...and the Canine Members of Staff

    Archives

    October 2021
    April 2021
    July 2019
    August 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    April 2017
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    January 2016
    October 2015
    July 2015
    January 2015
    October 2014
    June 2014
    October 2013
    April 2013
    March 2012
    February 2012
    December 2011
    October 2011
    August 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    November 2010
    October 2010
    July 2009

    Categories

    All
    Acceptance
    Affection
    Anxiety
    Autumn
    Awareness
    Balance
    Beliefs
    Boundaries
    Bullying
    Burnout
    Canine Members Of Staff
    Change
    Coaching
    Comfort Zone
    Communication
    Compassion
    Connection
    Construct
    Curiosity
    Dentistry
    Dreams
    Enthusiasm
    Exploration
    Fear
    Flexibility
    Gift
    Goals
    Gratitude
    Growth
    Habits
    Happiness
    Harvest
    Identity
    Imagination
    Joyfulness
    Knots
    Listening
    Love
    Mental Health
    Mindfulness
    Negativity
    New Beginnings
    Opportunity
    Outcomes
    Patience
    Perspective
    Presence
    Present
    Projections
    Reality
    Relationships
    Rhythm
    Seeds Of Happiness
    Self Awareness
    Self-Awareness
    Self-Worth
    Stress
    Teachings Of Dog
    Time
    Weirdness
    Wellbeing
    Worry

    RSS Feed

Courses

Forthcoming CPD Courses

About Us

About Joanna
Resources
Blog
Contact Us

Services

One-to-One Therapy
Clinical Supervision
Hypnotherapy Recordings
© COPYRIGHT 2017. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • One-to-One Therapy
  • Clinical Supervision
  • Hypnotherapy Recordings
  • Courses
  • Diploma in Clinical Hypnotherapy
  • About Joanna
  • Resources
    • What is Stress?
    • Stress in the Dental Practice
    • How NLPt can help the Dental Profession
    • Conversational Hypnosis in the Dental Practice
    • Interview for The Incisal Edge Podcast
    • What is Self-Hypnosis?
    • Techniques for Self-Hypnosis
    • NLP - A Practical Philosophy of Being
    • Goal Setting
  • Contact Us
  • Blog