Home > Coping in Today's World Dogs Need a Break From Stress, Too By Belleruth Naparstek, reprinted with permission Here at Learning Place Online, Belleruth Naparstek is one of our favorite people. Her imagery tapes and other materials have proven invaluable to many. Check out her website, HealthJourneys, to learn more. The following article was created from part of one of her newsletters and it illustrates how a pet—traumatized by the the precautions taken to minimize the threat of terror—can also benefit from relaxation techniques. These are very strange, disturbing and anxious days, are they not? It was good to read in a recent e-mail that a dog named Corey, who picks up the stressed-out vibes all around her in the greater Washington DC area, has been able to chill out to guided imagery. This e-mail from her human also illuminates what it's like to be living in our nation's capital these days. Here it is: BR, I want to tell you about an unconventional use of your Healing Trauma CD. I live in the metropolitan DC area. As you know, the terrorism alert status for the country has recently been raised to "Code Orange". While this has a minor effect on the practical life of the average person around here, the combination of the start of the war and being at Code Orange has also slightly elevated people's stress level—especially the stress levels of federal employees. We have a lot more traffic, we've been told to take special precautions at work and at home, and always, always, we hear the distant sound of Air Force jets patrolling our skies. The low roar of the jets is constant, like a low rumble of thunder. I can't hear them in the large building where I work, but at home when I lie in bed, I am suddenly much more aware of them. It is okay. It is Code Orange. It is the price of living and working in metropolitan DC. Well, my dog (Corey) doesn't understand Code Orange. She is ten years old and has always been frightened of thunder, preferring to hide under the bed for the few hours a thunder storm might last. She is at home all day hearing the jets, and they are there for her, too, at night when she tries to sleep. Plus, she goes outside several times a day, and every time she comes in she is totally freaked out. She is probably also picking up on the slightly elevated stress levels of the humans she lives with. Since the elevation to Code Orange, she has been behaving nervously, especially when one or more of her people are away. It occurred to me that perhaps I could turn on the TV or some music for Corey during the day when we are at work and that might drown out the sound of the jets for her. But she has never responded to music on the radio before, and there's always the risk with the TV that she might be stuck half the day listening to war news. What she needed, I thought, was a speaking human voice without startling sounds in the background. So this morning I put on your Healing Trauma CD, and she calmed right down! I may be projecting, but I'm sure she finds it as soothing as I do, even though she does not understand all of the words. I don't know that the Healing Trauma CD is the most appropriate thing for her and I have a suspicion that your headache tapes may work just as well. In the coming days I plan to alternate. I'll just set my CD player to repeat all day, and she'll spend the time I'm out of the house with you. So there it is. We're getting more and more news of dogs getting on board with guided imagery. We are proud to have them! And as for you humans out there, take care of your stress levels too, with imagery or whatever ways you do that. —© Belleruth Naparstek, 2003, reprinted with permission. Psychotherapist Belleruth Naparstek, LISW, BCD, is a nationally recognized innovator in the field of guided imagery, healing and intuition. Creator of Time Warner's best-selling, 50 plus-title Health Journeys guided imagery audio series, which has sold over a million copies worldwide, she is a warm, dynamic and compelling speaker. Naparstek has lectured throughout the country and the world, training thousands of health professionals, corporate leaders, counselors, performing artists and health consumers in guided imagery techniques. Belleruth received both undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Chicago, receiving a master's degree in clinical social work in 1967. For years she taught graduate students at Case Western Reserve University.