The overprotective dog

They had been together for 5 years when I started to work with Lisa and Jake; Jake, a soulful cattle dog, Lisa a contract biologist.

Lisa and Jake found each other about a year before Lisa's boyfriend of 8 years broke up with her. In the days and months after the break-up Lisa and Jake were inseparable. Jake was the reason she got up in the morning to go running, he needed the exercise, and because much of her work was outside Jake was able to come along.

Lisa was so dependent on Jake's presence that Jake began to understand that his role was emotional support and protection. Nothing and no one would get to Lisa as long as he was around. Even though Lisa had healed from the break-up Jake could not give up his role as protector.

As you might imagine this was not a good thing. Jake began barking at everyone who came to the house and nothing Lisa did could break him of this habit. Lisa started to worry that one day Jake would take things too far and bite someone.

This is when she called me.

I was able to communicate with Jake. First I got a feel for his true nature, what kind of a dog he was; he was loyal (obviously) but he was also playful and a bit goofy. Being able to communicate that information to Lisa was helpful for her to see past the stress that Jake was causing her, to help her remember what he was like when he wasn't being overly protective.

I then worked with Jake and Lisa to help resolve the beliefs around Lisa needing constant protection. Just talking with Jake went a long way to helping him relax a bit, but I also did a session of Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) so all of the various entanglements generated over the years were removed.

Through EFT Jake could release the energetic imprint of needing to be hostile to those seen as a threat to Lisa and accept that Lisa was strong enough to manage her own emotions and keep herself safe.