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STSE #72: Destressing With Our Dogs · Sometimes There's Side Eye

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  Welcome to Sometimes Their Side Eye, a podcast about two friends
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  having real and unfiltered conversations about dogs and
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  people. Listen as we talk about our
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  lives with dogs, training, behavior, share some laughs and
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  a whole lot of banter. I'm Heather.
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  And I'm Christy. What are we talking about this
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  week, Christy? We are going to talk about ways
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  to reduce stress and find joy with your dog.
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  Look, it's a difficult time. We had a whole nother episode
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  planned, but we're recording this on January 26th and it
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  feels weird not to, to do something that just recognizes
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  where we're at as a country and wherever you stand politically,
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  that's not our objective to get to the bottom of.
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  I think there are just a ton of people who are at at their.
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  Breaking point? Yeah, they've given all they
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  can. They're Jim scrolling, They're
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  seeing all the things that are happening in our country right
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  now. And there's not a an easy way to
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  find joy right now. And I was thinking that one, our
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  dogs don't know the political climate.
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  They don't know, you know, Republican versus Democrat
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  protest. They don't know any of that,
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  which good for them. Yeah, I, I, I'm feeling pretty
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  jealous right now, I'll be honest.
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  Yeah, So there's there's a chance for them to bring us joy
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  and peace in a way that we can't find among other human beings
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  right now. And so I thought, you know, we
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  can't fix the world. We can't fix this time in
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  history. But maybe we can give you some
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  pointers to at least start you thinking about ways to to get
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  outside of yourself, to think outside of the box when it comes
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  to stress relief in this time. Yeah, so when Christy brought
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  this topic to me, I just pretty much felt a resounding yes.
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  I had said to someone earlier today that I suffer from general
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  anxiety disorder, from sort of where I am now, but from a PTSD
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  diagnosis, from a traumatic experience.
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  And I am feeling really anxious these days and it is taking me
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  back to what have I been doing for the last five years to
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  manage my anxiety successfully. And so I kind of wanted to share
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  a couple of those things because I think that the anxiousness of
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  the world right now is wrapped up in all of the different
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  things. And if we can even have some
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  tips on how to deal with that, a piece of it, a piece of what
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  we're feeling, then maybe it can start the ball rolling or even
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  just take the edge off. So yeah.
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  And we're not experts. So if you're feeling, you know,
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  overly anxious or depressed, go seek professional help.
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  Please don't listen to us podcast.
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  They're not those people, but hopefully give you we're
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  hopefully gonna give you a tidbit of like, oh, I hadn't
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  thought of that. That might be you might try that
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  and see if that brings me some calm.
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  And not surprisingly, 3 of the tips I'm going to give are all
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  related to my dogs. So these are tips that I was
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  given by a professional and I related them back to my dogs and
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  how they can help me. So the first one I would say is
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  finding joy in the smallest things.
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  And so I'll give you a couple of examples.
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  Sitting in the sunshine with my dogs, breathing in the blue
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  skies of Arizona, that brings me joy.
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  And I do that sitting alongside my dogs.
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  So that simple moment of going outside, letting the sun hit my
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  face and doing that with them is something that helps me to take
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  a breather, literally and figuratively.
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  So that would be one of the first ones.
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  Although if you're in one of our cold weather states, we're
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  sorry. We're sorry, but.
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  Even just stepping away, you know that that forces you to
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  step away from the bubble that maybe you're sitting in doom
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  scrolling in or stepping away from your computer for work, or
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  you're just staring, forces you to get up and move your body and
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  go to a different space physically.
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  So although if you're in the East Coast where you just got
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  all the snow, I'm so sorry, it does really give you a reason to
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  kind of get the blood flowing and, and change your space.
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  So that would be 1. And then of course, I'm doing it
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  alongside my dogs. Of course.
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  Another one that I use is if I feel myself starting to feel
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  anxious or go to a place mentally where I don't want to
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  be, I ground myself. And of course I ground myself
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  using Tiago because hello. What do you mean when you say
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  you ground yourself? So here's the example of
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  grounding myself. I focus on what I smell, what I
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  see, what I feel. It is using my senses to take in
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  that experience. So for me, I will hug Tiago, I
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  will feel his fur, I will smell his fur, I will look down and
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  see him. I use my senses to focus on him.
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  And that is how I ground myself using him.
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  So. It is and it is really helpful.
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  And sometimes all I have, all I have available is to use maybe
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  one or two of my senses. And so my choice is to feel his
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  fur and smell his fur. So if you can't do it all, if
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  you need to close your eyes and breathe deep, I would say
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  breathe deep into your dog. Don't choose a bulldog, they
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  stinky. I was like trying not to giggle
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  to myself as I was picturing you trying to do this with with.
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  Tater, Tater and Trin are not the choice.
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  And then the third one that I use.
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  Now this involves a little bit of training, but I sort of took
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  it from something he was offering.
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  Naturally, I taught Tiago to quote UN quote cuddle, which
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  means he takes his head and puts it on my chest and the weight of
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  his head can be very grounding and it can give me something
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  else to focus on. It's very comforting and so if
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  you have any dog, maybe you don't have a dog with a big
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  head, but you have a dog that likes to sleep on your chest.
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  Trin also likes to sleep on my chest.
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  Very grounding, very comforting, the warmth of their body.
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  When Thiago does it, I will actually match my breathing to
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  his breathing. So if I have like a hurried pace
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  in my breathing, I will try to slow down by matching his
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  breath. And that is very helpful.
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  But you could use that with a small dog.
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  With a cat, you could stroke your cat's fur.
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  There's there's a lot of different ways to take what I do
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  and morph it into something that works for you.
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  So those are my 3 tips of how I have taken things that
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  therapists have given to me as tools and sort of modified them
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  into what works for me and my dogs.
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  And I am reminding myself that I need to use those things right
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  now. Yeah, for sure, my tips are much
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  simpler I've. Gone to a lot more therapy than
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  Christy. Mine are are really simple go
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  walk your dog with no goal in mind so I love.
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  That. Not the goal of having a perfect
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  heel or, you know, going on an adventure or whatever, but just
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  walk with your dog with no goal in mind.
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  I did that actually right before we came and recorded.
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  I just let him walk and he sniffed around the park and, and
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  he actually started out pretty anxious himself, which is really
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  unusual for him. And so probably feeling a little
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  of my anxiousness. And by the end, we were both
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  like a big sigh of relief. I would also say if you're out
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  and you see beauty, just recognize it.
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  So also on a walk tonight. It was a really lovely sunset
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  again Arizona. I was out in Capri pants and
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  the. Light.
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  Sweater and enjoying the beautiful sunset.
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  Obviously wherever you're at there's there's beauty and
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  sometimes it's really hard to find but you can find beauty in
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  the way the light reflects off the snow or that inch of ice
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  that's on your trees right now. It hangs down, whatever it is,
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  find some beauty. And if you have a dog that will
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  allow you to, to stand and observe that beauty, then do
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  that. Take a moment.
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  Yeah, yeah. You don't have a dog that allows
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  you to stay in that moment. That's OK too.
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  You don't recognize it, Maybe take a picture of it so you have
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  it for later. I know a lot of times we say
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  like disconnect from your phone if you're walking or.
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  But if you have a dog that's like, hey, we, we cannot stay
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  for more than two seconds. We got to go, go, go.
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  That's OK. Like just maybe take a picture
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  so you can say, oh, that was really as beautiful as I thought
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  it was and think through that. And I would say with your dog,
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  just play some fun games. We played some tossy treat games
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  tonight. I'm planning on playing with
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  Jackson in the backyard. He loves when I go to the
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  backyard and just act like I'm going to chase him for no reason
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  and he zooms around the yard and that his his unbridled joy
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  brings me joy. And so sometimes it's just
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  taking a step off the couch to do that.
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  And then seeing your dog smile is like such a weight lifted, in
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  my opinion, or at least it is for me.
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  And if you're looking for more structure, I would say, you
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  know, some dogs really enjoy training.
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  Some people really enjoy training, but like, train
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  something fun. I'm not serious.
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  I'm. Doing trick training right now.
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  I'm hardcore trick training right now.
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  Yeah. Things that bring you and your
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  dog joy, things that aren't overly thought out or are tough,
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  things that aren't going to bring frustration.
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  And that might be revisiting old tricks too, that you know your
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  dog can nail, but they're going to love getting a treat for
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  that. Yeah, and I would say as well,
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  if all you have to give is to take 20 minutes and go lay with
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  your dogs and cuddle in bed, by all means go for it.
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  Like if you just need to pull your covers over your head and
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  take a moment, or maybe your dog can't offer you that but you
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  need it, do not be afraid to take that.
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  Put the phone down. We're all doing it to a fault.
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  I've been trying to read more which is not dog related, but I
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  really have been trying to make a concerted effort to to take
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  moments to be away from everything.
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  Just just figure out something that that you can do to find a
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  little piece. And if you're in a stage where
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  you don't have a pet, but yeah, you're still listening to us.
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  Take care. Maybe ask to borrow a friend's
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  dog if you're like that. I mean, hey, I just need some,
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  like, some animal time because animals do good for our hearts.
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  Yeah. And it's OK.
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  But, you know, if if you're like, hey, I actually don't need
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  any more human time, can I just borrow your dog?
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  I for one, am not going to be offended by that.
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  I love to see my friends. But I also understand sometimes
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  we need no more people time. Yeah.
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  I get that. Yep.
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  Yeah. So everyone, please, please take
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  care of yourself and do whatever you need to do to stay as well
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  as possible right now. And know that we recognize that
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  it's tough times and hopefully you've gotten a tip here or you
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  listen to this and think, I know somebody who really needs to
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  listen to this and you can pass it on.
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  And that sort of shares the love a little bit to give people
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  ideas how to take care of themselves right now.
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  If you've enjoyed this episode. Subscribe rate and.
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  Share us wherever you get your podcast.
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  Also come on over to Instagram and engage with us at Sometimes
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  Their Side Eye. Thanks for listening everybody.
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  Talk to you next time. Bye bye.