Luna's Pawdcast

I have five cues for you and I urge you to remember these over the coming weeks. I know you’re going to be tested and I also know that these things will help you: Enjoy a walk & remember to run & play every day Don’t bite when a growl will do Be quick to forgive Follow your instincts Love unconditionally

Let’s remember our priorities. Be Brave: Stand up for yourself or someone else. Be Kind: First and foremost, be kind to yourself. Then, compliment someone else. Be A Friend: Someone you engage with today will appreciate a kind or word or a smile. Be Unapologetically YOU: You’re perfectly imperfect just as you are so hold your head up high. You never know who you’re inspiring and encouraging simply by being true to yourself. So #TeamLuna, this is your task for today. Tick off your priority list. Then, take a moment later on to see how you feel. I can guarantee that you’ll feel fabulous!

Being present is one of the things us hounds excel at. We are 100% in the moment. Have you noticed how happy we are?

I have a challenge for you. Let’s create a #TeamLuna ripple effect of kindness.

This week, I'm talking about compassion. Join me and let me share an experience I had recently that taught me a lot about true compassion.  

How do you show your favourite humans how much you care? I have some tips for you!

We’ve all had some pretty ruff days, haven’t we? Looking back, I sometimes wonder how I got through some of those days at all. But, I did. I’m here now, facing the start of a brand-new week, full of possibilities. So, I’m not worried about what might happen, I’m not thinking about what has happened, I’m just thinking about what’s happening right now. Do you think you can do the same?

What do I mean when I talk about finding meaning in adversity? As you know, I’m a rescue dog and I had a pretty rough start in life. I can choose the lessons that I take from those early years though. Every painful experience contains a lesson and it is completely up to us what that lesson is. You see, whatever the lesson is, we’re making it up, so it makes sense to choose something that makes us feel better, not worse, right?

I helped my human today. If you follow my ever-so-simple advice, I’ll help you too. Sometimes it all gets a bit much. The list of things that your ‘need’ to do in a day is probably unrealistic to begin with and then you feel like a failure if you don’t tick everything off it. While you’re worrying about how you’re going to get everything done, you manage to get almost nothing done. You’ve been busy all day and yet somehow, the list becomes longer. How does that happen?

It happens. I’m sure you know that feeling, when everything seems to go wrong all at once. You get taken to the vets, lose your favourite ball and realise that your human has cancelled your playdate with your best friend. One of those things is bad enough, but all three? Life can be unfair. It’s easy to get grumpy, to think that the universe is conspiring against you, to get into your bed and vow to stay there, not even emerging for a biscuit. Well, let’s not be silly about this, but you take my point. Well, my human friends, I think it’s ok to acknowledge that sometimes, life is a little bit rubbish. On those days, we need a plan of action.

You know when you feel really rubbish, when you have those days when nothing is going your way and you just want to cry? Well, when you have those days, how do my canine friends make you feel? We’re there for you, aren’t we? We know when you’re down and we know that we can try and make you feel a little bit better.

I was listening to my human over the weekend. I know, that shouldn’t be news, but what she said upset me. She walked past me as I was chillaxing on the sofa. She stroked my head and said ‘you’re so beautiful’ as she continued on to the kitchen. She’s not wrong, I’m cute. They were not the words that upset me, obviously...

We are all a work in progress. All of us. Every day, we need to be kind to ourselves and remember that we’re doing our best. As a reminder, here are Three Ps of human training that I have devised after careful observation of numerous perfectly imperfect humans.

Would you like to know one of my (many) secrets to happiness? Yes? I thought so. It won’t surprise you to read that it’s simple. After all, us dogs don’t like to overcomplicate things. That’s your job. Here it is. As a general rule, I do what I love and I love what I do. Simple.

If you have something to do today that you’ve been putting off or you’ve been overthinking and therefore it hasn’t been completed yet… get excited about it!

I’d like to take a moment of your time this morning to talk with you about freedom. Now, I’m not just talking about some off-lead fun, playing in the park and checking your pee-mail whenever you want. I’m talking about real freedom.

When the human is teaching me something new, she helps me to focus on what she DOES want me to do and tries really hard not to get grumpy when I forget everything she has taught me. Now, let’s not worry about whether I have got the hang of not jumping up at my favourite humans and keeping all four paws on the floor (I haven’t) and just worry about how she tries to teach me what I should be doing. That’s the secret, right there.

Are you a bit fed up of walkies being our only lockdown activity? Well, let me share with you why I think it’s really important to keep walkies as part of your daily routine.

When life becomes overwhelming – which is, understandably, happening quite often for many of us at the moment – where can you go to just ‘be’ while you recharge your batteries?

Would you like to know one of my (many) secrets to happiness? Yes? I thought so. We all need a burst of happiness right now, don’t we? It won’t surprise you to read that it’s simple.