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Welcome to the Calling Your Wild Astrology Podcast. Here we are getting curious
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about my two favorite topics, astrology and animal behavior.
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My ancestors and yours listened to and communicated with the living world for survival.
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They understood energy as the common thread that connects us,
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but also in its many individual expressions.
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They knew the importance of diversity and unity while following the intelligence of cycles.
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I enjoy working with the moon because it reminds me to surrender to what I do
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not know yet or understand.
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The new moon phase is a quiet time of intentions, questions,
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dreams, and possibilities.
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As the moon grows or waxes, so do our intentions, becoming more visible on the earthly plane.
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When it is full, the moon, from our perspective, fully reflects the sun's rays.
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Our soul reflects the light of spirit, which often means confronting the role
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that our ego had played when we set our new moon intentions.
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From there, we integrate our wisdom, preparing for the next cycle.
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Wednesday, November 5th, at 8.19 a.m.
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ET, there will be a full moon at 13 degrees and 22 minutes of Taurus.
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Since our last new moon was at the very end of Libra, the sun has since moved into Scorpio.
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At that Libra new moon, I had set an intention of learning more about the updated
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research on social dynamics and behavior of wolves.
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I was searching for tools when it comes to over-arousal in our pet dogs,
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and I just kept getting the ping or intuitive nudge that our dog's ancestors
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have a Libra-like harmonious code of conduct that would help me bridge the gap
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between my dog and human clients.
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The social behavior of wolves is fascinating and important to study because
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it helps us understand the roots of how our dogs think, communicate, and bond with us.
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Wolves are the only major predators known to hunt by truly working together
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as a coordinated team, using communication, strategy, and trust to take down
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prey much larger than themselves.
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This cooperative nature reflects the deep social intelligence that shaped dogs
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as we evolve them from the wild ancestors of wolves.
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Since making that intention, I have been reading and listening to everything I can get my hands on.
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My favorite book right now is Among Wolves, Gordon Haber's Insights into Alaska's
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Most misunderstood animal.
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Haber was influential in getting away from using the word pack when describing
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wolves and instead focusing on their family structure.
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This sentence from the book, I think, displays how scientists observing behavior
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walk the fence between two worlds.
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Haber was a consummate scientist, making every conclusion based on hard data
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and having little patience for those who anthropomorphized wild animals, especially wolves.
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He strived to help others understand that wolves are sentient,
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interactive, social animals with real intelligence, not just data points or
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numbers in a scientific paper.
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Something that may be related to my intention research, as well as a parallel theme,
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is that I am very much focused and excited right now about the idea of celebrating
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a dog's recovery after an emotional response or expression of over-arousal.
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I was calling this rewarding recovery until I looked at it from a four-directions
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or astrological lens, and I'm now attributing the archetype of Leo to this,
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and so using the word celebrating instead.
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More on this in a bit.
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Conflict avoidance is important for the well-being of a wolf family.
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We've all seen instances, whether in real life, movies, or social media,
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where one dog or wolf is having an emotional response and another dog or wolf
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comes up to them and uses playful,
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flirty, submissive behavior to shift the other dog's seriousness into play.
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There might be some groveling, some light nose jabs, some play bows,
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some rolling over to expose their belly.
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Maybe you've seen a dog witness another dog's emotional reaction,
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and then grab a toy and do a full body wag with the toy in front of the stressed dog.
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If you're a dog trainer, you're probably now thinking of Amy Cook's The Playway.
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Her work has always been in the back of my mind, but right now more than ever,
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I see the importance of it,
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because so many humans just aren't communicating safety to their pups.
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And now that I see myself as more of a human trainer than a dog trainer,
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I am more invested in how to translate this.
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In thinking about how to shift a dog's emotional state, I started getting curious
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about how I do this to help comfort dogs.
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I try to notice the things that I do unconsciously to help try to relax a dog in my presence.
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I use a tone of voice that I think is soothing for a dog vibrationally,
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but also because they have a learning
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history of being cooed at as an expression of peace and not threat.
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I was a very young kid when I heard my aunt talk to her dog in this cooing tone,
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and it made me stop in my tracks because I hadn't heard adults speak to each
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other like that or even other children in that way,
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and it was an extremely soothing sound.
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I'm sure there's science out there on why this certain tone resonates with safety,
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but moving on to other things that I do around dogs to help them feel safe.
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I also don't stare at dogs. I smile at them with my eyes and just glance at them casually.
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I rarely touch dogs because I personally don't like being touched by strangers,
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so I don't want to expect that they do.
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So I wait for them to offer contact.
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But if I am helping them put on a harness or something and it's a dog that I'm
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not sketched out by, I will crouch down, turn away at an angle,
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let them smell my hand, and then I let them smell the side of my face.
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Our scalps and necks have high concentrations of oil glands that secrete fats,
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waxes, and hormones that carry our individual scent signature.
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If you let a dog smell your ear and neck, it's like you're saying,
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it's okay to check me out, similar to how dogs sniff each other's butts.
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The dog is then given permission to read and decode your emotional and physiological
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state, and it puts them at ease and introduces you as a friend.
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Of course, I only do this if I'm not feeling any type of tension in my body
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that the dog might pick up on or fear or smell anxiety.
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And I stay looking away, but I keep my face soft and cooing.
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And this all happens in a matter of five seconds.
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So I didn't know why I knew that dogs trusted me and were more comfortable after
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smelling like my ear or, you know, my hair.
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But I knew it was an unconscious thing that I did, so I did look up why they might react that way.
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Another thing that I do is wait for the dog to offer attention or eye contact,
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and then I acknowledge that with a smile or a coup, some praise,
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or if I'm training, a treat.
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When I would introduce a new dog to the Bark Bus Pack, the dog would be understandably
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a little bit nervous on the second day when they're allowed off-leash.
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And I would keep my eyes on that dog the whole adventure, and whenever they
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looked back at me, which they would do consistently, I would smile and praise them.
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So I'm assuming that acknowledgement boosted their confidence and security because
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I could see their body posture expressing more and more ease,
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and after that I no longer needed to worry about their nervousness.
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When a dog has a stressful moment and when it looks at me in the training area
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or elsewhere I also do a little dance I shake my shoulders to and fro and also move my hips around.
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It shows them that I am loosey-goosey and not tense or pissed you can often
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trigger them to shake it off by doing just that and it's funny because I kind
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of do this unconsciously but I noticed it because it makes the owners laugh too.
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So it's not only shifting the dog's mood, but it's shifting the human's mood.
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Scorpio and Taurus are opposite of each other, two ends of the same stick.
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So if Scorpio is our emotional desire for control in order to find that stable
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piece in Taurus, then we also have this intersecting line between Scorpio and
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Taurus, which is Leo and Aquarius.
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So if Scorpio and Taurus are the horizontal line, then the line intersecting
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them forming a cross is Leo and Aquarius.
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If Aquarius is detachment and disengagement with the interest of progress,
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Leo is the joy and celebration and confidence on the other side.
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My reading about wolves has reminded me of this beautiful play between energy.
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Libra is about harmony, balance, and social justice.
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Libra season teaches us that there is beauty in compromise.
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Scorpio season teaches us to observe the unseen.
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Our Scorpio parts can get stuck on this observation, and it becomes suspicion.
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We can look to the joyful, playful, creative confidence of Leo energy when we
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need to also tap into the detachment and disengagement of Aquarius energy,
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as Leo and Aquarius are two ends of the same stick.
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So in order to bring us back to the calm, stable, new growth of the present
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moment, which is Taurus energy, we're taking into account Leo,
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Aquarius, and Scorpio as well.
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So as the moon in Taurus reflects the sun in Scorpio and then begins to wane,
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I am excited to continue my journey and my growth as a dog trainer.
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I'm going to be revisiting Amy Cook's The Playway and alongside that continuing
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my learning about the social behavior of wolves, dogs, and humans.
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Thanks so much for listening, and I'll talk to you soon. Bye.