Wagaliciousness Begins Here!

Look around your workplace – are you there? If you looked around my place you’d see stuffed toys, a hard rubber chew or two and you’d know I’m a dog that loves toys. When people look around your workplace do they know what you love?

If you love kayaking, do they see pictures of rivers you’ve been on? If you love the ocean do they see seashells? If you love travel do they see pictures of the places you’ve been? Celebrate you at work – decorate your workplace with pieces of your life besides your work.

I’m Kacey and I love veterinarians!

Aren’t smiles cool? Even us dogs smile and humans know just what we mean when we do. Mom knew a dog a loooong time ago who squinted like crazy when she smiled – she used her whole face!

Do you use your whole face when you smile? You know you do when those little muscles at the outside of your eyes make you squint a little bit too – those are the best smiles on humans and on dogs. Next time you smile, make sure your eyes are smiling too. You’ll be flooding yourself and the person you’re smiling at with feel-good endorphins.

I’m Kacey and I love veterinarians!

Do you take all the days off that you’re entitled to? This is something I don’t understand about humans at all – most of you don’t take all your vacation days!! Yes, what you do is very important work. Yes, you love what you do and it’s a calling and most of the time it feeds your soul.

You know what else feeds your soul? Having a balanced life, and one of the best ways to do that is to take all the time off you’re entitled to. And do something fun or nothing at all – it doesn’t matter. Just take your days off because you earned them and you need them.

I’m Kacey and I love veterinarians!

What is that voice inside your head telling you about yourself? And if you just thought, I don’t have a little voice inside my head, that was the voice inside your head talking!

Most humans got programmed early to believe bad things about themselves – that they can’t do things right, they’re not smart or pretty or athletic enough – all kinds of bad things. And they heard them early and often enough that they believe those things, when they’re probably not even close to true! When that voice inside your head says something bad about you, just remember that’s an old fairy tale that was never true and you can ignore it.

I’m Kacey and I love veterinarians!

Have you heard people talk about the power of being in the moment? What does that even mean? Shhhhh…here’s a secret…it means being more like me! OK, pretty much all dogs and cats and gerbils and goldfish live in the moment. We are good at it and you can be, too.

Instead of letting your brain chew over things that happened in the past or might happen in the future, let it really see, hear, smell, taste, touch and deeply feel what’s happening right this very minute. The power of it is that you won’t miss important things in your life while your brain is chewing over other things.

I’m Kacey and I love veterinarians!

Want a brain trick that’ll help you solve problems and be happier? When something looks like it’s going wrong, find three good things about it.

Let’s pretend I was riding in the car and someone hit us from behind. That’s not good – that’s the way I get in and out of the car, so can I get out or am I stuck in here forever??? Three good things – I was in a crate so I didn’t go bouncing around, mom was buckled in so she didn’t either and the fire truck is here to get the back hatch open.

Finding three good things to focus on keeps you from focusing on all the bad things and helps you figure out the best next steps to take.

I’m Kacey and I love veterinarians!

Do you hold grudges against people, or find it hard to forgive someone? I admit I’m pretty annoyed that the big orange cat can jump up on the fence way faster than I can run across the yard. Grrrrrrr….cats!!!

The cat doesn’t care that I’m annoyed with him, though – he probably doesn’t even know, and neither do the people you’re annoyed at. They don’t know and they don’t care that you’re mad or hurt or whatever – they’re just living their life. You’re the one that you’re hurting, not them. Forgiveness is the gift you give yourself. You don’t have to ever trust them or even speak to them again, but forgive them. Believe me, you’ll be healthier and happier when you learn to forgive.

I’m Kacey and I love veterinarians!

Do you feel powerless sometimes? I do, especially now that Mom got a more secure crate for me. Escape just one time and it’s Fort Knox!! If you’re feeling powerless, think about the words you use. When something goes wrong, do you make excuses or do you own your part of the mishap and move on? Every time you make excuses you give away a little bit of your power. Listen to your words and start owning your actions so you can own your power.

I’m Kacey and I love veterinarians!

Sometimes questions are no fun, right? Like when Mom says "Who Did That???" Somehow, it’s always my fault. There’s a good question you could ask yourself when it feels like something has gone wrong – "how would it feel if I knew it would all work out?" When you think about the possibilities it keeps you from jumping to conclusions and maybe reacting to something that didn’t happen. Now, if Mom would just ask herself that when she sees a mess I made…

I’m Kacey and I love veterinarians!

Did you know that the way you breathe might be making you anxious? When I pant it cools me down – when humans pant, their brain thinks something is wrong. When humans are stressed they take shallow, fast breaths and that tells the primitive part of their brain that it’s time to fire up the fight or flight engine. The brain fires up the chemical factory, flooding the body with stress hormones, causing more fear and anxiety. Pay attention to how you breathe and when you find yourself just breathing into the top of your lungs, take two minutes to breathe long, slow, deep breaths that poke your belly way out. It’ll put the primitive part of your brain out of your misery.

I’m Kacey and I love veterinarians!