It was a rainy, Saturday afternoon so I took the opportunity to catch up on one of my favorite shows, The Dog Whisperer, and I was so excited to see that he mentioned he was going to take one of his most aggressive cases to get acupuncture. The feral chihuahua named El Diablo was so angry and tense that Cesar Millan said El Diablo really needed acupuncture. He also suggested that changing the chihuahua’s name would help because of the negative connotation associated with the name.
It really is a great story as the dog made an incredible transformation and was adopted out and now has a wonderful home. Take a look at the clip and notice at 4 minutes 25 seconds in he mentions acupuncture. The very first time I saw acupuncture done it was on a dog.
I attended a “Care for your Pet Naturally” class and the veterinarian teaching the class had a current patient come to be his model to let us see how acupuncture was performed on a dog. It was this experience that changed my world and sent me to acupuncture school. If you think about it, you can tell a human that putting needles in them will help make them feel better, but how do you rationalize that with an animal. Something must have happened to make the dog come back for future treatments, because as the dog was taken off his collar he made his way to the doctor and laid in front of him as the doctor sat crossed legged on the floor. The dog knew he was there to get acupuncture and he laid there ready and willing.
Also notice in the clip at twelve minutes in, Cesar gives the dogs raw meat. That is how a dog in the wild would eat. They would not cook their food. A healthy dog eats real food, not kibble, but I will leave that for a future blog.