Reuben: From Dangerous to Gentle
by Jaimes Lyndley
Reuben the young German Shepherd rescued by Jaimes Lyndley’s neighbours from a traveller encampment, was aggressive and highly unpredictable. Jaimes would never have dared to go anywhere near him. In our EFT Practitioner workshop Jaimes volunteered to role play Reuben in the group exercise of surrogate tapping for an animal.
Reuben had been cruelly treated and caged which resulted in rage and total hatred of mankind in the young dog. Watching EFT transform these intense emotions (expressed though role play by Jaimes) into compassion was deeply moving for the whole group. Jaimes has since sent this photo and reports that Reuben is now calm, playful and has found a good home. Indeed the Police recruiters who came to assess him said that he is “too good natured for police work”
Hi I am Jaimes G. Lyndley who tapped with EFT Master Gwyneth Moss on behalf of a German Shepherd dog who who was rescued from ill treatment by my neighbours. They called him Reuben. Here is a brief synopsis of Reuben before I met him.
He was Hungry and Filthy
It was a Friday lunchtime when Reuben heard the voice of a lady called Karen, my neighbour. She had gone to a farm to buy a Christmas tree advertised in the local newspaper. However what she found was a scruffy travellers encampment not a farm and a dog barking in anguish. He was in a steel cage just big enough to stand in but not able to raise his head. No exercise so he did his toilets where he stood and at night was shut into a dirty windowless wooden hut again no bigger really than the cage. He had little drink and less food. He was covered in filth, emaciated and incredibly hungry not to mention thirsty. How could human beings could treat such a handsome young German Shepherd Dog so cruelly. Karen didn’t buy a tree, she bought the dog.
Karen gave him some tit bits, literally wrenched him from his captors, placed a rope around him and whisked him home to Lincoln, a forty-mile trip. Given the conditions he was in she felt she had no choice. He was given a small handful of food every hour, as he could not take too much solid food at a time. He drank over three pints of water to begin with. But then she didn’t know how to handle his behaviour as he was alternating between aggressive snarling and cowering and whimpering.
Scared to go Near Him
I had been scared to go anywhere near Reuben who snarled, barked and appeared aggressive and unpredictable. My own dog Gemma kept her distance too and would not go out in my back garden with this savage aggression just over the fence.
In the workshop Gwyneth asked me to role play Reuben so now I Jaimes am speaking as Reuben the dog.
Gwyneth asked me what it was like for me? Immediately strong emotion filled my body. I was barking mad! My frustration, disappointment and pain were off the scale, at least a 100. Part of me just wanted to sink my fangs deep into the flesh of my captors going through to the bone. I felt an all consuming intense hatred of mankind. This is a good feeling and it kept me going. I felt so bloody angry so we tapped on that level of anger until it reduced somewhat and then tapped about the size of my cage and lack of exercise, not to mention no food and water. The appalling sanitary conditions and the humiliation of standing filthy with my own dirt and urine.
Eventually when I had calmed down and felt no ill will towards my captors, Gwyneth asked me to give my feelings a number. I now felt so calm and such compassion for humans that there was no number to give, wow!
Then Gwyneth asked me what I would like to do? I am a working dog so set about building a career for me as a police dog or sniffer dog as I like to be busy. This went along fine until I imagined being out with the police chasing and apprehending villains. Then I just wanted to bite them as I saw them as my previous captors. Now my core issue was now located. Another round of tapping helped me to accept myself and to stand back after I had located the villains.
Huge Wave of Forgiveness
Then an amazing huge wave of energy flowed through me and my whole body just seemed to expand to twice its size followed by a total calmness with an inner warmth, I’m sorry but you have to experience this sensation in order to appreciate it. How can I put it? It’s a feeling of total forgiveness and oneness; I guess you could describe it like that.
Now I am back as Jaimes and phew did I feel different. I love animals yet, I have never really, really felt their pain, their frustration, or their infinite patience. Now though I can add in a new dimension to animals as I felt their total forgiveness of mankind.
Thanks to you Reuben. My neighbours had rescued Reuben on the Friday and we did the tapping on Sunday. When I returned home, Sunday night Reuben was a different dog. Karen said that all he needed was love and care so I didn’t tell her about the tapping.
Jaimes and Reuben
Update: Too Good Natured for Police Work
Hi Gwyneth,
Last Friday lunchtime Reuben was rescued by Karen, followed by the group tapping session on Sunday and yesterday (Friday) he was re-homed. In the mean-time the police came and did not think Reuben was ideal and if they had taken him, he may not have passed their stringent trials so theoretically he could have been put into kennels to be adopted by any person. They said he was too good natured for police work.
Now he is in Rotherham with a family who are building up a security business and breed German Shepherd dogs as a hobby rather than a living. Reuben was placed in Karen’s back garden and a few minutes later was approached by his new owner. Reuben immediately barked, snarled and went up to him protecting his new territory. The man asked Reuben to sit and approached him in a non-threatening manner and they bonded straight away. So much so that when they placed Reuben in the back of the ‘people carrier’ the back seats being removed, the man put his four year old boy in with Reuben and he licked the boys face. The boy touched him and told him that ‘you’ll be all right mate’.
I Jaimes, would not have had the guts to place a four year old in this situation with a strange dog but the man knew dogs and knew he was totally safe with Reuben. Absolutely amazing. Reuben will be a house dog in the day time looking after four young children and their mother and at night time will learn to go out on security patrol with his new found man friend. What a wonderful end to this amazing situation,
love Jaimes.
PS from Reuben: I am now well fed and watered and have stopped snarling, barking and pulling when taken for a walk. My eyes are clear, I hold my head up high and I wag my tail. I like for people to come near me. I like people. The policemen came to see me and I liked them too. But they say I am too good natured to work with them so who knows what my future will bring,
Thankyou EFT, Reuben
