Soul Touched by Dogs

Welcome to the Soul Touched by Dogs
Podcast, the show for dog lovers who

see dogs not as toys or tools, but
wise souls worth our respect and care.

I'm an Herrmann, and I'm your host.

I talk to poor some humans, people who
do great work for dogs and their people.

So come and join us for
today's conversation.

Anke: Hello and welcome, Joan.

I'm delighted to have you here.

Thank you for having me.

This is very exciting.

Awesome.

So let's start out by letting people
know where in this wonderful world you

are based and what's your business with

Joan: dogs?

Um, so I'm in Santa Clarita, California,
which is just outside of Los Angeles.

But, um, The great thing about
what I do is I work everywhere.

Um, I'm an animal communicator and
author and um, I just, my latest

book is called Emotional Freedom
Technique for Animals and so I do EFT.

which is a healing method I'm
happy to talk more about, um, with

animals remotely, so I can be on
the phone, on Zoom, or in person.

Anke: I find that fascinating
because, I mean, I do know a little

bit about EFT, but I've never, it
has never occurred to me, you know,

to, to use it with animals, right?

So I'm definitely gonna want
to know more about that.

Let's see, first what I'd be
curious about, how did you get

started with animal communication?

Like, it's not the kind of thing when
you go to school and somebody, you

know, and somebody will ask you when
you're eight years old, say, what

do you want to be when you grow up?

And you say, oh, I'm going
to be an animal communicator.

My guess is that's probably not
what you said, or maybe I'm wrong.

Joan: No, but you know, Funny as little
girls are saying it now, for sure.

Yeah, I bet.

But, uh, and it is going to be
part of college curriculums.

And I mean, it's starting to be now.

Sorry about that.

So, um, I wanted, you know, I went
between, I wanted to be an actress, be

a veterinarian, or be Or breed horses.

And then my mother informed me that
I would fail at breeding horses

because I wouldn't sell any of them.

I was like, Oh, um, so, um, then, you
know, the veterinarian thing became like,

I didn't want to have to put animals down.

I didn't want to see them suffering.

Um, but I did work, you know, in and
around, like I would always work for a

horse trainer or something in the summer.

And, um, and I've always had dogs.

I actually joke that I was, I was
raised as a small lap dog because

there's not one single picture of me
as a baby without the dog next to me.

We were about the same size
when I was really little.

So, um, uh, every picture with
my dad, like there's, there's

more pictures of the dog than me.

So anyway, um, uh, so I, um, I went
ahead and got the degree in theater and

studied all over and, and, you know, did
a lot of theater, came to Los Angeles.

And I, I, I got that like soulmate horse
and, and I walked dogs for a living.

So I was walking dogs before
there was a dog walking thing.

I was doing it for movie stars.

So, um, it was pretty fun.

Um, anyway, I, so I had this horse
that I was absolutely in love with

and this was the late eighties.

I started.

I used an animal communicator and I was so
in awe of what she knew and how connected

I felt with my horse afterwards, right?

Like that was, I think, the biggest
takeaway was, you know, yeah, it's

really cool what she was able to
do, but it's what I felt afterwards.

And I thought, I, what if I could
provide that for people, right?

That sort of a connection, that closeness.

And so eventually I lost that horse
and that was kind of the turning

point of Putting me into this.

full time.

And, and in that, I, I really, I
started, I had taken some classes

and then I backed away from it,
but I finally just went for it.

And I took classes.

I studied animal communication,
energy healing, acupressure, cranial

sacral, I mean, T Touch, anything
I could do where I put my hands on.

And then, you know, the interwebs
came about, um, mid 90s.

So I, I had, uh, an early website.

It was crap, but, you
know, I had it up there.

And so I started getting, um, you
know, people, not just locals, and I

was living in Los Angeles at the time.

So, I got to be pretty popular.

I was busy, even though people
didn't really know what it was.

And Uh, between the internet and, you
know, some press here and there, word

got out and then I got, you know, I
started getting book deals and people

started knowing more about the work
and as, you know, as it progressed I

learned EFT in about 2002 and, um, that,
that's the subject of my latest book.

So I've been very, very lucky, um,
very lucky with how it all went because

it was Way before, and here's my dog
getting ready for the um, just on cue,

she would love to do a demo of EFT.

Anke: So awesome, like, just
like, hey, you need me right

now, I'm here, I just love it.

It's all ready to go.

I love how you allowed yourself
to follow that nudge, right?

Because you could have said,
oh, well, I kind of like that,

but let me get a proper job.

You know, but you fully leaned into
that and I just, I just love that.

I was kind of, you know.

find it sad when people have
something they're passionate about

and don't, you know, feel like,
ooh, can't allow myself to go there.

And it's beautiful that you right from the
beginning, you know, went, went for it.

That's just fascinating.

So how did you come up, like, at
what point, or how did you make the

connection from, hey, EFT works for
people, Let me try this out on dogs,

or like, how did you kind of come
up with the idea that this might

actually do something for dogs as well?

Joan: Well, it's a pretty
great little story.

I first, I, I had it done to
me because I couldn't sleep.

And I'm a great sleeper, but I had
had, a trauma and I couldn't sleep.

So, I went and had it done to me,
and I thought it was really weird,

and I was like, this is stupid.

But then I could sleep, and I
thought, that's not so stupid.

And, what I, what the, I went and
got certified the first time, I've

had, I've gotten certified a few
times, um, because what I thought

about was two, two very, Big things
that I saw my clients struggle with.

Number one, I would see, you
know, this is early 2000s, right?

People weren't as savvy about leadership
with their dogs or their horses, right?

So, in the case of dogs, I would
see people who had had their dog

had been attacked when they were
on the leash, and they would panic.

And then after that, that dog
would often become the aggressor.

And the human would, you know,
the human on the end of the

leash would be a bag of nerves.

And then the same sort of
thing with, with the horses.

I saw horse, you know, like if a
human and a horse had an accident

together, the human would be very
terrified to get back on the horse.

And when you think about a
horse, a horse is a prey animal.

So you've got this terrified
predator on top of you.

It doesn't go well.

So, um, at first I just thought I would
tap with the humans to bring their nervous

system down so that the person could
confidently walk outside with the dog on

the leash and it wouldn't be like this.

And so that the horse, the rider could
get back on their horse and they could

have that beautiful connection again.

And then I had this, um, situation
in 2004 Where this very talented

trainer that I knew, um, had called
and said he was at a horse show.

I needed to come immediately because
this horse was attacking ponies.

And at first I thought
that was kind of funny.

And then he really, I know him
and for him to be that desperate.

I was like, Okay, so I canceled
everything and went out there and in at

horse shows, they're in a warm up ring.

You've got a million people getting
ready to get into the to their class

and they're nervous and they're
busy and they're doing their thing.

So here are all these little girls
on ponies trying to go over jumps

and here's this giant horse who's the
kindest guy but he is like looking like

Jaws of death going after these ponies.

And so, I was like, I mean, if it
wasn't terrifying, it would be funny.

But, um, anyway.

So, I thought first I would just
communicate with him and see why he

was doing this, see if that would help.

And so I suggested that we go away from
there, like, you know, again, distract

him from the thing he wants to do.

Um, and then I, I, I started thinking
on the way, well, maybe I should tap

on the people because they're nervous.

And I thought, You know, Chris,
the trainer, he'll be fine.

He'll get on anything.

Um, but I thought, what
if I tap on this horse?

So I suggested we went somewhere kind of
crazy, where no one could see us because

they knew it was going to look weird.

And, um, I started, um, I know
acupressure inside and out, right?

So I knew the points.

And so I was just

Anke: thinking like, how would
you know where to kind of

tackle the holes like you do?

Okay.

So you didn't know the points.

Okay.

That makes sense.

Joan: I mean, I kind of
guessed the first round, right?

But then after that I started doing, um,

Then I went home and, like, literally
studied it and was like, that was

crazy, because what happened was, I had
gotten from him that, you know, he had

been, um, when he was weaned from his
mother, he thought he was weaned too

early, as they all think, and then he,
He was thrown into a pasture full of

ponies and they, they picked on him.

They attacked him and bugged him.

And so he still hated them.

He didn't realize he was giant, right?

So I start, when you're doing the
EFT tapping, you're not necessarily

going for negative emotions because
all emotions are very important.

Right?

And fear can save an animal's life.

So nothing's negative,
especially in the animal world.

But what I went for were
those, the challenge.

So you're taking a challenging situation
and moving to the outcome you want.

So I started tapping
on the, I hate ponies.

They terrify me.

And going through this whole thing
and tapping on each of the points.

And then I got it to, I forgive the
ponies, I'll be okay, I can be calm.

And we walked him out and the next thing
you know he was like still side eyeing

all the ponies, like he knew where they
all were, but he wasn't as jacked up, he

wasn't as terrifying, he didn't attack.

And then later in life he, um, He
went to, uh, well, he lived across the

barn from a pony for a little while.

And then when he retired, he lived out
in a pasture next door to a pony and they

were seen grooming each other every day.

So it worked, right?

I mean, I obviously didn't
know that ending at that time.

But when, when we were able to
walk him out to the warmup arena,

And him not go after ponies.

I thought, all right, this is something.

Yeah.

So the, so I started studying
the acupressure points and

how, how EFT works is that.

Like I said, you're telling a
challenging story, but you're

tapping on really feel good points.

When you think about acupressure,
you know, each of the points that

were chosen, they're calming points.

In acupressure, there can be
tonifying to cleanse, there can be

stimulating, and there can be calming.

And so all the points in the
sequence are calming points.

So you're telling a challenging
story, but you're And conjuring up all

the emotions with feel good points.

And eventually the feel good takes over.

So you'll remember the circumstance,
but you're not triggered by it.

Anke: Wow.

I never even thought, because like,
you know, when I'm looking at EFT,

like there's this, this particular
one here, the color, I just love that.

That makes sense.

Joan: Yeah.

Anke: I never even thought that
they were all kind of calming.

You know, that is, that is so, yeah,
that makes all the sense as well.

Joan: Yeah, even, there's a lot
of points right around here.

Like even this is a long one and you
know when you've had grief, often

this, this can be a little sore.

But this, this one right here is
kidney 27, this one that you like,

that, that stimulates all the
organs and it's, Yeah, it's good.

And the thing with, um, uh, when you
look at traditional Chinese medicine,

they believe that, you know, these
points are all connected to meridians.

Those meridians are all
connected to organ systems.

Those organ systems are
all connected to emotions.

So each point is very specifically calmly.

Anke: So do you find that animals like it?

Like, do they like it or do they
go like, what are you doing?

Joan: Well, I mean cats
certainly at first go, right?

But yeah, they, you know, especially
here in the States we have, you know, the

4th of July, which is just so, you know,
it's fireworks and everybody's terrified.

And, um, I usually have people
Start tapping on their animals.

And I have a YouTube video for it.

Start tapping on their animals a couple
of months before that starts, right?

Like I'll start putting it out on social
media, maybe end of May, early June, and

say, let's get ready for 4th of July now.

And then what happens is the
dogs actually will come over to

the person and, and look for it.

Um, because I can't believe
that thumb keeps showing up.

Anke: I know, it's funny.

Sometimes people have like bubbles coming
up, like it happens quite a bit now.

Joan: But, yeah, so the animals will
start looking, looking for that as

the soothing thing in the trauma.

Anke: That's interesting.

Yeah.

I mean, like it does make sense though.

Like I love what you, how you said it.

It's like, yes.

We're not kind of ignoring or shoving
the trigger down under the carpet

like we acknowledge it's there It just
doesn't have the same impact anymore.

Joan: Yes.

Yeah, it's powerful.

Like yeah

Anke: Yeah, so are they specific
like apart from the fireworks

thing which is massive?

You know, because like we get it here,
like New Year's Eve and things like that.

You know, there's when these,
yeah, there's certain where, yeah.

No, the dogs aren't happy.

Like, yeah, I had one who was like really
frightened, but nobody really likes it.

So to actually help them,
you know, other specific.

situations where you think like,
say, like, I don't know what

pops up to my, what pops to
mind is like separation anxiety.

Like, is that like where you think like,
Ooh, you know, like I kind of totally

see like, well, you know, you hate
being left alone, you know, but what if

that didn't trigger you the same way?

Joan: Yeah.

Separation anxiety is a great one.

Um, and, and it's, it's tapping on
the person and the animal, right?

Because Often we feel guilty that
we, that we have to go to work.

And then we were like, Oh my God,
when will they get over this?

Right?

Like we have all of those feelings
that are feeding into their anxiety.

So, and we, we may have anxiety,
but we would have anxiety for

different reasons than the dog would.

So we have to kind of almost separate
out the feelings, work on it for the

person, work on it for the animal.

Separation anxiety, uh, leash.

uh, aggression.

Um, and I really call it reactivity.

Um, so reactivity, um, you know, timid.

And I do a lot of work with animals
in shelters, and I always ask for the

unadoptable, the animals that haven't
been adopted, that are sitting there.

And then I've broken it into four
types that I, I really like to work on.

Number one is the ones that have
become invisible, whether they've had

some sort of a surgery or a trauma.

Two, the just plain old timid ones.

Three, the super exuberant ones that, you
know, just get overlooked because they

could knock your grandma down, right?

And then four would be the reactive.

And so,

Anke: I'm picturing it because I've
got a big dog, like I've got a,

I've got a Spanish massive puppy and
like, like she's literally like that.

Like if she was to come up, like
she would knock my grandma down.

Joan: Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, I mean, this is
the smallest of my dogs.

I've got, I mean, I've
got medium sized dogs.

Um,

but yeah.

Now let

Anke: me ask you something.

Uh, like

the fact that you, that you're an
animal communicator, I would kind of

almost think that supercharges like
what you can do with EFT, right?

Because I've noticed I've taken an
a FT class, like, you know, back

in 2002 when that was first year.

And I remember there was one
particular teacher where I'm

like, this is nothing for me.

Like when you don't actually speak.

You know, when the thing that you like,
the statements, like when the stuff you

work on, when that doesn't really hit
what's going on, the whole thing feels

kind of like ridiculous, like it doesn't
help if you're not pinpointing, if

you're not like really pinning down the
underlying fear or like whatever's, but

if you hit it, You know, I don't know.

I kind of found like, oh,
I'm bursting into tears.

Like, oh, I've hit the spot here.

Like I'm onto something, you know,
and the release is massive, right?

But, so I think, If you can really
tune into that animal, like, you know,

like if you can, what you did, what
you do, what you shared with the horse,

like, you know, you think, well, if
you just go like, Oh, look, these

people around you make me nervous.

And he goes, and what's actually really
going on is, is that memory, that

association you had to the ponies,
like, you don't catch that, you can

tap your heart out and it won't tell.

Is that your experience?

Joan: Yeah, here's, and here's what I did
was, okay, so yeah, I can supercharge it

by being the animal communicator, but I
did write a book called Emotional Freedom

Technique for Animals, and in it I have
a bunch of investigative questions that

you as the dog owner could ask yourself.

And, and you almost kind of like, I have
people close their eyes and feel into it.

But if you think about, um, the,
the very simple, look at animals

feel as deeply as we do, but
they aren't as nuanced as we are.

So like we could have.

regret and all these things.

They're going to have fear, they're
going to have panic, they're going to

have lust, they're going to have, uh,
they want to seek and smell, right?

Like it's, it's more simple.

So you can basically hit it with
something like, I hate ponies

or I'm afraid of this, right?

So, if you keep it really
simple, you're doing yourself

the biggest favor on the planet.

Because, for example, if, look at, my
dog doesn't like to get in the car,

and I've been really working, every
time I do a podcast or something,

I'm like, I'm working on her.

Um, so, I, if I, I just go with,
and what happened was she was

blown down here when I adopted her.

I picked her out in utero because
my friend is a rescue and the

mother got dumped at the rescue.

I said, well, if there's a border
collie cross and a girl, she's mine.

And I knew there was one in
that little bag of puppies.

So when she was born, I knew I was getting
her, and that was four years ago, but

she was flown down in a little plane,
and it was loud, and she was by herself.

And so, it would be really easy
just to tap on, like, I'm afraid,

I'm afraid, I'm afraid, I'm afraid.

I'm afraid.

I'm afraid to get in the car.

I'm afraid of being alone in the car.

And then if we think about, well,
she also left her family, right?

I was sad.

I was so sad.

I was so sad.

I was so sad.

I was so sad.

I was so sad.

I was so sad.

And then we think, well, she
did end up somewhere great.

And I mean, she loves her family
now, but I am going to let this go.

I ended up with the best family.

I love my family.

I love my family.

I love my family.

I love my family.

I am happy and I can get in the car.

So, um, you know, it's just really simple.

You don't have to make it complicated.

I always tell my students, you know,
I teach this and I have a school

for animal communication and energy
healing and I always say it's not

great script writing freedom technique.

It's a much

Anke: But I think that's, that's
really hopeful because, you know,

like I kind of want to pull out that,
yeah, you don't have to be an animal

communicator to make this work.

Right?

Absolutely.

I love the simplicity of that.

Yeah.

I'm also going to let go.

Joan: Yeah, in my book I have all
the charts, I have what they mean, so

even, like if you see that your animal
really like, like horses love this.

I just was at this, the Denver Horse Expo,
and this older gentleman came up to me

and said, I'm a veterinarian, ma'am, and
I learned early on that I didn't know what

I was doing, I didn't know I was tapping,
but I knew that that spot under the eye

was, was the greatest spot on the planet.

Well, it turns out that spot is
stomach one, and we know that the

gut is as much, uh, the barometer for
emotions as anything on the planet.

So this point is really one of
the most calming points there is.

Anke: Wow.

I mean, it's fascinating, right?

When people kind of almost like
discover it, like almost stumble

into it, you know, like by accident,
you're just like, oh, yeah, that's,

that's, yeah, it's fascinating.

Like, I think this whole
world's fascinating.

There's so much we can do
to help ourselves and the

relationships and the animals.

So where can people get the book, get
your courses, find out more about you?

Joan: Well, you can buy the book anywhere
where it's sold, like Amazon, Barnes

Noble, all of the places and bookstores.

And then, um, I have a
website, JoanRanquette.

com, and they're J O A N R A N Q U E T
dot com, and I have there my classes,

my school, you can take an individual
class, you can join a big program,

and I take people on wildlife trips.

Anke: That sounds delightful.

Well, we're obviously going to
pop the link in the show notes.

If you're listening to the podcast,
it's right above or below the video.

If you're watching it in the, in
the newsletter, go check her out.

Like I'm going to go get the book now.

So this is absolutely fascinating.

Thank you so much for coming.

And yeah, I can't wait
to dig into the topic.

Thanks so much.

Joan: Thank you.

Thanks so much for listening.

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That's A N k E at Soul
touched by dogs.com.