Sensitivity

No one can sense how you really feel like a Water dog can. They are constantly picking up information from more than six senses, but their sharpest sense is hearing. They listen. They feel deeply. They connect slowly but powerfully.

Think of this dog as water. Water has more than one presentation. It can be still and deep, showing you your own reflection. It can be misty and ephemeral in its eluding of strict categorization. It can be slow-flowing yet so potent it wears its own path around and over the stoniest obstacle. It can also be swift in its escape downstream.

Like water, your dog is a bit of shapeshifter. When I have not met the dog and I describe each element to their person, if they say something like, “My dog sounds like all of those,” their dog is likely to be primary Water. In their drive for safety, a Water dog can temporarily flow into the characteristics of another element that is better suited to the situation. They only reveal their full selves when they feel safe in their environment and trust those around them.

The defining characteristic of each element is the immediate response to stress. For Water, the default stress response is fear. They tend to be cautious dogs anyway and their deep feelings include deep fears. They cannot be pushed to “face their fears.” They need space and time to acclimate to new things. Water in balance can look like a cautious approach giving way to courage.

Water out of balance can look like hiding and trembling in fear or biting out of fear. Since they often have a history of trauma, some can develop a biting style exemplifying the belief that “the best defense is a good offense.” People will call them aggressive. But look at their wide eyes, roached back, lowered body posture, weight rocked to the back end, and watch them run away after biting. Pay attention to what came before the fear response and do what you can to relieve that stress and replace it with safety.

Be honest with a Water. Not just because they know when you’re lying, as do most dogs, but because their trust doesn’t come easily. If you trick them into the crate with a treat and then slam the door, they’ll remember that for a long, long time. Plan ahead. Take the time to gradually introduce them to the crate, the car, the kids.

Before I created the reports for each element, I connected with dogs of that primary element, as a group, to help me understand that element from the inside. Then I incorporated what they shared into what I know and have experienced of each element. Naturally, what the Water dogs gave me was different than the others. I can only do it justice by sharing part of their transmission in its entirety:

Listen. Pay attention. Our moves are subtle. We want you to be as attuned to us as we are to you. We know more than you think we do. We’re not just connected to the earth. We’re connected to the sky, the trees, the water. We are the conduit for the world. We are the connectors.

If you’re straining to hear us, you can’t hear us. Just let it in. You’re afraid we’re going to be too much for your vulnerability. Don’t shut us out with distraction. We are your spiritual growth. We are catalysts and carriers. You sign up for us and then you refuse to go through the transformation. We reflect you. That’s what makes you run. Or fight. You’re fighting shadows.

It’s important that you see us. See beyond our fur or four legs. Recognize our depth. Give us time. You have more time than you think. If you pare down. If you shift your focus to what is essential in this one life: love and unity with all our relations.