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, Monique.
I'm super excited to have you here.
Monique: Thank you, Anke.
I'm so honored to be here.
Really, really honored.
Thank you so much for inviting me.
Anke: Well, I'm really looking forward to it.
And the funny thing is, we're actually pretty much in the same time
zone, which is very unusual for me.
So, let people know where in this lovely world you are.
And, as always, what's your business with dogs?
Monique: So, I live in the Italian part of Switzerland, but
I work with the entire world.
And my business, I have a business that's called Animalchemy.
And Animalchemy is, let's say, the reply to my soul calling, which
basically, Unite, my love for animals, dogs of course, and my
deep fascination with the unseen, so let's say the spiritual journey.
And since dogs are master gurus at helping us become better humans, with
AnimAlchemy I am bringing together the, let's say, animal medicine with
the spiritual forces that support people in their journey of awakening.
Yeah, now I specialize in the end of life because, um, when my dogs and cat,
ooh, can I speak of cats on a dog show?
Yes, you can.
Okay, I said, I said the wrong word on a dog show.
So what I was saying is that when they were ready to transition I had, like
so many of us, the hardest of times and the overwhelming grief forced me
to question You know, how that deep love could turn into so much pain
and the heartbreak, um, propelled me into studying, uh, over a decade, um,
in the natural end of life process.
And I started with a vet, a shaman and Tibetan monks.
And ultimately I also became a, a human death tooler because the more
I learned, the more I wanted to know.
But I have to confess that it was our great Dane Daya that brought
All of these teachings to life, uh, during her end of life journey.
And that is actually how, um, my unique approach got, uh, you know, got shaped.
And, uh, and it actually redefines how the end of life is lived.
And it was so funny because she was, uh, she was on an end of life
journey and because she's in a great day and It was so, it was difficult,
you know, we were going like, okay, how do we, how do we deal with this?
And then the vet came, and the usual, you know, things, let's do euthanasia.
But the reason was, well, let's do euthanasia now, because, um, she's a
Great Dane, and we can't really move her.
And so my mum, you know, asked, is she in pain?
And, and, and the vet said, oh, oh, no, no, she's not in pain.
She's just a great day, and she's just a big dog, and I don't know
if I can come another day, right?
And that wasn't really the premise is to go like, okay.
Oh, yes, okay.
Let's euthanize now, because she may not be able to come another day.
But that That was so serendipitous because I was there with all of
my, all of my studies, all of my notes from all of these different
things that were all separate, Anke.
But then, uh, through her end of life journey, I was having
all of these, Oh, look at this.
Oh, look at that.
This is, this is what's going to happen.
And I would take my notes and I go, I would go to my mom.
And say, I think this is what should happen next, right?
And, uh, and she would go like, okay.
And then I would say, okay, now I think that, that you should say goodbye.
Now, I was just saying things like that and grabbing all my notes and,
and Daya was just doing every step one after the other so precisely.
She was amazing.
Amazing.
So, yeah.
Oh, it was lovely, yeah.
Anke: I mean, I mean, I've had like, these are my four, and the
first two have crossed the bridge, so I've been through it twice.
And I'm curious about those steps, you know, especially if you're
saying that they're so predictable.
Monique: Oh, yeah, so yes and no.
Okay, so I actually studied the natural end of life, which is something
that vets don't study, because vets are great at keeping animals alive.
They're amazing at doing that, that's their job, but they haven't studied in
school, they haven't studied what happens in the natural end of life process.
Now, in the last cycle, uh, what happens is when the body always tries
to survive, to be, you know, to, to, to, um, uh, always tries to come
back to life, always, always, always.
But then there comes a point where the body, It realizes it's dying, it's
the end, and from that point there is no return, and that is called the
last cycle, the active phase of dying.
And in that, and in that cycle, now it's the same for all beings, it's the same
for humans, it's the same for animals, and that's what Daya helped me to see, right?
It was the same for animals.
And those are very, there are very predictable stages.
Now, they're not predictable in the sense of this is going to happen
first, this is going to happen second, this is going to happen third.
In theory, yes.
In practical, nothing is going to be like that.
But the reason that it was so in line and linear with Daya was that that helped
me to, to, to remember those things.
And then, You know, get them from all the teachings that I've studied.
And, uh, and so what happens is there are these phases that are based on
the elements, the five elements.
And, you know, for example, the earth phase is when animals or people
start walking slower, for example.
Right?
So the end of life doesn't start, doesn't start, you know, it's not
like, um, it's not a time and a date.
This is what I always teach.
It's not a time and a date.
We always feel it's a time and a date, but it's not.
Because in the same way, the.
Our puppies came into this world and they didn't just appear like that, right?
They didn't just say, okay, I'm bing bong, boom, right?
It's a time and a date, boom.
No.
There was like, there's like, I call it this intelligence that is
within our bodies that creates our beating hearts, that creates the
paws, and that creates the whiskers, and creates the ears, you know?
All of those things that I wouldn't know how to do all of that, right?
We don't do that.
Right?
But it's so funny.
We let Mother Nature create us and we know there's a process.
We don't open up, uh, you know, a dog that is, that is, uh, you know, before the two,
you know, the, the, the puppies are ready.
We wait until their, the mother's body delivers the puppies.
Because we know, we trust Mother Nature will deliver them and when
they're ready, when they are, you know, at the right point, right?
We don't go like, oh, you know what?
It's Thursday.
Let me, let me do this because it's, you know, I prefer that
they were born now with humans.
They started doing that because they were doing the caesareans.
And I know a lot of people that say, oh yeah, I want my son to be born
on the 1st of April or whatever.
And that's, you know, that's what's happened.
However, going back to Mother Nature, we all have, there's this intelligence
that runs within our bodies that is there since we are born to when we die.
Yet at the end of life, If we don't know what to do or we go like oh,
I've received the terminal diagnosis, so boom, we give the responsibility
over to our pets, our vets.
Which also are going like well, you know, if I can't keep the animal
alive then I need to kill the animal.
Right.
So that's the only way to do.
Yet nature has also another way, right?
Which is the same process of being born, but it's the other way around.
It's the same door, same doorway, but it's the other way around.
Now you usually, we, we learn this even with our pe we know with people, we
learn how to take care of the dying in our homes and, uh, and help them pass
because it's not Ave medical event.
It's a highly spiritual event.
Right?
And so when we know how to do that, and we're able to become, and we
know, we know all of the things, all, all of the steps, what's happening,
so that we're not scared, we know what they are truly living, then
that gives us an ability to be able to support them in the end of life.
And that doesn't mean that we never use euthanasia.
I've never had to use it again.
But that doesn't mean that if you want to use it, you can use it, right?
But the great thing of knowing all of these things is that we are
Anke: totally, I think that's a massive, massive piece.
Because when I'm thinking back, actually my biggest worry before I,
like before I actually have actually been through the process, you know,
when you kind of sit there imagining what it will be, my biggest concern.
has always been, how will I know?
How will I know?
Because the last thing I want to do is kill off a dog who
just had a bit of a bad day.
But I also almost like, like at least as much I want to avoid making a dog
hang in there beyond the natural like, you know, just because I can't let go.
Yeah.
You know, so it's almost like, where do you, how do you, funny enough.
And interestingly enough, both of them made it actually really clear.
In the end that wasn't even a, that wasn't actually a problem.
But it's also that piece of, like, you don't want them to suffer, right.
And I don't want them to suffer longer than strictly necessary, just because I
would love them to live forever, right.
So, what are some signs that you find people Oh.
That are normal that people don't know about and may misunderstand or misjudge.
Monique: Absolutely.
So all of the signs that we find on the quality of life table that we
go to vets and they say, you know, if you tick all the boxes, then
the life is no longer worth living.
For all of those, there is a Natural reason for that to happen
and it's a non painful reason.
So, for example, um, one of the things, a lot of people say, okay, when the eyes
are not, um, you know, when they look, when you look at your pet's eyes and
you see that they're not there, right?
That's a sign.
Well, um, That, that means that, that basically is meaning, you see at the
end of life what happens is the soul keeps getting out of the body and they
start to get used to the other side.
So they keep going in and out and in and out and in and out.
So they spend a lot of time on the other side.
And so, some of the times, yes, they're not there because they are,
they are, they are, you know, also visiting the other side, right?
But that doesn't mean that because they went to visit where their next
home is going to be that we need to end their lives so that they can go.
It's like, it's like, okay, you know what?
Let me just check out how my new place is.
So that when they arrive on the other side, it's not, it's not, um,
imagine if you just, if you're just like tele transported now, just in a
moment in the Himalayas, as you are right now, and you go like, what,
what, what, what am I doing right?
So the end of life process is exactly that.
It's getting used, it's for the animal to get, well us, to get used to the
new environment of where we're going.
And what better to be in the loving energies of the person
that we love the most, right?
If you can hold your dog and be, it's okay my love, right?
Because then when they come back in the body they might go like,
Oh my goodness, what's happening?
And they might go, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop.
And then immediately, ah, they're in pain, they're suffering,
they're suffering, right?
And that's when we take them and again, we run to the vet, right?
But again, we need to realize that when a body is dying, like
I said, do you remember that last cycle that I was telling you?
That's the point of the body knows that there's no return.
So, it activates the going back home elements, which are contrary
to the staying here on this earth elements, which is, you know, pain.
Pain helps you to go like, Monique, take that hand off of the fire, right?
If the body's dying, why would pain need to happen?
No pain, right?
So a lot of things that we see, we see a lot of pain when we see them like yowl,
cats, I know, sorry, I'm talking about cats again, but that's, that's right,
Anke: that's right, nothing against cats.
Monique: Yeah, maybe dogs whine a bit sometimes and immediately,
you know, we go into pain and yes, 100%, if that happens in the, not
in the last cycle, that's 100%, like go to the vet yesterday, not now.
I am, I am not fatigued.
Holding animals in pain.
But then, but then in that last cycle, it's, it's what happens to humans as well.
There's a lot of confusions because like I said, they're over there,
they're in complete bliss, they don't have a body, they're experiencing
this unconditional love, and then all of a sudden they go like boom!
And they're back to these bodies that can't move, you know.
And they go like, holy crap, really what's happening?
Right?
Now, I'm not saying there, there, there's gonna be some discomfort.
I'm not saying that I, I, I always say that I have a shoulder that's
painful, and I can tell you that there's a lot of discomfort in that.
But do I want to end my life short because of my, my pain?
And I can tell you, I'm, I'm a whi, I'm a drama queen.
I go like, oh my God.
Goodness.
I said so much so . You know, and I, you would've euthanized
me a long time ago, right?
? Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm a euthanizable person, absolutely.
And when I meditate that I'm not here, you would euthanize me again.
So, but now I'm joking a bit, but what I'm trying to say is that we
need to understand what is truly happening at the end of life.
When we do, we understand A, when it's pain, when it's not, you know,
when to rush to the vet and when your pet is actually going to die.
Because the other thing is, If, in the death thing, we look at the body, which
is the only thing that needs to break down in order for the soul to leave,
right, and become this whole, go back to the wholeness of what, what they truly
are, so, uh, we are only focused on the one thing that is breaking down, right?
When we're able to, to be able to see the bigger picture and see what
is truly happening, to, to the dog and the experience of the dog because
the dog may be in a, in a position where they're not like running
after the ball anymore on, you know, maybe not really breathing badly.
That's another sign, by the way.
Uh, but are they, are they in pain?
Are they suffering?
No, if you, if you connect with the dog in that moment, they go like,
oh my goodness, I've never felt better in my entire life, right?
And animals have that ability to, humans as well.
You see humans that are bedridden, that are not well, and then they go on
these journeys and when they come back, they go like, oh my goodness, right?
So, we really need to understand that, that dying is not just the body.
In fact, it's not the body, it's all the rest that is happening.
And when we understand what is happening, then we can better know whether
to rush to the vet or not, right?
Anke: That makes sense.
Monique: You know, imagine if you're the soul and you're
trying to leave the body, right?
And you go like, okay, this is a, and then maybe you get like
convulsions is another thing.
Because the, there's this magnetic field that holds the, the, the, holds
everything together in the body.
And sometimes the soul needs a little kick to get out, right?
And so sometimes we see these movements that are really scary to watch.
But it's the movement of, you know, of the soul like, you know, like moving, right?
And trying to detach.
Because There's all of the chakras that are dissolving, all of the energy
fields that are, that are dissolving.
So all of these, all of these things are happening invisible to our eyes.
And when we know what, don't know what is happening.
So and I, so imagine that, that you're the, you're in the body, you're,
your soul is ready to leave, right?
So you're about to leave.
And then in that moment, they pick you up and they take you where?
To the worst place that you, that you've always hated your
entire life at the vet's office.
That's Right?
And that, that is, that can never be a peaceful end of life, right?
Because that is the worst place that a vet wants to, that a dog
wants to be, at the vet, right?
And so I feel that it's our responsibility to learn how about this phase, so that
when we can, when we, you know, when, when we can, then we can, we can allow
them to be home, because we know, oh, this phase is, means that the A,
they're not feeling pain anymore, right?
And so now, one relaxes.
Oh yes, they move the legs.
I know what that means.
Oh yes, they're breathing, uh, differently.
Oh, I know that this, this is what's happening.
Oh, now I'm going to prepare, I'm going to tell them that I love them.
And you know, all of these moments, Anke.
becomes a moment of connection, of deep love.
And I, and I say that it's like, uh, we create a bridge across forever because now
the, the love connection, which is our, the, the, the relationship of us and our
pets is built on this love connection.
Now it's, uh, it's strengthened because we are there when they're
most, when they most need us.
Anke: For sure, for sure.
So it's, it is beautiful.
It's, I mean, there's like, I'm kind of all teary, but
there's so much beauty in this.
Monique: Yeah.
Anke: So I'm
Monique: curious.
May I just say one important thing that I really, this is really important.
Whatever we've done in the past, we didn't know these things and animals.
And you know, that like they're now in a, in a state where everything is perfect.
Right.
And animals don't have that.
That part of the brain that we have that, that reasons and that says, that judges.
Right?
They don't have all of that.
You know, you know what?
You should have took me to the vet earlier.
You know what?
You're a really bad, you know, all of that is just human BS.
Anke: Yeah.
Yeah.
No, for sure.
For sure.
Just see, I'm curious.
I'm curious.
Cause I remember actually there's an Instagram account where
there is, um, like there's a, there's a, I think hospice nurse.
That's, that was the word, right?
So she's a hospice nurse.
And she talks about, What this process looks like in people, right?
And she often like does these little reels where she goes, you know,
like family members often complain that we don't give them water.
And she goes, well, because that's not helpful.
And so she explains what, you know, as the body's shutting
down and all of these things.
Right.
So.
Yeah.
For a dog, you know, like, how do I know when they enter that last cycle?
You know, how do I not mix it up with like, oh my god, like, yeah, he's got
It's like, Oh my God, he must have like seizures and it must be painful versus,
Oh, so this is part of the last cycle.
Is there some way that a normal, like uneducated person can recognize that?
Well,
Monique: uneducated not in the sense that, uh, we need to, we need to take,
this is the thing is we need to, if we want to take that responsibility
in the same way that we go for, uh, You know, a puppy school and we buy,
uh, pa pee pads for the floors so that they don't ruin our carpets.
And we, we buy special things, you know, that we, we, we, we invest
time to go to train the puppies.
We invest money, we invest, you know, all of this.
It's the same at the end of life.
You know, I, I can tell you, I can tell you a few things that can help you.
Uh, but there's so much.
My, the, I have a course which is called Walk Your Pet Home and that
course is actually 82 sessions.
Anke: Wow.
So there's a lot, right?
It's a lot.
So we're going to obviously pop the link below.
I'm going to check that out for sure.
No,
Monique: absolutely.
And, and, and it's divided in two.
So a lot of it is also how to change us because, you know,
I'm big on, on us evolving.
And I, and I saw in my own journey how It was my personal transformation that
helped me to deal with the end of life in a completely different way, right?
I started to see my pets missions.
I started to understand why they came to me.
I started to understand the reason that they had a specific
illness and not another one.
I started to understand why they were not dying immediately.
I started understanding why they were dying really quickly.
You know, all of these things that make us understand that there is
a bigger picture and the journey.
So the first part is all about that, right?
And then the second part is more of the technical things that I'm, that I was
speaking to you about, about the cycles.
So what happens and when the last cycle arrives, um, and, and
I explain all of these things.
Now, as I said, it's not, it's not a complete science, right?
So we have to let our dogs lead the way.
So for example, if I, I was just, uh, helping, um, um, a pet parent recently
with a dog, and, uh, she was saying, oh, I'm giving, uh, the homeopathic medicine
and I'm giving, uh, the water because the, because a pet was breath breathing
heavily, which is one of the signs to say that's actually the last sign when they
start breathing different, differently.
They're very close to the, to the end, right?
But sometimes that can happen a bit sooner rather than later because
maybe they have What do you call them?
Lung difficulties, right?
Or things like that.
So and and then she was saying that she was giving, giving water and I
said, I said just be careful because One of the things that happen is
the, the, when you give water is the, the, the swallowing reflexes stop.
And so if you give water, you choke them, right?
So we need to know all of these things.
And so how do you know?
You just offer the water.
You offer the medicines.
Right, because we want, the people that don't want to let go, they keep giving,
I don't know, heart medicine until, until they give euthanasia, right, but it's
just like that thing about, okay, when you stop the heart medicine, right, you
can allow them to, to go slowly, but without pain, but if you, if you decide
to keep the heart medicine going and then you're waiting for them to die, now
there's two forces that are pushing one against the other because the medicine
is going, right, come on, you can do it.
Yeah, let me help you do this.
And then the body's going like, wait, I don't want to anymore, right?
And so that's when we see the, the pain.
A lot of pain comes from when we're not able to let go.
That's why I'm bringing in all of these, Our, our, how we can change, right?
There's so many things that, that can help a dying, a dying process.
But when we, when we're able to start looking at all of these
things, I can tell you my cats, uh, sorry, I mentioned cats again.
I know, it's just like, what?
They went in a, they went in a week from going to complete, but even
the Great Dane did like that, you know, they, they went from, okay, I'm
totally fine to, right, bye, I'm going.
What do you mean you're going, right?
Yeah, I'm going.
And then, dun, At home, calmly, off they went.
No pain, no stress, no nothing, no vets.
Just, just calmly at home.
Um, but of course, you know, one of the things that we are very, that we have
a lot of problem is, is our stress.
Because we see in, in the, in the emergency, we always see the stress.
And this is why.
These things, it's important to learn them beforehand, right?
Yeah, I think it's definitely one of those,
Anke: you can't kind of stop looking at it when it's already happening, right?
It's like, oh, hang on, wait, wait, let me look up, like, what's going on here?
Monique: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, uh, so, so to reply to your question is let the dog lead, the dog
will know, the dog knows 100 percent how to die, not a problem, alright?
But then you have to look at yourself.
So the first thing is be calm, uh, be present, right?
And because the problem is when you start thinking about, is my pet in
pain, is my pet in pain, where are you?
You're, you're over, you're not present.
So I say come back to present.
What are you doing?
Just simple exercise to come back to present.
Look at your dog.
Look at your dog's breathing or your paw.
Just focus on that for a moment and then re ask the question.
And then you will look and you go like, Oh, well, it doesn't
seem that painful, right?
Right?
Because usually it's like even a movement is pain in a, in a worried mind, right?
So it's that training of coming back to the present moment and
then, um, and then just let the dog lead if they don't want to eat.
Don't panic.
The body knows what to do, right?
If they don't want to drink, don't, don't force any medicine.
Don't force any, any food.
We force things down.
Um, but I remember, I always remember, um, I had a vision once.
Uh, I was, I was, I was trying to give some medicine to, um, I'm sorry, a cat.
You're gonna throw me out of the show.
I was trying to get the And you know how it's not easy, right?
Dog is a bit easier, right?
But with a cat it's not easy.
But I was really good.
I was the best.
I was like, you know, take the towel, wrap the cat in the towel, you know,
open the mouth, yeah, and then keep it closed until they go down in it.
So I was, I was thinking about this in that moment because I had to do that.
I was like, oh gosh, I need to go through all of that.
And in that moment, I was at the table, I closed my eyes, and all of
a sudden I saw an image of my mom, and there was this conversation.
It was like a little scene I was seeing, and I saw, and my
mom said, I've got a headache.
And I said, oh, do you want a pill?
Which is something I would have never said, but anyway,
that's what I was seeing.
I said, do you want a pill?
And she goes like, no.
And so I took her, I took a towel, I wrapped her up in a towel, I threw her on
the floor, I opened her mouth, I threw, uh, like the, the pill in, I closed her
mouth until she, she, she did like that, and then I opened and then I released her.
And as I opened the eyes, I was completely shocked, Anke.
Completely shocked.
I was like, why do we do this for animals?
Why do we do it?
Because we decide that that is good, and otherwise they're gonna die.
And I was all about that.
I would say, eat this, otherwise you're gonna die!
You know, as if, as if, yeah, as if staying alive, alive with me doing all
of those things of a good life, right?
The animal goes, well,
Anke: actually, now that you're saying it.
Monique: But just, but just to give some perspective on this, uh, you
know, when I released those tensions about having to and having to do this
and allowing, giving back that, that, that freedom to be animal, guess what?
The cat started eating the food with the medicine.
There was no need for me to do it.
And then when I, when, when the cat stopped, it was, it, it was
because the medicine was The cat knew that that he was dying, right?
So, yeah, this, can you see there's so many?
Anke: Yeah, there's so much to it and it also feels a big
part of it is trusting nature.
You know, it's like, yeah, just like nature knows how
to bring us into this world.
It also knows how, you know, how to take us back.
Like that makes, it takes a lot of that heaviness out of, out of it.
Right.
So yeah.
So where can people get their hands on the course?
Where can they get in touch with you?
Find out more because, you know, it makes sense to, you know, into the
topic before you need it, right?
You don't want to sit
Monique: there having I've got, I've got many clients that basically are taking,
uh, the, the courses when they're dogs.
I've got two that have four year olds, for example.
Um, and apart from the fact that it can happen at any time and one,
bless her heart, that four year old actually had an accident and died.
So it was, you know, and somebody said, is taking this course gonna,
no, it's not gonna, so don't worry.
But what I can say is that this course actually helps everyone in life as well.
So yes, it does, does talk about death, but just bear in mind that it helps
you deepen the bond with your animal.
It helps you get skills that really help you in any challenge in life as well.
And, um, and as I say with, I always say that basically, um, this is
our journey of evolution where our animal companions can be our guides.
So with, with their wet noses, they show us how to go from conditional love
to unconditional love and then in the end of life journey to divine love.
So, yeah, yeah, I have touched the most, the most divine places with that
because, I'll just say one more thing, you know, when we, we are always again
looking only at the body which is, which is the thing that is, yeah, but if we
are able to see what, where everything else happens, it's amazing because the
energy has The frequencies have to raise to meet the place where they're going.
So, our animal may look all sad and depressed and bedraggled
but when you look at it from an energetic place they're huge.
And when you're in that energy, you can connect to that and that's where also
you can get a little taste of the Divine.
And I've had that happen many times and that's why I can tell you not because I
think or I've read somewhere That when we go beyond the body we feel bliss
It's because I felt it during an end of life of an animal and I was told this
is how I'm feeling and I was looking at this bedraggled being and I was
going like this is impossible, right?
But I was taken there, so it's beautiful.
Um, So, book your pet home, you can find all the information on Animalchemy, uh, so
it's not Animal Alchemy, it's Animalchemy.
I had to put it together, otherwise it would have cost me 10, 000,
which I didn't want to pay.
So, uh, so Animalchemy.
It's cooler like
Anke: that.
Monique: Yeah.
And for all of your readers, there is, um, there is a place, and I'm sure that
you will give them the link, right?
Absolutely.
Yep.
Okay.
Thank you So, there's like three, uh, six sessions of the 82
session course, right, for free.
So, you can watch them for free to just get the hang of, you know,
what's happening in the course.
Um, and then, of course, if people want to sign up for the newsletter and things
like that, I basically do, um, uh, events.
I do a lot of events.
The last one was three hours of just, you know,
And, um, and then also if anybody's going through an end of life situation
right now, they can, um, they can sign up for a free consult where I
can support them, uh, in, in this, you know, in this end of life moment.
And then, uh, then if they decide, you know, to work with
me, okay, if not, that's fine.
They get a lot just to, you know, relax a bit into that, into the situation.
And if anyone, uh, is feeling the soul calling to become pet doolers,
please, please, please reach out.
There is also a free session, uh, for that, uh, like, um, a free
discovery session, um, because, um, yes, because the world needs this.
You know, I, I, I really, uh, it, it, it changes so much.
You know, I go from clients that are call me in despair, and then
I receive emails that say, oh, uh, Fluffy has died peacefully
last night, and it was beautiful.
And I go like, beautiful, you know, you can find beauty in this as well, right?
Now, does this mean that you won't be sad?
Of course not.
Absolutely not.
I mean, these are our loves, right?
It's impossible not to be sad, but when we are open to the bigger picture
and feel it and live it and, and understand the mission and all of
the, all of those things, then it becomes a journey of growth for us.
Uh, and once we learn it, then we have it for all of our lives.
For ourselves, for our journey home, for all of our dogs, for
all our friends dogs, ever.
It is really something, something important.
So, I am really looking to, I'm on a mission to, uh, train as many pet death
duelers as possible, um, because I really, I really find that, uh, we don't have to
stay with grief forever, you know, grief.
In the current model, unfortunately, Because we have to make that horrible
decision of ending the life, right?
So we need to know when we need to make that decision.
That takes us to a place where, where we feel a lot of grief.
And when we don't live this journey, like I said, with all of these points,
the completion, we don't get to a completion, and it's just like, oh,
you know, Fluffy was here yesterday and Fluffy's no longer here, and that
brings a grief that doesn't go away.
Love should stay with us forever.
Breathe not.
It's not natural.
I love,
Anke: I love your, I love your passion about, you know, I
love your passion around this.
Because I mean, I've experienced it twice and there was so much beauty in it.
You know, yes, it hurts like hell and it was beautiful and I'm getting teary.
But,
but for you to really lean into that and to give people a way to be prepared.
It's just, it's amazing.
I love
Monique: it.
I really love it.
You know, and, and as I said, it's funny because sometimes people don't want to be
doulas because they go like, uh, you know, it must be the most depressing job ever.
And I can tell you it's the most, it's the most enriching job ever.
I wake up with a smile every single day.
And not because I'm seeing animals die, but I'm, I am seeing, I am
seeing, you know, of course, you know, that would be, that would be hard.
If you look at it like that, it's the worst.
When you see them just, you know, just, just relax, but then leave with all of
these gifts that make us better humans.
Um, and then when people still feel the connection to the other side,
when I can see a smile instead of a, instead of a, you know, a sad heart.
I mean, how can I not be happy?
You know, every single morning.
So, you know, we need these, these people in the world that
can bring this out into the world.
And, and I really believe that every pet deserves a peaceful
and conscious end of life.
Uh, because, you know, when we do euthanasia, we are not
allowing that had to happen.
You know, the consciousness is, is asleep.
Um, but then also, uh, also every pet parent deserves to,
to have a way to keep that love.
Anke
Anke: Herrmann, Taming the Tech Monster, Anke Herrmann, Taming the Tech Monster,
Anke Herrmann, His dog basically got run over by a train in front of him.
You know and I'm like Jesus!
Like, I don't even, like that would
Monique: be Yeah, that would, that would be hurtful.
You
Anke: know stuff like that and and and I was then thinking like
God, and I feel guilty because I obviously put the dog in that bed.
situation, you know, so it was like, it was my, it was my job
to keep the dog safe, right.
To make sure I can't run across the train track.
And so, and I'm thinking, yes, they will definitely on situations where
it's a lot harder to get over than, you know, than, than what I had with
like Leo, who was like almost 17.
And it was like, you know, I know I've given you a good life.
And, and, you know, so it's like, and I was there until the, till the end.
So it wasn't like, yeah.
You know, it's almost like it had that sense of closure, you know, so there
wasn't like, Oh my God, I'm feeling regret or guilt about something.
And it was like, no, like we had our journey together
and it's come to its close.
Monique: You know, this is, this is why this is a different way to look at the
end of life because we, I'm looking at all of those things, especially, you
know, the, the, the guilt, you know, because I can tell you the guilt comes
from, Oh, I did euthanasia too soon.
Oh, I did it too late.
Oh, I didn't do it sooner.
Oh, I didn't look at the dog crossing the railways.
You know, you can, it doesn't matter.
You can just fill in the blanks at the end.
Everybody has that guilt.
So we need to look at.
Us, we need to heal that inside of us, right?
So that we can see the real situation.
Maybe that soul needed to go in that moment.
What did that soul bring into, into the life of that man in that moment?
Why the two souls connected?
Maybe it had a mission, well not maybe, it had a mission, it completed that mission.
And then it just went.
When you know what happens to the soul, and the soul can never be hurt, never,
never is born, never dies, right?
Then you know that, yes, it's incredibly horrible to see the body,
uh, you know, go through all of that.
But now you see all of the other, all the rests, right?
And if you can keep that connection, you know that your
dog is not under there anymore.
So, and if you can deal with the shock, if you know how your brain
works, you can deal with that as well.
So, it's all about, at the end, can you see how all of this makes us better humans
Anke: Absolutely
Monique: And, and when we are better, then we can also give a
better life to our dogs, our living dogs and our dying dogs, right?
Because, because us being in panic and thinking that we should have kept the
dog from running into the railways.
Well,
Anke: he ran, he he went off on a massive rant about, against the train driver.
Monique: Yeah, yeah, of course, and then that's it, you know,
and here we do it with a vet.
It's either the vet's fault, or the, the, the love, you know, the partner's
fault, or there's always somebody's fault.
Even sometimes it's a pet's fault for dying on me, right?
But even that is a, is a thing that you need to work on yourself, and this is
why there's so many building blocks.
That make us, uh, you know, live life better as well, right?
So, all of these things are really, really, really important.
And plus, you know, we never think about, the other thing I want to say is like when
an animal dies, or of course a person as well, but imagine that dog dying, right?
He went out of the body, he was obviously no longer in the
body under the train, right?
So he went out.
And now, they are very sensitive when they are on the other
side, even when they are dying.
So please, all the listeners need to know that when a pet is
dying, they are very sensitive.
So they feel us a lot more than they do normally.
We already know how our animals feel us, right?
Can you imagine how it is to feel us even more, like a million times more?
So now imagine that you're dying and the person that you love the
most is like, I need to do this.
I need to give the medicine.
My dog is not sleeping.
My dog is sleeping too much.
Oh, I'm so worried.
I'm so tired.
Now be the dog in that moment.
Is that peaceful?
That is not.
So that's why we need to work on ourselves.
The dogs know how to, how to cross over.
We need to work on ourselves if we want to help them have a peaceful death.
A peaceful death doesn't come from, from some, some, you know,
something that we give them.
It comes from us being peaceful.
Because when they go out of their body, Let's say that now I'm dead, right?
And I come and I look at you and you're Anke, you're crying and you're like,
Oh, Monique, where did you go, Monique?
Right?
And I'm here and I'm going like, I'm fine.
And you go, Oh my God, oh my God.
And I'm so connected with you, right?
I'm so connected with you and I feel your pain.
I feel your pain and I'm fine, but I feel your pain.
And so I'm staying here.
So let me stay here, so I stay here and so we have all of these souls that are
here because we are in grief and we, they can't continue their journey, they
can't become our guides because they're stuck in these half worlds, right?
So we need to know what happens on the other side, we need to know what happens
when we are stressed out, so that we can then become responsible for And, and
know what to do at the end of life, and not just go like, oh, my pet has cancer,
here you go, you, you vet, deal with it.
Because the poor vets have to deal with that, of course, right?
A lot of pets, a lot of vets, you know, are very depressed
because all they do is euthanasia.
Actually,
Anke: it's funny.
I mean, I saw somebody say that, I don't know, I think it was a vet who said like
90 over, like some horrific percentage of people won't stay with their dogs.
Oh
Monique: gosh, yeah.
You know, I'm like,
Anke: oh, that's horrible.
Monique: Like
Anke: I couldn't even, like, I couldn't even picture that.
Like, how would you just hand over your dog, you know, for somebody
else to deal with those last days.
Like moments, it's just.
Monique: And that is, that is normal if you think about how society is today.
It's like we push away anything that we don't like.
That's why I'm not going to buy a course on the end of life,
because it's the end of life.
I don't want to deal with that, right?
I don't want to.
So there's a lot of things that we always want to push away.
But the growth actually comes from feeling the pain, feeling
the fear, and going anyway, right?
And, and, and going like in, it's, in the Amazons they call
it touching the jaguar, right?
You see the jaguar.
And you take one step towards it, and you step, one take towards it, right,
and each step you learn, you learn more about the Jaguar until you touch it.
When you touch it, the energy of the gift of the Jaguar comes into you,
and you're now filled with these new strengths to go, to take on your journey.
It's an initiation into who we can become as human beings.
An effect of going through this end of life.
Anke: And actually, it's totally in my experience, I remember actually
always dreading my grandma dying, you know, and it was almost like looking
back, the dread before was actually worse than the actual process of it.
Yeah, sure.
You know, so, yeah.
Well, I think we could.
Carry on forever here.
This absolutely.
I know.
We'll have to maybe do it another time.
I think we do.
I think.
I totally think we do.
Um, so yes, we'll pop the links underneath, so get the course.
I'll definitely check it out because it makes so much sense
and it takes the heaviness out of.
a process that is so natural, you know, that we, I think we've sort of, sort of
pushed away as a society as if it was this kind of like weird thing we don't
want to know about when it's actually just part of the part that gives closure.
So thank you so much for, for bringing all of that.
We prepare
Monique: for everything in life.
We prepare for this interview.
I, you know, tidied up the background, did my curls and everything.
Yet we weren't, we don't prepare for the one thing that
is certain in life, which is.
the end, right?
The end of the, well, the, the dying process.
So yeah, let's do it.
Let's do it.
Anke: Alrighty, well then, thank you so much for today.
Monique: so much, Anke.
I'll talk
Anke: to you again soon.
Monique: Yes, thank you so much.
Thanks so much for listening.
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That's A N k E at Soul touched by dogs.com.