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.
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 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.