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Listen to today's story of a big-hearted dog who inspired a powerful lesson.
Learn more about The School Without Walls and the Dragonfly Guides:
Production assistance from Podlad.com and Daypack Digital. Artwork by Olivia Dancel. Dragonfly art by Soul Creative Design.
Indigenous Wisdom is about opening yourself up and getting to know yourself better as a Human being on this Earth. In this podcast, Julia shares messages, channeled wisdom, and more to support your wisdom journey.
Julia Carmen (00:00):
Allah, beautiful beings. Today I'm sharing a story with you all, a story about change and the fact that we be who we be. We try and change and change each other when that is the thing change we need to do for ourselves. Change. If you are a sensitive listener, you may want to know that I talk about animals and death in today's story, you It is not a bad thing. Yeah, it's something we all have to encounter as we walk in both worlds. But if death is something you don't want to hear about today, maybe save this episode for another time. But it's a great story and I'm really excited to share with you today the story of a dog named Hal Nani. Oh my goodness. Who loved chickens. So let's listen to the story.
(01:17):
We try and change and change each other when that is the thing change we need to do for ourselves. Once upon a time, there was a dog named How Nani and she loved chickens. In the summer of 2002, I moved to Hawaii from Pacifica, California while my husband and I are on a break. Our home is on the island of Hawaii, which is, people call it the big island. Yeah. In Hawaiian Paradise Park, we have an acre of jungle and lava, and my son Luca, who is 15 and a half, somewhere in there at the time, wants a dog. A dog. Shucks. Oh my goodness. I just finished raising four sons and a husband and a daughter who's 22. I do not think of the word raising when I think of her. I am 49 and menopausal. Oh gosh, that's a whole nother podcast. Anyways, Luca is lonely and having a need for companionship. Oh my goodness. Isn't his mother enough? Right. Like I said, I was menopausal and hormones all over the place. He's a teenager. So we off to the pound, we go, okay, well, have you ever heard at Love Love at First Sight? Well, that's what happened. Luca took one look at his first edition to his farm.
(03:15):
It was one cute black and white Jack Russell Rat Terrier, and she is it for him and for me. She looked like a gentle, loving dog. I looked at her biography and her birthday is the same as my husband's birthday. She wows and ironic. We choose her. We choose her. Yeah. I go to the counter to write a check to bring her home, and they are surprised she's still there. She was supposed to have been euthanized, but they forgot she was waiting for us. We bring her home and call her how Nani Nani was immediately at home as we were with her. We had rats on the property and she was busy. I had many presents that she left me out there in the jungle, geckos, those poor things. I would find them like chew toys around the house. Oh God, one was stuck in the doorknob. Oh, NTY. It really was disgusting. Well, let's see. Dell's farm in Hilo has chickens now. Luca wants chickens. We two folks from the city bought three chickens.
(04:52):
We got some chicken wire and Luca built a round corral. Nani liked the chickens. We all liked the chickens. In fact, the chickens were bigger than her. The chickens would wander around eating bugs. Nani would lie down in the sun and chill, and everyone had a great time for at least a month. And then it happened. Shucks, I heard chicken screaming. It was not squawking. Luca and I ran outside and there were feathers everywhere, and Nani had a chicken in her mouth. She looked like a lion, and she was walking off with her kill. Oh my goodness. Luca was chasing her in the jungle. I was hysterical. She was. I'm having PTSD right now. The chickens were all gone within a few weeks. Luca was sure he could change Nani. He pleaded, and he and I went back to Dell's and bought two more chickens in a beautiful rooster.
(06:12):
Luca put Nani on a runner and the new chickens on the other side. Life is good in Hawaiian Paradise Park. And then it happened. This time I'm not at home, but Luca is, and so is Nani. Nani managed to get out of her collar. Nani was nobody's fool. She ran for those chickens and there was no stopping her. The carnage was everywhere. When I saw it, I thought, oh, the humanity. God, it was awful. It was tragic. It was gross. And I cried. Lucas said so many times, I'm sorry, mom. Mom, I'm so sorry. Nani was done and she was wagging her tail. But this is not the last of our chicken stories. My other children would come to Hawaii and they met Nani. This is a dog. They would say, she is the one that is killing your livestock. You are so tiny. Nani. Why are you doing this? If you know, do this again, you'll be sent back to jail, which is actually the pound, right?
(07:31):
My daughter said to us, please don't buy Nani anymore, live toys. But we were the city people. We thought we knew best. Sometimes I would go back to the Bay Area to do some work, and my time out husband went to Hawaii to stay with Luca Nani and the new chickens. Well, one day he and I were talking on the phone and I asked him, how's it going? And I hear Squawky not screaming. And he says, well, I said, chicken running, and I see Nani running and I see Luca running. You look, think of the three stooges. That's what I was thinking. But everything's okay. Luca was able to stop Nani and there was no carnage today.
(08:34):
But shortly after I returned, Nani achieved her goals once more with the heavy heart and with Luca, again, pleading mom. This time I know what to do. We decide to try one more time. This time we got baby ducks, a couple of chickens and one rooster. Nani loves the baby ducks and they, Ashley sleep with her. We keep Nani separate from the chickens, but the ducks, she's a mom. They trust her like we trust her. Time goes on and the ducklings become ducks. At night, the ducks patrol the house and they have names, which I won't mention here. We love them. We really love them. One night I changed the duck's water and Nani stands with us. I go inside and I hear something, a noise, some animal I don't recognize. I know something's wrong.
(09:51):
I run outside and Nani has one of the ducks by the throat. Oh, chihuahuas. The other one has flown away. I pride our duck, our little friend out of Nani's mouth and she's dead. Oh shit. Oh gosh. I cried and I cried. I really cried. Nani looked at me, what are you doing? Her face said, you took my dinner. The next day I'm at the post office. I'm trying to think of other things, but I'm devastated. I loved that duck. The mail clerk gives me a roll of stamps with dogs and cats on them, and that's all it takes. And I am frigging wailing. What's the matter? The clerk asked.
(10:48):
My dog killed my duck. Last night I cried. Everyone that was in line got involved in Hawaii. There is no wall. Ya need to tie a dead chicken around Nani's neck and leave it there until she can't stand it anymore. That will cure her. One person advised, another person asked, where's your chicken coop? We don't have a chicken coop. We have wire. I said, you have to have a chicken coop. Another concerned person in line said, once a chicken killer, always a chicken killer, a woman in line said, you will have to make a choice.
(11:37):
I went home. I was distraught, and at times when I think about it, I still am distraught. My third son came over and a chicken coop was built. This time we knew it would be okay. We bought a few more chickens and a rooster who was black and white. Oh my goodness, he was so handsome. But where we saw safety, Nani saw a challenge daily. She would walk around the coop. This went on for a few weeks. She wasn't in any hurry. She had all the time in the world. She discovered how to create an opening. Dig and dig. She did. This time we weren't home and all we found were feathers. That was it. No more chicken buying for us. And then shucks, someone gave us chickens. We thought about it. And for Luca, this was truly a last chance. He was 16, close to 17.
(12:50):
He knew that he now had the maturity to take care of the chickens. And Nani, a healer came by and insisted to make things easier. She could work magic on Nani and Nani listened attentively to the healer. The healer knew that Nani had changed. I went to San Francisco on business. Our 70-year-old plus friend came to stay with Luca and always quiet. It was just another day in paradise. And our friend let the chickens out of their cage to enjoy the beautiful weather. Nani stood by and then it happened 70 years old and she never knew she could run that fast. She shouted, she pleaded, and Nani was a lion again. No one survived. Our friend felt so bad, she gave us some more chickens.
(14:04):
Why she was. And so one day I'm out in my yard in Hawaii, hacking the jungle down with my machete. I saw a chicken go down the driveway, and after her I saw Nani. I got to screaming hysterically. Nani one in the, I won't say it, blank, are you doing? I'm frigging going to kill you. And then it happened. I sat down in the middle of the driveway and started laughing. My dog kills chickens. This is what my dog does. And that moment when I said that, I saw this dog's head poking out of the jungle looking at me. There was no chicken in her mouth. There was understanding. Nani ran to me and jumped into my arms. Something she didn't do too often, and she licked me over and over and I could hear her saying, that's right, mommy, I kill chickens. How long it took me to realize that my dog kills chickens.
(15:20):
How long does it take us to recognize that we cannot make people change? They are who they are and their change comes from within. Ani, my wonderful, beautiful Lonnie who is now chasing chickens in heaven was a dog and she did as a dog what she needed to do. We try and change and change each other when that is a thing change we need to do for ourselves. Change My beautiful How Nani passed in September of 2009 and I miss her dearly. I'd like to share with you folks a song written by an 8-year-old Malia, my granddaughter. A song for how Nanny a dog that can live. She can do many things before the sun rising and the moon shining. She can fight like a warrior in war. She is strong like a lion, good eyesight, like a hawk. She is golden and treasure and we could count on her. She never gives up because she is the chosen one.
(16:47):
I still think of how Nani and what a beautiful being she was and of what she taught me. Thanks for listening to the story of How Nani today. I hope it brought you a laugh or two, or maybe a tear or two, and perhaps a new way of looking at who we be and how we approach change. If this year you're looking to want to make a change of your own in your life, I'd love to invite you to book a free discovery call with me, what you can do right here on our website, the School Without Waltz. Thank you for listening to my most favorite story, my how n my Hawaii dog and her Loving Chickens. Amen.