Our Dog’s Health from a Different Perspective with Dr. Isla Fishburn
Dr. Isla Fishburn, the founder of Kachina Canine, sat down with me for a podcast involving overall, whole-body, mind, and soul wellness, and our dogs. Before diving into the content, I would like to take a moment to provide an introduction into her background. Her education and life experience in working with wolves and wolf hybrids led her on a journey to enhancing the wellness of our domesticated dogs. Her goal is to ensure dogs have a complete, happy, healthy, and long life.
She gained a deep connection to wolves throughout her work life and now focuses on how to form a harmonious environment between animals, plants, humans, and other aspects of our Earth’s ecosystem. While on her journey to finding harmonious balance, she realized her knowledge could make a positive impact on dogs who may be struggling to connect with the world around them.
By studying the physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, and nutritional aspects of the dog, she helps in every unique dog reaching an entirely new level of wellness.
Living in a High Stress World
In “A Dog’s Life Podcast,” with Dr. Isla Fishburn, she discussed how our dogs (and we) are genetically ancient but living in a society full of stress and high arousal. The body is in a constant form of sympathetic processing instead of parasympathetic processing as it should be. Essentially, this means our dogs (and us) whether we know it or not are often in a constant ‘fight or flight’ response mode resulting in a complete imbalance of our body’s ecosystem.
Anima-Chi Phytotherapy by Dr. Fishburn
To restore balance (mental, physical, spiritual, nutritional, hormonal, emotional), Dr. Fishburn recommends Anima-chi Phytotherapy. In this process, a dog is offered a variety of plant materials to choose from to regain their body’s ‘balance.’ This is shown to help balance the ‘ecosystem’ of their body and prevents (or reduces) the reliance on pharmaceuticals.
Looking at Dogs from a Different Perspective
According to Dr. Fishburn, “every dog is an individual and has their own needs, and their own energy.” She continued to say “when dogs are born within a litter, they don’t know they are going to be picked by humans and go to different homes. Each dog has a different role they play in a litter. There are different responses and characteristics each dog shows. I work with breeders to identify which functional characters are in the litter to best identify which puppies would fit best with interested families.”
“We get so focused on getting a puppy or getting a rescue dog, what do they need?” Instead of focusing on this, look at life stages. When you adopt a puppy or an adult shelter dog, both can be considered as a newborn puppy in a new home. Make sure the vibrations of the home are aligned with welcoming a new addition. Pay attention to the frequencies and vibrations of the home. Take a look at your home as a total ecosystem. At the same time, looking at dogs as a whole ecosystem is equally as critical.
To learn more, there is an online course available at kachinacanine.com.
The Online Course: Complete Canine Wellness
Dr. Fishburn’s online wellness course addresses how to ensure your dog is ‘whole’ in every aspect. The following are items addressed within the course:
- Dogs with high levels of anxiety
- Dogs who don’t feel safe
- Dogs who struggle within certain situations
- How dogs interact and respond to life
- How dogs can live naturally
- How the pet parents’ lives affect their dogs (past experiences, thoughts, emotions, and lifestyle)
- How to support dogs spiritually, nutritionally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually
- How to co-exist in harmony
The Bottom Line
There’s no instant fix or quick magic trick to get your dog’s energies back in balance. According to Dr. Fishburn, this will happen over a period while getting to know your dog on a deeper level. Co-existence is a partnership you share with your dog and it’s a special way of life.
About Angela Ardolino
Angela Ardolino is a holistic pet expert who has been caring for animals for over 20 years and operates a rescue farm, Fire Flake Farm, in Florida. She is also the owner of Beautify the Beast, a natural pet salon and shop. After getting her certificate in Medical Cannabis Biology and Therapeutic use from the University of Vermont School of Medicine, she founded CBD Dog Health to provide high quality, all-natural medical cannabis products designed specifically for pets. Angela has seven dogs, Odie a 12-year-old mini-schnauzer, Nina an 8-year-old Doberman. Jolene a 7-year-old mutt, Maza a 7-year-old mutt, Rhemi an 8-year-old poodle, Potato a 15-year-old shih-tzu, and Miss Daisie a 15-year-old black lab, plus 4-10 more at any time she is fostering or boarding. She uses Full Spectrum Hemp Extract on all her pets at her rescue farm every day, and has since 2016. She is a member of the Society of Cannabis Clinicians, the Veterinary Cannabis Association and has trained hundreds medical doctors and veterinarians about the therapeutic uses of medical cannabis on animals. Visit www.angelaardolino.com for more information.
About Dr. Isla Fishburn
Dr. Isla Fishburn – BSc Zoology, MBiolSci and Ph.D. in Conservation Biology. Continueing, Dr. Isla is a wellness practitioner, zoologist, conservation biologist and practicing shaman. Isla cares deeply about wellness for all of life and is passionate about spiritual ecology and co-creative partnership with Earth. Her years of research include ecosystem health and wolves, including their behavior, conservation, symbolism and ceremony. She realized how she could bring her knowledge to domestic animals and make a significant and positive difference to people and their dogs who may be struggling to connect, communicate or interact on one or more levels and founded Katchina Canine. She noticed a gap in the animal and pet industry and filled it.