MovingSophia

12/15/2024

Dear Community,

Happy Holidays ~ I am sharing this here as following the RolfYoga e-Book this coming year will be a series of other e-Books including one on Canine Trauma and De-Stressing Techniques which many of you have been learning here with the private group. Much to look forward to in the coming year :)

L'aura and Chole

What is RolfYoga | Demo 2013

11/04/2024

10/26/2024

🐾 POEM OF A DOG
I'm the one who's always waiting for you.
Your car has a special sound that I have imprinted on my senses, I can recognize it in a thousand.
Your steps have a magic bell.
Your voice is music to my ears.
If I see your joy, it makes me happy!.
Your scent is the best.
Your presence moves my senses.
Your waking up wakes me up
I contemplate you sleeping and for me you are my God, I am happy watching your sleep.
Your look is a ray of light.
Your hands upon me, hold the lightness of peace and the sublime display of infinite love.
When you leave, I feel a huge void in my heart.
I keep waiting for you again and again.
I am the one who will wait for you all your life today, tomorrow and forever:
I am your dog.

10/24/2024

SEEKING: Documentarian for film festivals

TOPIC: Animal Welfare

Message or email me: [email protected]

10/17/2024

If you choose to rescue animals, I am going to give you some sound advice - Grow thick skin and don't care what people think of you. I have known people to lose the battle with their minds and we just lost a kind, caring individual in my rescue network. Compassion fatigue is real, but nothing is worth your life. No pet. No rescue. No person's opinion. Nothing.

In rescue, that person that tells you what an angel you are and how wonderful you are every time you pick up a stray pet thrown at their door will also be the first person who tells people how your organization is worthless when you don't have space to pick up the 30th pet thrown off on their property. It's ok.

In rescue, the adopter that leaves you the five star review about how wonderful everyone has been will change that review quick when they return the pet even though you have spent hours trying to keep it in their home. One star reviews are ok.

In rescue, your friend will be your friend until you deny their application for a pet because they are a great friend but a terrible pet owner. That's ok too.

In rescue, you will answer 143 calls in a day (yesterday to be exact). But if you miss 6 calls in a row while you are in the shower, you will be the one who "never answers their phone". It's ok.

In rescue, other rescuers and random trolls will judge everything you do but never have time to pitch in a hand to help when they see something needing more attention. They will, however, have lots of time to talk about how they’d do it better while they harass and judge you. It will be ok.

In rescue, you will have to involve animal control and the police department sometimes. The people who you take pets from will hate you - and I mean REALLY hate you. Trust me, it's ok.

In rescue, pets will be put down and pets will die at the hands of abusers. We can't save them all - and that's ok. We save the ones that we can and pray for peace for the ones we can't.

I have been in the animal rescue world since 2009. I have dealt with every problem and every situation imaginable. I used to take some things to heart, then I realized - I am doing this for the animals, not for any person in this world. I have found my joy and no person will take that. If you are in rescue, don't let anyone or anything take your joy. Find peace that you will never please everyone. Find peace that you will never save them all. Never allow something you love to turn into something that ends your life.

By: Tiffany Rebecca

10/17/2024

Paws Across Pittsburgh needs YOU!!! Have you ever thought about fostering? If so, we would love to have you on our team!! If fostering has never crossed your mind…. Let me tell you a little about how you can help save a dog’s life.

All of the shelters across the US are full. The rescues don’t have enough fosters to help them all. I think we all now what the consequences are when that happens. You can be a foster hero and help change that.

If you foster with Paws, we provide training and a mentor to help you manage through the process. We provide all supplies and pay for all vetting. You provide the loving home!! The foster also has first choice if they want to adopt!

Please consider helping us help them. Become a foster hero and help save a dog’s life. Please pm us with questions. Applications are online pawsacrosspittsburgh.com/foster

10/07/2024

Adopt a pet, learn about services available for pets in Asheville, report a missing pet or learn what to do when you find a stray.

10/01/2024

Everyone who is thinking of getting dogs should read this because you need to understand this reality:

***I am a 21st century dog.***
-I'm a Malinois.
Overskilled among dogs, I excel in all disciplines and I'm always ready to work: I NEED to work.
But nowadays I get asked to chill on the couch all day everyday.

-I am an Akita Inu.
My ancestors were selected for fighting bears.
Today I get asked to be tolerant and I get scolded for my reactivity when another approaches me.

-I am a Beagle.
When I chase my prey, I raise my voice so the hunters could follow.
Today they put an electric collar on me to shut up, and you make me come back to you - no running - with a snap of your fingers.

-I am a Yorkshire Terrier.
I was a terrifying rat hunter in English mines.
Today they think I can't use my legs and they always hold me in their arms.

-I'm a Labrador Retriever.
My vision of happiness is a dive into a pond to bring back the duck he shot to my master.
Today you forget I'm a walking, running, swimming dog; as a result I'm fat, made to stay indoors, and to babysit.

-I am a Jack Russell.
I can take on a fox, a mean badger, and a rat bigger than me in his den.
Today I get scolded for my character and high energy, and forced to turn into a quiet living room dog.

-I am a Siberian Husky.
Experienced the great, wide open spaces of Northern Europe, where I could drag sleds for long distances at impressive speeds.
Today I only have the walls of the house or small garden as a horizon, and the holes I dig in the ground just to release energy and frustration, trying to stay sane.

-I am a border collie
I was made to work hours a day in partnershipwith my master, and I am an unmistakable artist of working with the herd.
Today they are mad at me because, for lack of sheep, I try to check bikes, cars, children in the house and everything in motion.

I am ...
I am a 21st century dog.
I'm pretty, I'm alert, I'm obedient, I stay in a bag...but I'm also an individual who, from centuries of training, needs to express my instincts, and I am *not* suited for the sedentary life you'd want me to lead.
Spending eight hours a day alone in the house or in the garden - with no work and no one to play or run with, seeing you for a short time in the evening when you get home, and only getting a small toilet walk will make me deeply unhappy.
I'll express it by barking all day, turning your yard into a minefield, doing my needs indoors, being unmanageable the rare times I'll find myself outside, and sometimes spending my days sunk, sad, lonely, and depressed, on my pillow.
You may think that I should be happy to be able to enjoy all this comfort while you go to work, but actually I’ll be exhausted and frustrated, because this is absolutely NOT what I'm meant to do, or what I need to be doing.
If you love me, if you've always dreamed of me, if my beautiful blue eyes or my athletic look make you want me, but you can't give me a real dog's life, a life that's really worth living according to my breed, and if you can't offer me the job that my genes are asking, DO NOT buy or adopt me!
If you like the way I look but aren't willing to accept my temperament, gifts, and traits derived from long genetic selection, and you think you can change them with only your good will, then DO NOT BUY OR ADOPT ME.
I’m a dog from the 21st century, yes, but deep inside me, the one who fought, the one who hunted, the one who pulled sleds, the one who guided and protected a herd still lives within.
So think **very** carefully before you choose your dog. And think about getting two, rather than one, so I won't be so very lonely waiting for you all day. Eight or ten hours is just a workday to you, but it's an eternity for me to be alone.

Like David Attenborough Fans for more.

09/30/2024

Winter is around the bend and there's no better thing to do than TAKE A CLASS WITH YOUR DOG!

On November, 9th at 9 a.m. I will be teaching the CST techniques at Salty Paws in Lawrenceville PA!

To learn more or register, please call or email:
*Class is 90 minutes in length
*Fee is $45 with personal instruction
*Registration required

Who is this for?
Anyone dealing with a stressed-out /anxious dog.

L'aura Marie Campisi / MovingSophia
505/501,0279
[email protected]

09/27/2024

All of Them.
by L'aura Marie

It was September in Kanab, Utah I decided to return to New Mexico and shift gears towards the animals. All of them.

I took a place in Ojo Caliente near the mineral springs. I took Rhody, my faithful Ridgeback companion, and set sail for yet another time in New Mexico. There were so many over the years. This one would be a little different. The focus was nature, Rhody, and the animals.

By the time we arrived, we were greeted by five loose dogs in the neighborhood which is more like western Kenya I've been told. Everything is free, wild, and dangerous. None of the dogs were wearing collars, let alone looked well nourished. But they were happy, and curious about who I was and why Rhody smelled so good.

I started feeding them, of course, I did. They were soon part of our morning walk which actually felt safer to me having them there than without. As I said.. free, wild, and dangerous.

" To travel is to take a journey into the self "
- Danny Kaye

By the second month, Rhody declared it was time for him to cross over - and so there we were. All of us. The pack of five and then some... the neighboring horses, a few felines, and three human soulmates to help me bury his body and pray over him.

Rhody is my soulmate and those of us who have dogs know what this means. You have that one that just 'got ya' and you 'got them' and though at times they pulled every stretched fiber of patience across your tightly knitted fascial suit, you still loved them and protected them. You are bonded.

Rhody passed in late November, and I traveled back to one of my homes. I went all the way to Pennsylvania to grieve, to work, to see my mother, to eat almond croissants, and to be. I ate so many croissants I started emulating the color and texture of marzipan.

It was time to get back to what I set sail for in New Mexico, the animals. All of them.

While I was in Pennsylvania, I was hired to care for a property in Taos, NM. I accepted with the intention that I would gratefully receive what was placed in front of me - animal-wise. That I would table moving my canine therapy work and Rolfing and just BE with what came.

What presented out of the gate as I landed back in New Mexico were two cows at the door of the property and about six feral cats. As if they knew... cats just have a way of knowing what's about to happen as though they themselves willed it to be.

Little buggers.

And so there I was. All of them. All the cats and cows and no dogs. What?! Good lord what is going on. I know nothing about cats or cows.

So I look into the community to see about feral catch and release programs. I try to catch a few. I fail. I fail and fail and fail again. Meanwhile, my social life is also significantly paused. It is the deadest of dead of winter in Taos, New Mexico which means DARK, COLD, and unless you ski... you will be very alone. Alternatively, you will get very creative and write or drink yourself into a tizzy. I do the opposite and care for what is presented to me. Cats and cows. All of them.

I eventually captured one cat and took her in to be spayed. After the debacle of releasing her, she actually fled back inside the house instead of outside while nearly catching herself on fire by getting a wee too close to the stove. Cats.

I pause. Recenter. Laugh. Cry.
And move back towards mission 'All of Them.'

Thank you for reading.

The upcoming visual journal I am still organizing and will release in a few hours time. It is a visual memoir of each and every animal since the winter of 2023 while on this journey towards nature and animals.

I do hope you enjoy it.

With love and so much happiness and gratitude for the Animals,
L'aura Marie

09/27/2024

N and Fritz.

Today I met with N and her dog Fritz. N is traveling all over the US while Fritz lives out his life. Fritz is 21. They had it good in North Carolina when her home sold and now she is moving around the US seeing friends and exploring unvisited areas. She will soon be overseas but while Fritz is here... so is she.

Dedicated canine person here.

N reached out to me as Fritz is having stress and anxiety. They are now in a small, dusty area in New Mexico where the altitude is kicking their buts as well as the sun. I walked her through some basic CST techniques to calm Fritz and it took hold immediately. What I noticed more than anything was how the dog was responding to her overall. Every time N went into something sad or hard, Fritz displayed discomfort.

This can sometimes be hard as dog companions. To see when our stress is affecting our beloveds' state of well-being. Dogs are notably sensitive, honest, and don't lie - why many humans are drawn to them. And they pick up on every little nuance.

Our session toady was brief. We will do more in the coming days but for now, both N and Fritz are on board with developing newer patters to ease stress as they move forward through the remainder of his life. And getting a good night's rest.

Today's session was over Zoom where most of my one-to-one out-of-state sessions take place.

MovingSophia

09/26/2024

09/25/2024

My Pleasant STOLEN DOG//CAR 📍📍📍📍📍📍📍📍📍📍📍📍📍