I came across an interesting post this week by Dr. Narda Robinson, on one of my favorite blogs, Pet Connection. The article describes ways of better understanding and interacting with our pets.
This brought to mind an interview I did recently with Animal Planet’s Joel Silverman, about his book What Color is Your Dog? Joel assigns colors to dog personality traits. The Pet Connection article shares a Chinese system of five “phases.”
from Pet Connection:
“The five categories of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water represented changes these ancient naturalists witnessed over the day, the year, and the life cycle as well as interrelationships between organs, emotions, people, and climate. The model embraces, expects, and accepts metamorphosis.
Much like the personality profiles of modern psychology, Five Phases analysis groups people and animals into constitutional categories based on psychological and physical manifestations. While not yet a scientifically validated means of determining Chinese medical treatments for humans or animals, identifying a predominant phase out of balance in an individual seems to provide clues about what a patient needs to restore homeostasis.
For example, a task-oriented metal-type dog needs a job to do, while the earth-type cat needs a warm lap.”
I recommend this article to learn more about your pet–are they Wood, Earth, Fire, Metal, or Water?
By the way, I believe Kelly is Wood.
