Session 1 (The Nine Systems of the Body)

Introduction To Harmony Alternative Pet Therapies

Welcome to Harmony Alternative Pet Therapies. You are choosing to embark on an exciting program that will make a difference in the health and well being of many people and pets. Whether you pursue this education in order to care better for your own pets, to open a pet therapy business or to supplement your professional education, we know you will be challenged and encouraged in your thinking and your living as it relates to pets and animals. Welcome aboard!

Why is the demand for and, the efficiency of, alternative and natural therapies growing so quickly? The statistics below represent issues that effect human, animal and environmental health and behavior and answer that question.

·         The rate of cancer in dogs has soared for over 2 decades.

·         Allergies, organ failure, lack of immune response, pre-mature aging and many other chronic and acute illnesses are costing pet owners and pets much quality time together…and piles of money.

·         Millions of dogs are euthanized due to simple behavior problems.

·         Many breeders lack knowledge and integrity with relation to health, behavior and selective breeding.

·         Most pet owners do not know the basics of breed qualities, breed selection standards, posturing language or even quality daily care when it comes to their specific canine companions.

·         Most pet owners do not know basic dog language nor are they able to identify nutritional needs, behavior challenges or physical ailments before they become problematic.

·         50-80% of medical diagnoses are incorrect. (due to many variables including restraints on veterinarians time, growing number of factors that affect health, lack of alternative pet therapies awareness and Influences built on finances and policy instead of people and pets.

·         Many conventional medical techniques do not address root problems for the symptoms they suppress.

·         Drugs are foreign chemicals that may stay in the body for years and cause long term health problems.

·         Environmental toxins may affect dogs more than their human friends.

·         Most pet owners make one of two mistakes when it comes to veterinary care; they think the health of their pet is the veterinarians’ job, or they ignore the vet until the situation is desperate.

·         Two things pet owners need to know: Modern veterinary care is essential and holistic alternative therapies in the home will make veterinary care more effective and less costly!

·         It’s a common mistake to treat animals and the environment with an atheistic world view. (A view that insists that there is no real purpose for existence and no ultimate intelligent designer for the universe, to which all of its particulars can refer). Unknowingly, many religious, spiritual, Christian, Muslim and people of other faith persuasions, abandon the logical foundations of their faith when it comes to the environment and animals. (This is even often true with how people treat each other).  [Living a life that is consistent to the logical conclusions of what can be reasonably assumed, believed and presupposed about the universe, is central to building harmony in life. Just like the body must function in harmony for optimum health (the internal environment), so there can never be harmony in the external world unless its systems are working together. This ideal existence and harmonious world, however dependent it may be on external support and interference from a Creator, requires the attention of its in habitants and this is a foundational basis for the Harmony IIITP Course. This is an adjunct course to the program you will be studying here. You may consider this course, called The Intellectual Integrity of an Integrative Theology and Philosophy, after completion of the alternative pet therapies course, although it is not required for certification. It may allow you though, to provide consultation and therapies that affect people and animals on a more dynamic level].  For now, in this present course, the focus will be on the nine physical systems of the body and how alternative pet therapies positively affect each of these systems resulting in optimum health.

In fact, that is a concise and accurate statement for you to remember. When you finish this program of Harmony Alternative Pet Therapies: You will know the nine systems of the body and how alternative pet therapies restore and support these systems and the components of these systems. As a result you will be able to offer therapy treatments, consultation and education regarding the health and behavior of canine companions. (Many of these principles will also relate to other animals and humans however, it is our focus here to concern ourselves primarily with dogs).

With so much to know about a body and all of its interconnected components, where to begin is probably as difficult to assess as is where to end. In this program you will be impressed to see how complete and yet, simple, we have made the process of learning about the dog and the therapies that will enhance its whole being and also the relationship it has with its owner. Before we study things like massage techniques, or herbal therapies or how to correct a behavior problem, we must first learn about the basic systems of the body of which there are nine. Occasionally we will offer an entertaining way to memorize or absorb certain information, obviously it will be up to you if you choose to use the suggestions offered here, create your own or simply commit to memory in a different way what you study. In addition, you will want to understand the learning process. So, let’s start with a simple acronym for the nine systems of the body.

Nine Skinny Mutts Circled Russia. Dogs Usually Enjoy Russia.

N S M C R D U E R

In a moment we are going to use this acronym to memorize the systems of the body, but before we do, let’s look at how we learn, or the learning process. A man named Bloom came up with a list of the steps in the learning process. We will use this to encourage your depth of learning. His taxonomy (list) has been “updated” by his students and it has been changed in different ways over the years, but the basic components are as follows:

1)      You remember something. (Memory)

2)      You can explain what it is that you remember. (Understanding or comprehension)

3)      You can apply the information in some way. (Application)

4)      You can analyze the information and its various parts and support your ideas. (Analysis and Evaluation)

5)      You can synthesize or create something new. (Synthesis or thesis)

Though slightly different than Blooms original list, this list gives you the insight into really “knowing” or learning. If you simply memorize something you only “learn” it at a very basic level. Hence, as students, we all want to take our education to the next level. In this program you will be challenged to do some work on your own in order to ascend the ladder of learning and cement in your mind what it is that you have learned. It is our goal that all information would go beyond the memory level to at least the level of comprehension where you can explain it. This will be all that is necessary in some cases, and the minimum level of acquired learning in other cases.

Nine Skinny Mutts Circled Russia. Dogs Usually Enjoy Russia.

The fist letter of each word stands for a body system. The nine body systems are the Nervous System, the Skeletal System, the Muscular System, the Circulatory System, the Respiratory System, the Digestive System, the Urinary System, the Endocrine System and the Reproductive System. N S M C R D U E R.

Now try it until you can do it from memory and then come back. Say it. Write it. Tell it to someone else!

Good Job. This is truly a great start to be able to identify the nine systems of the body. Keep in mind that this is not exhaustive though. There are also elements that are not physical such as emotion, intellect and spiritual levels on which we also live, as do animals. We will incorporate all of these as we go. Although parts of the physical nine systems are also intangible (can not be seen or touched), such as nerve impulses, we will still consider the nervous system as part of the physical nine systems of the body. And, it is the system with which we will begin.