Canine Facilitated Therapy

Have you ever noticed how animals react to people that have special conditions? I use the term “special conditions” to refer to anything ranging from a physical disability to a mental disability to general fragility related to old age to an otherwise healthy person just feeling out of sorts.

Animals, especially those that are highly attuned to us humans, such as dogs, cats and horses, pick up the energy we radiate – some would say they notice the auras that we have. Unlike people, animals don’t get uncomfortable when confronted with those of us who are less than perfectly healthy, whether that discomfort exists on a physical, emotional, mental or spiritual level. We all know about the seeing-eye dogs, the dogs that assist severely handicapped people in day-to-day living and most of us have at least heard of the horses that allow mentally handicapped children to enjoy the simple pleasure of relating to nature.

At “On the Trail” we offer programs, tailored to the special needs that individuals or groups have. An example is the tracking work we do with our dogs and autistic children. Here it becomes very obvious that, where people will usually draw away from these children, the dogs have no problems relating to these kids on the same basis they relate to everything: very simple and straightforward. The change in the children is usually immediate and profound; they find delight in the fact that they aren’t shunned and they calm down, forming a bond with the dogs almost instantly.

This is only one example of the possibilities of working with dogs. We customize our approach to each and every individual and group, based on previous experience and desired outcome. If you would like to find out more about our special needs programs, please get in touch with us and we’d be happy to set up a meeting to discuss what we can do for you.

The Canine Facilitated Therapy (C.F.T.) program is offered to those who have a desire to understand the deep connection between our animals and us and how to use this connection to further Self development. The C.F.T. program will challenge your views of self and soul, seeking to help you integrate a more complete way of Being into everyday life – benefiting not just yourself and your animals but the whole of Creation.


Students of both Spirituality and Psychology, we recognize the important contribution our animals can make to our personal development.

Arguably, we are the only animal on this planet that is capable of questioning the Meaning of Life, and consequently we are the only animal that suffers from all the neuroses, psychoses and pathologies that have become a “normal” part of our make up as a species (species such as dogs and horses that have spent thousands of years living in close quarters with us humans sometimes show mild forms of these tendencies). According to all the major wisdom traditions (Eastern and Western) it is our legacy to transcend these conditions and to realize our “Oneness” with all of Creation – and our animals can be one of the gateways to this original consciousness.

Our animals will reflect our state of consciousness, whether we are anxious, suffer from fear or depression or are “just nervous”. In animals this may manifest as behavioural problems initially and ultimately as illness - just as in humans our emotional problems and issues, if not dealt with on our own or with the help of a psychotherapist or counselor may manifest as illness – ultimately leading to such afflictions as cancer, auto-immune diseases and heart failure.

Through our unique approach, behavioural problems in our animals are transformed into vehicles that give access to a deeper understanding of the reaches of consciousness and the vast potential of human nature.


In the C.F.T. program we start off by looking at the dynamics that exist in you and your animal family. Together, we will use the clues your animals give through behaviour and/or physical condition to form a path leading to increased conscious awareness. Our facilitators use techniques that combine spirituality and psychotherapy, integrating the ancient wisdom traditions with modern empirical research into a unique form of therapy, often times using our animals’ innate wisdom as a pointer to what we humans have long forgotten – that which we need to reclaim…

An increasing number of people in our modern Western society are coming to the realization that the prevalent world view of scientific materialism that came about in the last 200 or so years, is gravely insufficient to explain and realize interior depth and notions such as “Soul” and “Spirit”. The vast majority of our scientists and philosophers would have us think that consciousness is the by-product of matter, in other words that our physical minds are more fundamental than consciousness and soul, and that – ultimately - life is merely a coincidence. Ken Wilber, one of the most comprehensive philosophical thinkers of our time, describes this affliction beautifully:

“The downside of the enlightenment paradigm was that, in its rush to be empirical, it inadvertently collapsed the interior depths into observable surfaces, and it thought that a simple mapping of these empirical exteriors was all the knowledge that was worth knowing. This left out the mapmaker itself – the consciousness, the interiors, the subjective dimensions – and, a century or two later, it awoke in horror to find itself living in a universe with no value, no meaning, no intentions, no depth, no quality – it found itself in a disqualified universe, ruled by the monological gaze, the brutal world of the lab technician.”
(Wilber, A Brief History of Everything, p.89)

The C.F.T. program is facilitated by both Frans and Tara. Please do not hesitate to contact us for more details.

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