Reuniting with my Kelpie Family
This was meant to be a big week. Today, right now, I was meant to be picking up my 3 gorgeous silver kelpies from LAX — Los Angeles International Airport. My dogs are flying over the Pacific in a big ol’ airplane to join me here in America. Say what?! Yep, they are flying out of Brisbane Australia and coming over to the USA. An international flight for my dogs! This Covid-19 world pandemic has kept us apart since March 2020, and what an exciting reunion it will be to see my precious pups again. #cantwait!
So… it didn’t happen today. #sadtimes. At the last moment, the airlines rescheduled the kelp-cakes to fly NEXT week. That’s a bit of a bummer, but also okay. I can manage one more week. NEXT week, I’ll be headed out to California to pick these guys up. #superexcited! The kelps don’t know it yet, but yep…. they are about to go on one massive adventure ride!
Does Your Dog Matter to YOU?
My dogs most certainly matter to me! 
These dogs have been the world to me during my years in Australia. They were the family I didn’t have nearby. The friends that stayed loyal and true. The best companions one could ask for. They were always there, being silly, fun, energetic, and communicative. Yes, my dogs talk back to me. I know, I know — what kind of weirdo talks to her dogs enough that the dogs learn to speak back? Well… you know. I really like my dogs, so I talk to them. 🙂
JoeJoe likes to play catch, chase, and hide-n-seek. Pinky can climb trees and remember dozens of names and words. Pixie was still young when I flew to Texas, so I don’t know what she knows yet. We’ll soon see how many of their fancy dog tricks they will remember after 18 months!
Dogs can be scary for some people — and while I can understand that — that also is a sad situation. People who don’t get to connect and bond with a dog are missing out on a wonderful experience. Those folks may disagree with me on that — that is okay if they do — but I’m a giant fan of having animals to sit with, to bond with, to have by your side. Animals are accepting and nonjudgmental. They can see your heart, they can sense your pain, and they are the most forgiving. They have such an amazing ability to love without condition. They can be so much kinder than people. We can learn a lot from dogs!
What do your dogs or cats teach you about attachment? Connection? Compassion?
What do your pets show you about providing comfort, and giving care, and being sensitive to the world around you?
But dogs are so much work! Oh yes, no doubt! These kelpies keep me busy, that’s for sure. It’s a lot of constant care throughout the day. Plus, having three of them — mom, dad, and pup — they are all of different ages, and need different foods, and require different amounts of exercise and expect different levels of entertainment. They are each their own personality, and while they hang together tightly as their own little grouping, they each are individuals as well.
Does this sound like any of the people in your inside system? Strongly connected, but separate?
Similar needs, but very unique needs?
Do you find yourself overwhelmed with caring for the needs of so many insiders who have different requirements all at the same time?
My dogs typically go everywhere with me. They prefer to ride along in the car rather than staying home alone. Yes, they probably have a few abandonment issues, and now, after being forced apart for so many months, they’ll surely have all kinds of separation anxiety even more than normal. I can imagine that they’ll be pretty tightly glued to my side once they finally get to be next to me again.
That’s okay. I have really missed them too, and frankly, I want to be with them as much or more than they want to be with me! Can you relate to that?
How are you going to plan the P4² Conference while Tending to Your Kelpies, Kathy?
Well! This will be a challenge for sure! There’s no doubt that the dogs will arrive in a kafluzzle and will be all out of sorts. It’s not every day that a dog flies 15 hours over an ocean in a cargo plane! So yeah, they will be a bit of a mess when they first get here. They will definitely take extra time and attention, and you know… that is okay with me. We’ve been waiting 18-months to be re-united, so you know, they can have a few play days! In fact, my very first stop, after picking them up from the airport, will hopefully be a dog beach. We all have missed our time playing by the ocean, so yep… step one will be some water play in the Pacific.
But what about the Conference?
(You’ll be so busy with your dogs — will you even remember there is a conference in October?!?!)
Yes, yes, the conference is happening! And there is a team of us working to make that happen. Remember to check at the P4DIDConference.com website. The latest news and updates will be posted there in a more connected, orderly fashion that here at the Discussing Dissociation blog.
Conference Registration
AND…. one of the biggest benefits about the kelpies arriving next week instead of this week is that the P4² DID Conference REGISTRATION process will be completed. We are almost there — it is ALMOST available. Give me another day or two to work with Kerry, and you will be able to officially register. BEFORE I get the kelpies in California, you will be able to start officially registering for the conference in Chicago.
UPDATE: Conference Registration is OPEN! Click HERE.
The Writing Team
Also, I want to introduce ahead of time, we now have THE WRITING TEAM who will also be helping to write and post information for you about the Conference. You’ll see a variety of differently styled posts over the next month, and I hope you enjoy the new bits and pieces that will be coming forward. We are hoping to keep the upcoming information interesting, unique, fun, a bit entertaining, and helpful, of course.
The Writing Team will be glad to write in response to your questions or comments, so feel free to post a response in the Comment section below.
Pet-Friendly Hotel
By the way, did you know that the Royal Sonesta Chicago Downtown at the Riverwalk is a pet-friendly hotel?
Are you bringing your emotional support dog to the conference?
For a bit, I seriously considered bringing Pinky, my oldest kelpie. She is the calmest, and probably the smartest of them. She’s got years of history proving herself to be the most in-tuned and sensitive to emotional complexities when people are upset, hurting or in pain. She checks on people, and cares how they are.
However… I think that involving Pinky in a big event this soon will be a little too much for her, especially since that would involve another plane ride! That’s probably way too much to ask! So not yet — Pinky won’t be there this year — but she will be at some of the upcoming events in 2022, no doubt.
For now, I will let you know that we will have a series of videos, especially made for P4² that will show the reunion of me with the kelpies. If you are a conference attendee, you will be one of the first to see this real-life story unfold.
Thank you for Your Patience While Waiting for Us to Complete the P4 Registration Process!
This year’s conference will be incredible. We have learned from some of our mishaps last year, #newbiesmakemistakes! We’ve got even BETTER ideas this year! #WeCanBeBETTER! We’ve expanded in some areas, added an extra day, added more fun with an Adventure Walk: Chicago Style and a Saturday night event on the Penthouse floor of the Sonesta. We’re bringing Laura Boettger of DDCF in as a speaker and our Zoom Manager. Our Awesome Email Alex will be there for administrative help. We’ll have art, music, and all kinds of interesting displays. #WeGotGoodPeople!
I am so very grateful for the good folks at MetroNBI who have stood by me this trying year. Dr Patino has been a rock of encouragement and support. And also, here’s a big shout out for our sponsoring partner, The Serafin Project, an official 501(c)(3) organization who can give you tax receipts for your charitable donations to the P4 DID Conference.
YES, We are ACCEPTING YOUR ARTWORK
The tradition of having an amazing art show continues! Please contact Alex to get additional information about how to send in your ARTWORK to be included in this year’s ART presentation.
Please send your artwork to us by 30 September
We need plenty of time to create a very unique presentation!
Thanks again for your interest. I’ll be doing a lot of kelpying over the next few weeks — hopefully they will arrive here safely! While I’ve been doing many preparations for their arrival, I’ll still be working on conference presentations, and yes, I am definitely looking forward to seeing YOU soon as well. I’m Chicago bound in a month from now!
Click here for more stories and updates about the KELPIE TRAVELS.
Exciting times!
Wishing many happy dog days to you.
Warmly,
Kathy
Copyright © 2008-2021 Kathy Broady MSW and Discussing Dissociation
Say Kathy, I am just so thrilled that you are being reunited with your fur-babies. I think that it is a brilliant idea to take them to the beach. It will be cathartic for all of you to look out at the ocean and where you once lived knowing that you are always connect there. Oh, and the puppies are going to want to rip around and play with momma Kathy for sure.
I have been blessed to have many four-legged friends in my life. My husband and I have allergies so we cannot have pets of our own (although we have in the past) so I book play dates with the pets of my friends. Yup, I really do. Animals teach us so much about living in the moment, unconditional love and acceptance and how to have fun. Those are all things that I feel that I need to learn and put my trust in. I also work with horses in equine assisted therapy and the interaction with these incredible creatures is amazing. I won’t get started on that.😉
How you have pressed forward to bringing this P4 conference to life despite all of the many hurdles along the way is awe inspiring Kathy. Your strength, tenacity and dedication to the DID community is amazing.
Kathy and her troupe (Laura, Dedra, Alex and Kerry) have done all of the months and months of hard work to make this happen for us folks.
All we have to do is sign up and show up!
hihi puppys
we happy you coming back to US to Kathy
I want to meet pixie puppy and pinky and joejoe from
We have 4 chickens! We got them when they were only 1 day old! They were little fuzz balls! We introduced them to Dusty our 6 yr old Golden Retriever right when we brought them home! They eat treats (chopped vegetables and fruits) every evening before bed. The 4 chickens and Dusty eat their treats all together! Dusty lightly paws them. It’s so sweet! Our chickens are 6 months old now and give us 3-4 perfect little eggs every day. I talk the same to them as I did when they were babies! I still call them “mama’s babies “..
I LOVE my chickens🐥🐥🐓🐓
Our dogs talk back to us too , all the time. We think theyre so smart partly because of how much they talk to us. Theyre our friends. We trust them. We only trust a couple people in the world so its nice to have our 4 dogs around that we can trust.
We feel overwhelmed a lot for having so many inside kids to take care of. Its like having a huge classrooms full of kids. They all need different things. And they have different personalities. And when theyre upset they need different types of things, when theyre lonely they need different types of things, they like different foods, and on and on and on.
Our dogs are way easier.