"Even if skeptical readers don't come away completely convinced, they'll be enormously educated-Hogan imparts a huge amount of biological information about dogs, and does it all with an easy readability that will make quite a bit of it stick. An informative and sometimes eye-opening examination of natural remedies for helping your dog."-Kirkus Reviews
• Teaches the tenets of holistic herbalism for the individual dog
• Presents safe, clinically proven, and effective protocols for common canine conditions, from acid reflux to allergies to itching, scratching, and yeast
• Lays out a comprehensive materia medica of canine-specific herbs, including what conditions they are good for, their energetics, internal and external use, safe dosages, and contraindications
In this comprehensive guide to holistic care for dogs, clinical canine herbalist Rita Hogan explains that by looking at dogs as individual ecosystems with unique personalities, physiology, and needs, we can select effective and personalized herbal remedies to support their constitutions and provide relief from many different ailments.
Hogan, who has spent more than two decades working with canines, uses energetic principles (cool, warm, dry, damp) to reveal how herbs are not "one size fits all" and how to find the root cause of chronic imbalances. She discusses in depth how a dog's main organ systems work, how they are connected to each other, and why we need to understand them when choosing specific herbs and foods.
Presenting safe, clinically proven, and effective protocols for common canine conditions-from acid reflux to allergies to itching, scratching, and yeast-Hogan presents a wide variety of holistic and herbal remedies: from herbal tinctures, glycerities, and phytoembryonics to flower essences, essential oils, medicinal mushrooms, and homeopathy. Her comprehensive materia medica of canine-specific herbs that she uses in her practice details what herbs are good for which conditions and why, what types of energetics are involved, safe dosage recommendations for each herbal remedy, and when to discontinue an herb.
Allowing each of us to take a hands-on approach to our canine companions' health and longevity, this herbal guide outlines how to help them live their best lives by our sides. Rita Hogan, C.H., is a clinical canine herbalist with more than twenty years of experience specializing in holistic canine herbalism. An educator, speaker, writer, and herbal medicine maker, she lives and practices in Olympia, Washington. PREFACE
My Herbal Beginnings
A Dog's Prayer: I pray you who own me, let me continue
to live close to Nature. Know that: I love to run beneath the
sun, the moon, and the stars; I need to feel the storm winds
around me and the touch of rain, hail, sleet, and snow; I
need to splash in streams and brooks and to swim in ponds,
lakes, and rivers; I need to be allowed to retain my kinship
with Nature.
Juliette de Bairacli Levy,
The Complete Herbal Handbook
for Farm and Stable
When I was growing up in rural Michigan in the early 1970s, I spent most of my time outside with my best friend, Cathy, on my horse or hanging out with my dog Susie. We would play in the water of the roadside stream, hang from the trees in the apple orchard, and explore the pine woods.
When I was around seven or eight, I saw my first lady's slipper (Cypripedium arietinum). It was magical. I sat there gazing at it like it was a faerie. Though I wanted to pick it for my mother, she had taught me that lady slippers were rare and had a bigger purpose than her love for beautiful flowers.
My maternal grandmother was an "unknowing" herbalist. She never considered herself a healer; herbalism was simply a way of life for low-income families. She raised sixteen children during the Great Depression with only a midwife to help with childbirth. I love my mother's stories of my grandmother going into the woods with her baske
