Dog 2017
Animal Forecast 2017: 11. Once and Future King, outlook for the Dog in 2017
Who is a Dog?
Years: 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006.
Month*: October
Hour: 07:00 pm – 09:00 pm
Day: ask us
* Caution: the start of the Chinese month can be as early as the 4th & as late as the 9th, depending on the year. I can let you know this too.
Skip to: Dog in Fire Rooster Year.
What is a Dog?
The Dog is yang earth and a byword for good faith and consistency. Terriers and Rotweilers are both fierce and loyal. In mediaeval heraldry and Renaissance painting, the Dog in the form of the greyhound, symbolises constancy.
So a balanced Dog reveres tradition and has a strong family background. If a Dog commits to something they can generally be relied upon to see it to completion. The difference between male and female Dogs can be that the female gets the message quicker. Interesting to note that Kate Middleton and Prince William are twin Water Dogs of 1982; a very solid match because as a yang earth sign, the Dog is pretty immovable, an ideal best friend or protector. These two are, first and foremost, good friends.
Note however that the world’s most prominent Dog right now is Donald Trump. So you’ll have noticed that the thinking of the unbalanced Dog may not always be informed or flexible. But when he gets an idea, he really gets it. His natural grouping is with the hunters, the Horse and Tiger. Apportionment of tasks here is obvious: the Horse provides pace and the Tiger ferocity while the Dog watches the rear. If HR people studied Chinese metaphysics, more workplaces would zing: in business the Horse will tend to be the sales person, the Tiger the closer or credit controller and the Dog the provider of after-sales service or er…HR department. In its negative sense this is Trump the late night revenge Tweeter.
But the typical Dog excels at service because he never gives up. He will return your phone calls and keep that appointment. You’re the friend who sends a card every birthday and the spouse who remembers every anniversary. You care.
The Dog also, perhaps surprisingly, mixes well with the gentle diplomatic Rabbit. The Rabbit schmoozes while the Dog ensures that his colleague’s openness is not abused. The Dog makes a wonderful bodyguard and middle manager. A Dog employer will have achieved that position by sheer hard work and will demand the same from all around.
The Dog doesn’t like the Dragon because he’s such a smarty pants. Also the Dog can feel insecure around success without effort – especially his own. And the Dragon creates with such apparent ease. You’re suspicious of magic. So you’re often not so keen on the mini-Dragon, the Snake either; you’d even resent the Horse (too damn flighty) except that you are scrupulously loyal to your own team.
An unbalanced Dog is a bit of a shop steward. He knows his rights and the way things should be (often that’s the way they always have been btw). An unbalanced Dog (such as one with an October or mid- evening birth) is just too respectful. A smart one learns to ask questions.
The Dog will often have a strong spiritual agenda and if he has a blind spot it may be an inability to understand viewpoints opposed to his own. respect the difference between religion and spirituality or either understand or respect views opposed to his own. Because this means he sticks to his guns, the Dog is suited both to new age therapy and religious persecution. He will not be thrown off by the opinions of others once he has committed to a line of action. In fact the unbalanced Dog can be thick skinned in matters of belief. Some Dogs would be ideally suited to being a Grand Inquisitor. His motto ought to be "Do as you would be done by," The problem can be that he thinks it already is. The stubborn restlessness of the Dog can make you take revenge in advance.
The Dog usually works well with other Dogs and with the Pig, with whom he shares a love of home and team and they are so different they don’t crowd each other. Sometimes the Dog and Pig can be telepathically close; this is because they are adjacent signs in the calendar, linked by the yang earth that is a feature of both. Sometimes this earth is expressed by banter or earthy humour. They can have a lot of fun together while getting the job done.
But the most powerful and most demanding role the Dog can play is in a creative team including the irritating Dragon, the autocratic Ox and the soft Sheep. If the Dog acts as conscience and bookkeeper, the Ox will relax, the Sheep toughen up and the Dragon acknowledge someone else for a change. If you are a Dog recruiting for non-executive directors, take note. What is great about the Dog is that if you find advice that works you will adopt it as if it were religion. Bless.
Dog in Fire Rooster Year
Stars include: Sun.
The Once and Future King
A hard year, the one just gone; Dogs triumphed or dropped like conkers in October or both – think David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Leonard Cohen, Prince. And Donald Trump.
In the Rooster Year, the Dog’s time is either over or has not yet come. Which as you are traditionally both stubborn and restless, is not an ideal state of affairs. 2017 brings the Dog tests of patience and loyalty but above all of intention. You may have been told that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. It isn’t; a route thus paved leads in the opposite direction. Consider your own. You are so much more than you think and there are those who know it already.
You are more than likely a believer in logic. Or at least you believe you are. But despite your good intentions you find yourself resentful. What’s going wrong has apparently nothing to do with broad brushing, lack of attention to detail, careless research or lazy reasoning. Which makes a year when the Rooster is boosting the Dragon (1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000) and not you, pretty galling. The Dragon can get to D from A without going via B or C and that’s not right, is it?
According to whom? Technically when the Dog meets the Rooster there is “harm”. As it sounds this is not unambiguously great. It’s sometimes called a break-up – if this is literal it will simply be the culmination of a rejection initiated in the Year of the Sheep (2015). Such harm can be forestalled by good heart or pre-emptive action but if you seek recognition this year, you’re jumping the gun because you’re not the finished article. If all the acknowledgement you have already received is not enough, nothing ever will be. Please read this last sentence twice.
This “harm” may involve 3 rd party interference, gazumping, triangular relationships , unsolicited advice and what you may consider to be unfair critique. If fundamentally you are still seeking approval, expect a build-up of resistance , starting right away and building noticeably in April and September. The words you’re reading right now may well fall into that category as far as you’re concerned. But as I say, Dogs fall into two camps: those whose time is done – obviously David Bowie, Prince, Alan Rickman and Leonard Cohen but also Bill Clinton and George W Bush – and those whose time is yet to come – Donald Trump perhaps. Which you are is essentially a matter of choice. Here’s a hint: the downfall of the Dog is mistreatment of those close to them.
The healing Sun is in your part of the compass (North West) this year; its rays are said to be solace to any upset. Let it come to you. There is nothing for you in the pursuit of fame, attention or approval this year. Also in your den is the acquisitive Metal Spirit implying periods of the force being with you despite it all. Your most helpful time may fall in early March which is just as well because the opening of the Solar Year in February and its peak in the Horse month of June may really test you. You could well nonetheless find release in your own month of October. But the trick for the Dog now and generally is to acknowledge and celebrate; don’t seek further accolades, value those many you have already received.
Finally, I generally don’t forecast things which might make the world a sadder place because prediction and creation are so closely linked. But let me remind you: there is an ongoing temptation into darkness here. It’s not a new thing. It’s not even more powerful than usual but it may look sexier. Mock power is at its most alluring for the above reasons in February and June. The judgement of the even-slightly unbalanced Dog was always suspect; you tend to hang onto positions too long and trust unfounded judgements. You can be lax about verification. And your unweighed actions can cause great harm.
To some Dogs this is no revelation and to some no problem. If this is you, seek reassurance from those that truly have your highest interests at heart. Value that reassurance. And yourself. Take it deeply to heart and let it fuel you; there’s no need to prove it anymore.
Readers Digest version: put your attention upon the interests of others.
What’s to be done about it: step up, ask for reassurance.
Amulet: none.
Feng shui advice: yang Metal. Avoid Fire.
Helpful places: East.
Helpful times: March.
Health: lungs are the typical weakness of the Dog.
Money: more out than in this year.
Relationship: children higher priority than partner.