Stumble It!
I know many people are skeptical about people who claim to be able to communicate with animals--Animal Planet has had The Pet Psychic and now there is another show on another channel with a general psychic communicator (people or animals, she isn't picky)--and while they seem genuine, some of the communications are a little vague and general... but some are specific enough to amaze the animal owners. I was skeptical, too, until March 2004, when I was talked into making an appointment to speak with a local animal communicator about Suzie and Vladi at an annual psychic fair held in Reading, Pennsylvania.
I really needed to find out for sure what was bothering Suzie to the point of a depression that would not lift. And I wanted to help Vladi get past some issues related to his puppyhood before we adopted him. So, what did I have to lose besides $30? I was spending more than that on cigarettes every week (I've since quit).
I was told to take a photo of Suzie and Vladi for reference and to tell Suzie and Vladi to be available at 2:30 p.m. so we could chat (I have no idea if they understood, but they were available at that time). I was also advised to not tell the communicator anything about the dogs but just ask questions and listen to the answers.
I got to the psychic fair early and cruised the other vendors. Oh the interesting products and services available to the psychically inclined. Ear candling? Dream catchers? Pyramids? The variety of aroma therapies was making me sick to my stomach by the time my appointment with the animal communicator came around, so I was glad to get started.
Beth, the communicator, started with Vladi. The first thing she said was that her hips were feeling a lot of pain, which meant Vladi was feeling pain there. Really? He gave no indication of being in pain, but we would take him to the vet to find out what that was about (turned out he has a severe case of hip dysplasia in both hips!). Then I asked if there was anything besides the pain he would like to tell me about. Oh, boy, did he ever! He was so upset about what happened "three ago." "Three what?" I asked. He just kept repeating "three ago." The communicator couldn't get a clarification from him.
Then Beth told me there was another very young dog demanding to talk to her... ohhhhh, Ellie... yeah, Ellie had come into our lives three months earlier. The young dog was saying that the communicator should talk to her because she was special and Vladi was mean and no fun. Yes, even at five months old, Ellie had enough 'tude for three dogs! The communicator politely told Ellie to hush, she would get her say when it was her turn. Ellie quieted down, and Vladi got to continue whining about Ellie showing up and not leaving like the other dogs. Vladi asked us not to bring any more dogs home because it was so stressful for him to have to deal with all those other dogs coming and going (we fostered for Aussie Rescue--from whom we acquired him). He just didn't like that. And by the way, when was Ellie leaving? We had to break it to Vladi that Ellie was permanent. Boy, was he ever unhappy about that!
We tried to address some of Vladi's other issues, but he was mainly concerned with getting rid of Ellie. Then Beth moved on to Suzie. I asked Suzie if there was anything she wanted to tell me about why she was so sad. It had been over a year since our Great Pyrenees mix Shiner had died--Suzie adored Shiner and had not gotten over his death. I never mentioned Shiner to Beth, but she told me what Suzie said about him--how big he was, what color he was (creamy gold, like a light yellow lab), and his favorite spot in the yard. Suzie was so sad and depressed not only because she missed Shiner, but because she thought we didn't. We hadn't mourned him with her, we hadn't talked to her about his passing. I felt so bad! I had no idea that it had to do with us not interacting with her about Shiner. Suzie wanted to see and smell his collar and she wanted us to sit with her and tell her we loved and missed Shiner, too. We did that when I got home--I let her smell Shiner's collar and put it around her neck and we sat on the floor and I cried and told her how much I missed Shiner, too. After that she slowly became her lively old self again.
Suzie was also mad that Vladi had taken over her crate and she didn't have a nice pad in the smaller crate she was now in. She wanted a nice blanket in gray or green or brown. Later on, I couldn't find one for her in any store. But a month later, we went to an agility trial associated with the US Australian Shepherd Association national specialty show--and on Aussie Only trial day, Suzie took first place in Novice Jumpers--and won a gray, green and brown blanket with Aussies on it! This is true, I swear! She loves that blanket and sleeps on it every night. She scootches it into a little nest and sleeps like a baby.
Then Ellie finally got her turn to talk, but by then she had moved on and wanted to go out to pee (had to call hubby to let her out). Ellie's only desire was for Greenies (what she called a green chew thing that tasted good). I had never given her a Greenie, so I later asked her breeder if she had. She had to think for a while, but remembered giving little ones to the litter of puppies to clean their teeth before they went to their new homes.
So how did Beth learn to do this? How could she know about Vladi's pain, his anguish over the foster dogs and Ellie? How could she know about Shiner and the layout of our yard, which Suzie described perfectly? I am a believer now that it is possible to communicate with our pets. A friend, who later helped me help Vladi deal with a couple of problems, loaned me a set of audio tapes that instruct people how to communicate with animals. The only tape player I had was in the car, so on a trip one time, I listened to them and actually got a brief glimpse into Suzie's mind, but I haven't even tried again since then. I'm not sure why--it really isn't a difficult process, but it does require a quiet place and time to relax and set one's mind free to open to the communication.
If you get a chance to experience an animal communicator with your pet, give it a try. What our pets are thinking and feeling is very interesting and educational!