Animal Communicators

I am an Inter-species communicator (I've done it my entire life), and my husband is learning it. Unfortunately I have not found this particular forum to be very tolerant of the idea, (which is unusual, since the other animal forums I've been on seem to be fine with it) and I have actually been mocked a good bit here when I have spoken openly about doing this.

A few months ago though, there was a WONDERFUL thread about animal communicators- the right, open minded people cam along and asked wonderful questions and it turned into a great thread. I'd reccomend reading through it, as I've got some pretty good posts in there on my experience with animal communication:

http://community.dog.com/forums/t/6922.aspx?PageIndex=1

After you've read through it, I'd be more than happy to answer any questions you have. I have been doing this since the day I was born, so I think it's safe to say I'm pretty experienced. I'd love to get another discussion on this going so that I can clear up any misconceptions people have.

The one big thing I would like to say, is that telepathic communication is NOT some super amazing psychic "gift." It is, as I and many others believe, an innate ability that everyone and everything is born with. We believe that in most western cultures, this ability is squashed at a young age when we are taught to speak only with words, and when we are taught to believe that animals are incapable of speech. Being autistic, I never really got the social cues telling me not to talk to animals, so I never stopped.

My religious beliefs center around communicating with animals and other spirits- but I'll leave that part out since it's not really relevant. I was raised in a traditional christian household, so I didn't have some weird new-agey upbringing that led me into this- I simply always did it, and the things I learned from animals and other spirits didn't mesh with what the church tried to teach me.

99% of "pet psychics" are fraudulent cold readers out to make a quick buck off of people's gullability. "The Pet Psychic" show on animal planet was a great example of this. Real animal communicators are not flamboyant "psychics" that want $150 to tell you your cat doesn't like the location of its litter box- for most of them, animal communication ties greatly into their spiritual beliefs and this is not something they really try to capitalize off of. Unfortunately, the people that are out to make a quick buck- the ones that glamorize it and mysticize it and make it sound like some kind of special ability that they were gifted with- are alot louder than the true practitioners and they make a huge mockery of true animal communicators.

IMO, they are to animal communicators what televised evangelists who want you to send them massive donations are to Christians. I absolutely hate that most people's exposure to animal communication is limited to this type of people. Animal communication can be done by anyone, anywhere, at any time. It is not a "gift" any more than walking is or moving your arm. It can be learned very easily, and very quickly by most people with just a little bit of training. It is (most believe) something that we were all born with the ability to do, and can relearn to do with (usually) very little effort. Anyone who would have you believe otherwise is a fraud.

So anyway, read through the thread I posted above- and please, if anyone has any other questions, fell free to ask them. I LOVE discussing this with people who are open minded. If anyone is interested, I will also be willing to post some basic exercises you can do at home if you'd like to try out animal communication yourselves, after you've read about it a bit- just let me know.

  Thank you for the link Ratsicles, looks like I'll be ordering another book.  I've always been into subjects that take the human mind furter than is conventionally accepted.  Ever since someone told me that humans only use 10% of their brain I thought that was stupid, why not use 100%?  What happens to the 90% that isn't used, and what a waste! 

  If you could post some exercises that would be great, these are the sort of things I've been into for years.  It probably started when I found a book about astral projection at a garage sale when I was around 12, self-hypnosis is another one I've always found helpful.

I do believe that we all have an innate ability to communicate without words, if we let it happen.  I've amazed my DH for 25 years with knowing what he was thinking at times.  It is literally as if I heard him speak sometimes, when he didn't.  Yes, NOW I could chalk it up to our history together, but in the beginning?  And over the years, he has gotten quite good at "hearing" me without words.  I was that way with my sons from the time that they were tiny as well.

Often with my dogs, I *think* I know what they are thinking, or going to do.  And I'm not sure with them if it's experience and history with them or something more.  Not having the same thought process as I do I can't be sure that I "know" stuff or that I just assume it.

And, I'm not sure if I would call this a physic ability or just intuitiveness.

The only time I found it really freaky was when we had just moved to MS.  I was following DH on the way to return the rental truck and trailer and suddenly wondered exactly which way the trailer would go when it came loose.Not IF it came loose, WHEN it came loose,  As I was trying to do the physics in my head the trailer came off.  Luckily we had used the chains so it wasn't flying free, but the hitch failed, just as I was wondering which way it would go.  That one was freaky.

Ratsicles

Unfortunately I have not found this particular forum to be very tolerant of the idea, (which is unusual, since the other animal forums I've been on seem to be fine with it) and I have actually been mocked a good bit here when I have spoken openly about doing this.

I was kind of surprised at that, too. But that doesn't stop me (or you, I see) from stating my beliefs.

For a while, I lived across the street from a published animal communicator (Judy  Meyer). We became friends through our love of animals and she gave me several "lessons" in communicating with animals. Soon, I was communicating with my cats (no dogs then) in astonishing ways! I was really amazed! What delighted me so were the results I was getting from listening and responding to their simple wishes!

Anyway, yes, I totally believe in telepathic inter-species (and intra-species) communication. I've experienced it.

I think it's difficult for many people to "wrap their minds around". And I've found that the people who don't believe it have very good, sound, logical reasons for why they don't buy it. Like language. Somehow, when I communicate with my animals, it's in a combination of pictures and a few words and "miraculously", they understand and when the communication comes back, it's also in pictures and a rough form of the English language... How can that be??? I have no clue! There's some sort of translator out there! LOL But I won't discount it simply because I don't fully understand how every aspect works. I don't understand how my car works, either, but I can still drive.

Ratsicles

99% of "pet psychics" are fraudulent cold readers out to make a quick buck off of people's gullability.

Again, I agree. And it's a  shame and sad to discount the other 1% who are the genuine article, but that's certainly a choice.

Ratsicles, I look forward to reading your thread! 

Ms. Bwana, Thank you for starting this discussion!  

I don't know if I believe that animals and people can actually read each other's minds, but I DO believe that any person can communicate effectively to animals through touch, body language, facial expressions, gestures, eye movements, etc. if they learn what to listen (and by listen I mean watch) for.  I agree with CM in that humans and animals can read each others' "energy", but I don't think that "energy" refers to mind-reading, but a combination of other physical things I listed previously, things that are barely tangible but it takes a talented person in the right frame of mind to notice and give feedback. 

Moderator speaking,

To address your concerns Rats....rudeness/mockery, is not going to be tolerated on this thread. I would also caution you not to characterize a forum of hundreds...due to the actions or statements of a relative few. That's hardly fair to the rest of us, is it?

However, anyone is free to agree OR, disagree and state reasons they do, if they do so respectfully. Hopefully that can make clear for the folks posting so they can answer without worrying too much.

Thank you Gina for your reassurance that this will be a great opportunity to learn something !   I am honestly interested in learning exercises to improve the communication  in our home and pack .  In fact we are hoping to find reccomendations for an AC for the Ridgeback Rodeo in Pa next year.  What to ask when interviewing or what to consider a red flag etc... This list has been delightful. If I could figure out how to cut emails down to size when replying and how to make a signature and avatar  I'd be over the moon !

Bonita of Bwana

I sometimes wonder, if I were to learn "how to communicate with animals", could I "hear my baby?  Perhaps if he is  unsettled and I cant figure out why... could I listen and be able to understand was he was trying to tell me....?

Ratsicles

I'd reccomend reading through it, as I've got some pretty good posts in there on my experience with animal communication:

http://community.dog.com/forums/t/6922.aspx?PageIndex=1 

Ratsicles, your link isn't "active", so I made an active link (above).  If you add a tag of "animal communicator" to your posts on that thread, it will help people to find that post in the future.

Bonita of Bwana, would you mind making your tag all lower case since it is not a proper name?  Personally I also prefer the singular (no "s";).

Chuffy

I sometimes wonder, if I were to learn "how to communicate with animals", could I "hear my baby?  Perhaps if he is  unsettled and I cant figure out why... could I listen and be able to understand was he was trying to tell me....?

I absolutely think you could. In my experience, it's pretty much all about "listening" and trusting what you "hear". 

My first experience with animal communicating:

I have a cat Zoie, who believes she is entitled. (you can read more about her in my profile) We had 3 cats at the time. Zoie began to "guard" the living room. It was at one end of the house and I noticed that she was hanging out in there a lot and when another cat would approach, she would go to the entryway and hiss and growl and and spit at them and just not let them enter. She claimed the room. That was strange enough, but she then widened her territory to include the entryway to the house. Pretty soon she was in the kitchen starting to move her territory into the great room. She was taking over the freakin' house! It was clear that she was unhappy about something, but what?

So one day, when the mood was right I went in the living room and sat down and asked her to listen to me. To my surprise, she sat down right in front of me and gave me her full attention. (At this point, Graycee, her PITA little brother lay down RIGHT outside the limits of the living room to hear Zoie get in trouble.)

In my mind, I asked Zoie, "What's wrong"? ... Nothing ... "What's the matter"? ... Not a word ... "Is there a problem"? ... Silence ... "Is there something you want me to know"? ... ... ...  Over and over I asked questions in every way I could think to phrase them, while she sat there staring at me in the silence. Finally, I asked, "What do you want"? Immediately, I saw a picture of a very elaborate kitty condo with many levels reaching to the ceiling, and I "heard" the words, "A way to get up high."

My question was answered. In the next few days, my husband and I built several carpeted platforms all the way up and a shelf across the 8-foot entryway, with one final triangle platform in the corner just below the 12 foot ceiling. Once we were done, all the cats explored the new addition. But it was Zoie, who was seen up there 95% of the time. And NEVER again did she chase any cat out of ANY room.

When we moved, we had to leave that there, but we got to work on the cattery and multitude of platforms, cubicles and other "ways to get up high" here. She's a happy girl and she and Graycee co-exist just fine, although she'd prefer he didn't exist at all.   

Bonita of Bwana

I'd love to hear your experiences with Animal Communicators?  Were they in your opinion trainers or really tapping intot he dog's mind?? Are they mental or mentalists??

Do you go to the human type provider as well?  Can you "talk" to your dogs and to others?? This is a current topic on our breed list and I have found it fascinating...

 I believe that we have the ability, although it is buried deep in many of us and has to be worked at, to communicate with animals. I believe this is mostly energy and body language communication.

 Is that what you mean when you say "Animal Communicator" or are you referring to someone who might come into my home and "read" my dog and end up telling me "He does not like it when you do this, and he really wishes you would buy more of those juicy beef bones" etc.

 Respectfully I would agree 100% with the first and would probably be very skeptical with the second. Someone in the second category would have to show me something pretty amazing to cause me to believe that they can communicate at this level with an animal. That last statement is not meant to be rude to anyone who believes they can and do communicate like this; it is just the truth for me.

Also there is a book that I own and have read called "Animals in Translation" that suggests that people with autism can often think the way animals think. This is along the lines of understanding animals and why they behave as they do and not about "reading their minds.

 I will end by saying I am interested in following this thread. It is an interesting topic.  

Unfortunately when people don't 'understand' something they are either afraid of it or mock it, or both.  And often such things -- because they are beyond the realm of easy understanding -- wind up being categorized as "unGodly".  Usually that's fear talking (and I'm not being a communicator -- that's just basic humanity). 

We humans tend to have such a high opinion of ourselves that we like to say that, again ... things not easily understood ... are 'bunk'.  But I often giggle because I think it's supremely stupid to think that other species don't communicate *and* that we can't learn to communicate with them.

I think inter-species communication is far beyond that often-abused word "psychic".  When communication focuses on that new-agey "psychic" stuff, then it can get into that fringey 'bunk' area. 

But for heavens sake -- it's a whole package.  YES IT CAN BE LEARNED.  I'm so glad to hear folks talk about this.  It can also be taught ... to your dog or to anyone else.  I never talk about this much -- because like Ratsicles I don't like the negative some folks place on it.  But it's simply part of how I communicate with animals and with people. 

I'm going to emhasize here that PART of this is simple observance.  And this is the thing most humans miss -- part of the way dogs 'communicate' with each other is body language.  How 'tense' the skin/fur is ... the position of the ears ... how wide the eyes are open and how the eyes flick back and forth ... tail position and body tension/structure/position generally.

ANY species ... including humans ... use that as part of their communications.  Shoot, carnival 'fortune tellers' and con men have been using these sorts of observations to make their living for years!!!  If you are simply observant of such things it makes understanding someone far easier. 

Observe two people talking sometime -- say the couple across from you at a restaurant -- you don't have to know what they are actually saying, in words, to glean a WHOLE LOT from the 'conversation' -- who is tense?  Who is bored or worried or nervous -- is it a true conversation or is one person doing all the 'talking' and the other person is merely nodding their head but are actually miles away?

You don't have to use WORDS to understand those things.  You just have to LOOK.

But then -- when you add the mental -- it gets so much deeper. 

The first time I did this with Billy (and I've been 'talking to the animals' since *I* was a little kid as well -- I'm an only child, which probably helped -- and if you're alone you talk to anyone!! Gekkos and frogs and fish!!) -- we'd just adopted Billy and he had decided pretty quick that Mom was the cuddly, snuggly one.  He was quite bemused by the communication Foxy and I had (Foxy the Mostlie Sheltie -- then a 17 1/2 year old sheltie/corgi mix).  Foxy could 'think' to me and indicate if he was thirsty, needed to go 'out' etc.  Affection was also a big part of it.

One day about 2 weeks after Billy had come to live with us, Billy was lying on the bed with me and I decided to gently 'try' some mental stimulation.  We were lying on the bed, face to face and I just pressed my forehead against his.  mmmmmm - NICE Mom!!  He was completely relaxed.

I just focused my thots to say 'Billy, you're a good boy!' -- HIS HEAD CAME UP, and stared at me.  I smiled and repeated the thot. 

UTTER PANIC ON HIS FACE and he lept off the bed and FLEW to the other room. 

I simply kept up positive thots and particularly loving, affectionate thots and quickly he got used to it.  Within just a few weeks, that pre-goodnight forehead to forehead time was his favorite.  Rather than fearing it, he quickly learned to lean into it and press harder to express his affection for me.

Oh boy -- now a bunch of folks are gonna think Callie's truly lost it this time.  but I haven't -- it's just not something I talk a lot about with other humans.

I will say this -- I'm probably more spirit-centered and -- oh I hate this word, but -- "religious" than most of you know.  It's not fortunetelling -- it's simply tapping talents most of us don't even know we have.  We 'think' to God or speak softly and call it prayer ... but if you really think about it, that's kinda 'psychic' isn't it?  That, I guess, was my first clue that this might not be a 'bad' thing but rather a good one. 

I don't mean to turn this into a religious discussion, and I don't mean to offend anyone.  But honestly, for many people taught to 'fear' this kind of thing from the cradle up, I think it's important to understand it might not be the "voodoo" or "evil" thing that a lot of people assume. 

Holistic practitoners call it "intent" - but it's just the ability to reassure a wild thing that you don't mean it 'harm'.  It's how some of us can handle wild things and not get hurt or bitten. 

Chuffy, incidentally -- it's already easy to see that most babies and their Mom's HAVE a communicative sense -- it's how you can have 10 babies in a church nursery, and a whole church full of folks listening to a service, and suddenly ONE of those ten babies will begin to cry & scream, and that ONE mother will nearly invariably get up to go to the nursery without being called.  why?  Because her own body's response to her child's distress will likely cause her milk to drop.   I've seen it MANY, many times. 

Again, I'm not saying this is a religious thing -- it's just so often in a church situation (where there are often babies separated from 'mom' and yet typically faintly 'audible';) I've seen that very scenario play out. 

One day in my typical, candid style I asked another nursery worker how in heck Mrs. Smith knew it was HER baby who was crying when we had at least 4-5 newborns mostly the same age and it wasn't hugely audible in the sanctuary and I was told (knowingly by this older, more experienced woman) "She probably felt her milk drop and knew it was time to feed!"

So yeah -- definitely if you practice this it will pay off.

Great posts, Callie!  And Ratsicles, I really enjoyed that particular thread when it ran a few months ago.  I would love it if you would post some exercises for us to try.

Joyce