Sorry it took me so long to get back to this. Ogre is going to his new home tomorrow and with all that involves I've been too busy to really sit down and post.
I'll insert here that I truly think one of the reasons it's easier (and often less 'phoney';) to do this with your dog, than from human to human is simply because they (the animals) are more accepting and they don't have to analyze a thing into oblivion.
I agree with you. Humans have so much going ON in their minds. We are constantly anylyzing jumping from one thought to another- our thoughts are like a horrible traffic jam on the highway of our minds. Most of us are also not USED to telepathic/intuitive communication- it's like that part of our brains is clogged up and blocked off and weak from lack of use. So trying to communicate telepathically with humans could, IMO, be difficult- but I do NOT think it's impossible.
I like to think that there are two "levels" of telepathic communication. The first level, and the one that most untrained people experience, is where the most basic interactions occur. This is where you'll just be walking along one day, and then BAM- a thought from an animal flies into your head and punches you in the brain. You may hear a very clear voice in your head- "I'm thirsty," or a similar message. IF the animal is communicating to you very clearly, you CAN have entire conversations on this level. Especially if something is urgent and the animal really wants to give you the message. In my experience, when communicating in this level you're usually talking to the purely "animal" aspect of that animal- you'll see what I'm talking about in a second.
The second level, takes practice. How much practice it takes is purely personal- some people "get it" right away, and some people have to practice for years. There was a period when I was a young teenager where I decided to block out ALL communication with animals and spirits. After about two years, when I decided to start doing it again, it was HARD. It took me a couple more years to get back to the point where I was before I stopped. Other people are able to start communicating on this level with almost no practice whatsoever, while it was insanely difficult for me when I attempted to relearn it. It's purely personal.
Now, this is getting into some pretty hardcore spiritual stuff. Unfortunately, all I have are my OWN personal experiences to draw on here, so there's no real way to leave this stuff out- for me, animal communication ties GREATLY into my religion and spirituality, so there's no real way for me to explain this stuff without getting all "spiritual" on you guys. Just remember that these are my OWN experiences and beliefs, and you may do with them as you will. I'm not saying that I'm "right"- this is just what I have experienced through communicating with animals and spirits.
So, the second level. On the second level, you are communicating with this animal's spirit/soul/whatever. The non-tangible form of this animal. On THIS level, you can ask the animal questions. You can find out about the animal's past, its likes and dislikes, and you can have really hardcore abstract discussions about the universe and whatever else you want to talk about. Most of you will probably wonder how a simple dog or cat or bumblebee can tell you about the universe- it's because at this point, you are not communicating with the "pure" animal anymore. You're not talking to Fluffy the dog anymore, you're talking to the spirit that is currently taking the form of Fluffy...does that make sense? See, spirits are infinite and can come into this life for any reason they choose. In my experience (again, that disclaimer) one spirit can inhabit MANY bodies at the same time if it so chooses.
I'll use one of my current pets, Ovaltine, as an example of this. Ovaltine first came to me as a rat a few years ago. He turned out to be one of the most amazing spiritual guides and helpers I have ever had. He was basically a spiritual father figure for me. Without going into too much detail, he told me exactly when he would die well in advance, and he died exactly when he said he would. Okay. the entire time Ovaltine the rat was with me, I was also able to talk to Ovaltine the spirit. Ovaltine the spirit had a "piece" of himself in Ovaltine the rat- so they were the same- but they were also Ovaltine the Spirit. Ovaltine the rat was a big fatty that likes to eat cookies and laze in his hammock and chase other rat's tails. Ovaltine the SPIRIT was an amazing spiritual guide and figure of wisdom. They were each other- Ovaltine the rat was aware of his spiritual self (not all animals are) but he was also a rat- and rats like to eat and play and sleep alot. When you're talking to the animal itself, the physical animal and not the spiritual one- you're talking to the same spirit, but in different forms. The physical animal has physical things influencing its current personality and everything else. It has instincts and desires and sensations to deal with that the spiritual form doesn't have. Which is why if you talk to your dog AS YOUR DOG- you'll probably get something like "I LIKE TO CHASE BALLS YAY" whereas if you talk to your dog's in it's spirit form, you can get things as deep as "this will happen in your future, this is your destiny, here let me tell you about my past."....does any of this make sense?
When Ovaltine the rat died, I continued communicating with his spirit. A year later, he sent a piece of himself back to me as a cat. One of my current cats is Ovaltine- he has given me signs over, and over again that this is the case. So you see, a spirit can inhabit MANY bodies.
So to communicate on the second level- where all of the juicy good stuff happens- most people have to meditate. If you're familiar with lucid dreaming, this is similar- but any kind of meditation works. You basically need to achieve a state where your mind is PERFECTLY clear. This is easy for some people, but for me it was hell.
Distance, sure. Over the phone after you've given your credit card number? Not so much. That's exploitation, at a minimum. More likely fraud. Anybody can talk to their dog. It's not a special power. Of course, I charge money for clipping toenails, and anybody can do that. I'm more than willing to show them how, though, because I believe that nail trimming is important for a dog's health. I dunno. I just find it.... distasteful.
I've always found it distasteful too. I communicate with animals/nature/spirits for myself and for them. IF a friend who believes asks me to talk to their pets for some reason or another, I'll usually give it a shot, but I make no promises and I certainly never charge for it.
There ARE though a few professional animal communicators out there who I do respect. Marta Williams is one of them and her books are AMAZING. I don't like the fact that she charges for her services, but she IS the real deal. However, she's NOT out there being dramatic and flaunting these abilities and running up to people on fairgrounds and "talking" to their dogs- she's not desperate to prove herself. I respect her, and she does have a wealth of knowledge about animal communication. But as I've said before, people like this- ones who charge money for their services AND happen to be the real thing- are very, very few and far between.
This is a wild subject~ Speaking of wild, can you communicate with animals like bunnies on your lawn or birds? My old husky I think did with the gray squirrels.
Yup. Although in my experience, most wild animals are not as open to communicating with humans. It's purely an individual thing though. Some will, some won't. You really can communicate with ANYTHING- trees and plants talk too. Heck, I have some wild ferns growing on my property that I go and sit under and have daily conversations with. They're amazing spirits. Rocks, whatever, even things that aren't "living" in the sense that we think of it have a sort of "resonance"...and if you can tune into their frequency, you can talk to them too. We're all made of the same stuff.
I'm open to the idea, but very skeptical of people who claim they can telepathically talk to animals. I guess my issue is I haven't seen any real hardcore proof. For instance, I would love to see an animal communicator have a dog of their choosing perform basic commands using only their mind. To insure that of course the two would need to be blocked from eachother's vision, although since so many say they can do it over long distance that should be no problem in placing them in seperate rooms. If an animal and person can telepathically communicate than asking it to do simple comands it already knows for treats would seem like an easy way to prove it.
That wouldn't be an easy way to prove it at all, and frankly, it would be a betrayal and exploitation of the trust an animal places in you by agreeing to speak with you.
Look at it this way- you can speak english, right? Well then, by your logic, you SHOULD be able to go up to any english speaking human, give them a command, and they should immediately do it. If they don't immediately do it, then, by your logic, we must assume that not only can you not really speak english, but english as a language must not exist at all, correct?
I get that question alot. "If you can talk to animals, why don't they all do exactly what you say?" Well if people can communicate with each other, why is there still violence? Divorce?
Animals are JUST as diverse and opnionated as people. Many animals can be persueded to see things your way and do as you ask. Just like people, many are not willing to do that. To expect animals to be willing to bend to the will of any human just because we tell them to is another example of the arrogant, humanocentric attitude that humans have...and IMO, it needs to go away.
Also, from a purely non-spiritual, training perspective- dogs are trained using voice commands and visual cues from humans. You MIGHT be able to train a dog to respond to commands telepathically- IF you had a dog that was open to the idea, which most wouldn't be (they would see it as almost blasphemous, to be honest) but you could not take a dog that was trained using voice commands and expect him to respond to you yelling "SIT!" in your head. It doesn't work that way. You can ask a dog telepathically to sit down. Like a human, whether it does it or not is up to the dog.
The thing is, for ALOT of animal communicators, this stuff ties into their religious/spiritual beliefs. I would think that most of them (myself included) would not be interested in running around trying to "prove" this to people. If you went up to a christian and said "HEY. Unless you show me some tangible proof that your god exists, I refuse to believe in it." most Christians would probably respond with "Um...okay. Don't believe in it then?" It's the same with animal communicators. I'm not out here to prove myself to anyone. If you'd like to test animal communication, try it. And that doesn't mean give it one half-hearted shot and then call it all bunk, but actually sit down and practice for a while and see if you get results yourself. If that doesn't prove it to you, then nothing I, or anyone else can say will. These ideas are not for everyone, and that's fine. To each their own, I suppose.
BEVOLASVEGAS, I'm sorry you had the experience that you had. Unfortunately, there are many idiot scam artists out there out to make a quick buck. But, to call all animal communicators fraudulent because you had a bad experience with one of these horrible people is a little offensive to me.
If you went to a doctor who was an absolutely horrible doctor, would you then say "that has led me to believe that all doctors are fraudulent, & seeking only money, or affirming their feelings of self importance?" No? Then why do animal communicators get such harsh judgement?
What do you say to someone like me who refuses money to talk to animals? That I'm affirming my feeling of self importance? Okay, well how about this- No one in my family knows that I do this. I told them once in HS and then never mentioned it again because of their reactions. Out of my friends, only TWO of them know, because I know they happened to be open to the idea. So, out of the people I know in real life, only THREE people know that I do this. The only one I talk about it regularly with is my husband, because he does it too.
This doesn't make me feel important, because I firmly believe that everyone is able to do it. If I were only out to make myself feel important, why not make myself out to be a psychic and yammer about how special my "gifts" are?
Okay, this post is long enough already. I'll go type up some exercises for people to try and post them later. That was alot of typing and I need a break. 