How do you know if your dog is really communicating with you or if the thoughts that enter your head really are random thoughts about your dogs? Also, are there certain types of dogs (or animals, in general) who are easier to communicate with?
I wish I knew how to explain that one! In some instances you just "know" that the thought you're having isn't your own. For example, thinking of something that you would never, ever think of on your own. I'll give an example.
An online friend of mine asked me to speak to her cat. I have never met this friend, or her cat, in person. They live clear across the country. At one point during the conversation, the cat showed me a VERY clear picture of a tatoo of himself that his owner had on her arm. She had NEVER mentioned this tatoo to me, as she had gotten it before she met me, and I had never seen it in any pictures or otherwise had a way to know it was there. That, obviously, was not something that I had thought of myself. [
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It's important not to doubt yourself...constantly asking "are these my thoughts, or my animals?" makes things much more difficult. It's best to just go with it at first and eventually SOMETHING will happen that will make it clear that what you're getting is real. The more you do it, the easier it will become to seperate your thoughts from things you're picking up from animals.
As for certain types of animals being easier to communicate with....I've found it comes down to the animal individual rather than an entire species. There have been times when I have tried connecting with animals and didn't get much. They either didn't want to talk to me, or weren't used to trusting/communicating with people, or had such vastly different life experiences that the images they sent me didn't make much sense. I have NEVER been able to communicate well with my chihuahua, Pepito. The few images I get from him have always been disjointed and confusing. I have found out that he is most likely having seizures which are causing his behavioral problems due to poor breeding...through the use of herbs and homeopathic remedies, we've really amnaged to get alot of his problems under control...and suddenly, I am better able to communicate with him. His brain seems to be a bit more normal and the things he shows/tell me make more sense than before.
And on the other hand, there are animals who find communicating with people completely natural. To be honest, I have always found rats as a species to be the most willing and able to communicate with me...that has just been my personal experience. One of my rats, Ovaltine, came into my life right at the time I had decided to relearn to talk to animals after stopping for a period of time. He was an AMAZING spiritual guide and sort of mentor for me. The conversations I had with him were the clearest I've ever had with any animal....talking to him WAS very much like communicating with another person in its clarity. He was, in a sense, my soulmate...and he taught me many, many things. He passed away last October (he knew it was coming, as did I....he told me about 8 months before his death that he would leave that October, and he did....still, the shock was pretty unbearable when he did leave.) and I have really been in a bit of a slump since his death....when he was around, I was able to talk to animals MUCH more easily.
There ARE species of animals who (and this is MY personal experience based on things I have heard from animals) have a special purpose to work with and guide and communicate with humans. But, for the most part, I have found that ease of communication is on a purely individual basis.
Jennie and Rat...you bring up a good point...
We can have a "sensitivity" to animals and notice things that would go unseen by others. This sensitivity is though more of a learned behavorial response.
We grow very accustomed to certian behavioral responses and reactions from people and animals around us. When those responses are different...we notice. Now some people notice only big things...like my wife would not know I am aggrivated by something until I threw a dish against the wall...others notice very small things. I ,for one, am usually very observant. I am told I can "read" people well. I personally do not see it but I am told I sometimes freak people out. Am I gifted? No! I am just usually paying attention.
This is a skill...not a gift...and can be practiced and honed. 
olice officers are a perfect example of trained behavioral judgements...they call it a gut feeling, but the truth is that they are making a behavioral evaluation based on experience and knowledge of behavioral responses given a set of circumstance. Differnet people will have different levels of skill in making those judgements.
we do these same things with our animals. I could tell when our oldest Beagle was going to have a "bad day" health wise before she ever woke up...just by how she was sleeping. It is not always a conscious thing and leaves us feeling intuitive and "gifted"...but the reality is that because my dog was sleeping stretched out and not in a tight little ball ( as was her preferred choice)...I unconsciouly registered this that her arthritis was bothering her. Why? because without really realizing it I had made the coorilation that she only sleep that way when she has a bad day with her arthritis...I had learned the two things were related. This kind of learned response...for "sensitive" people...can relate all the way down to subtle changes in the inflection of a bark ( infact the dog may learn as well to bark slightly differently in order to get you to respond) or other very subtle things that seem miraculous intuition...but are actually just paying close attention.
The things you mentioned are definitely PART of what I mean, and an aspect of animal communication...but it isn't the whole picture. You really can get to the point where you send and recieve telepathic images to and from animals in a concious manner.It is more than simply intuition and ability to read body language...although again, those things are an aspect of it. It is possible though to communicate telepthically with animals across great distances, or even animals that you have never met before...so that takes body language and behvioral knowledge totally out of the picture.
Dogs read non verbal communication much more adeptly than humans. MOST of their comunication between each other is non verbal. They read us the same way. Are you sending "pictures" to the dog? if you see it that way, I guess that is one way to see it...
I feel though that the dog is just reading what you want and expect from language you do not even realize you are using.
Yes, that is very often the case, but again, I'm talking about something different...communicating with something that cannot be seen or measured. With practice, you can actually get to the point where you are not just picking up feelings and random images from your animals, but actually having deep and meaningful conversations about abstract things that can't be discussed or discerned simply through reading body language. And like I said before, this can also be done over a long distance, where body language wouldn't even be an issue. Of course, not all people are able to believe this...but that's okay. Not everyone has the same world view, and sometimes this kind of thing just does not fit into people's belief systems. That's fine. I personally believe in the existance of MANY different realities...everyone's world is different, so to speak. So what may be true for me, may not be true for someone else...but IMO, that doesn't make either of those people wrong.
Ixas_Girl, WONDERFUL post...I could not have said it better myself.
LOL!!! this reads funny....
Jeannie and ratsicles have autism???? LOL!!!
...somehow ratsicles does not seem to be someone who is verbally challenged. LOL!
I get your point though...
Hehe, I actually AM autistic! [
] Autism, for me, is something that I have learned to live with. I AM verbally challenged, although I may not seem it. I think entirely in pictures, which I then have to translate into words. While I am able to come across well through writing, verbal speaking is difficult for me. Conversations are hard because I have trouble keeping up with the pace...my brain has an extra step to take in thinking of what to say, so I tend to get a bit mixed up and frustrated while talking. I have been known to stutter a bit, and there are times when I can't think of how to express things and get frustrated. Writing is easier for me because I can take my time, and think of how to phrase things. I especially have a problem with numbers....I cannot say strings of numbers aloud. I stutter, and forget them when I try, especially in social situations...I'm a bit better with people I know. I can write things down just fine, and I SOUND okay when I speak aloud...but the wheels in my head have to be turning pretty hard for me to be able to speak, when it seems to come so easily for other people. I'm not stupid or learning diabled in any way...in fact I was considered a pretty gifted kid. I CAN speak, and I generally don't sound confused or strange when I talk, but the internal process I'm going through is pretty complicated. While I am able to write fairly well, I have trouble expressing my OWN feelings through words....although what I say SOUNDS good, it may not be entirely accurate and nuanced. To me, verbal communication is so LIMITING....it is so difficult to sum up what I'm thinking with a simple word. I have always thought that I must think more like animals than humans...which may be the reason that this is easier for me. But who knows...I'm only 19 now, and just now starting to organize everything in my head, so I'm still trying to get things all sorted out. I really have no clue why I am the way I am.