What it’s like being able to talk to your own pets?

This is something I get asked so often that I thought I’d write a blog post about it. For those of you who don’t know me, I have a small dog called Foxy. We are, perhaps unsurprisingly, very close - most of my closest relationships with animals have been one to one, and she’s no exception, as she is my only animal at present. I haven’t ruled out having another dog (or cat, or horse), but she would get a say in the decision, and she has always enjoyed having a one to one relationship too.

I think some people think I have her voice in my head all the time, and I really don’t! For a start that’s poor boundaries and bad practice for any psychic, and would very quickly deplete and exhaust me. And, well, the boring truth is that most of the time a psychic communication isn’t really necessary - she and I understand each other well from the 5 senses. That’s not to say I never communicate intuitively with her, but I have to make a conscious choice to do so.

Let me take you through a typical day between me and her:

She isn’t a morning dog - which is perfect, because I’m not a morning person. When I get up, I often have to persuade her to come for her breakfast - which I usually do with belly rubs in bed and talking out loud to her. I trust that she understands the intention of my words, even if she doesn’t recognise the actual words - but I assume most people reading this also talk to their pets and expect them to understand!

She’ll ask to go out the usual grounded way, by standing at the door, and I get a sharp yap from her if I’m not quick enough!

When we go for a walk and if I’m not in a rush, we’ll have our first intuitive communication of the day. I’ll ask her where she wants to go, and often for speed I’ll give her two options to choose from. I go with my instinct for her answer. If I didn’t ask (usually because I’m not offering a choice because I’m in a rush) and she has strong feelings, she will go and wait at the car to make her point - at which point I’ll usually explain intuitively that her request has been noted but not today, maybe tomorrow.

I’ll leave her with my parents and go to my office to do my communication work for the day, and as I leave I tell her where I’m going and when I’ll be back - I either do that out loud or intuitively. She almost always replies that she doesn’t want me to go, or that she wants to come with me, which I find hard., but she has a lovely time while' I’m out, hanging out with my parents who adore her (and spoil her rotten!). Sometimes, not always, I’ll send her a check-in by intuition: “thinking of you” or “I miss you!”. I make more of an effort to do that and to send reassurance if I know my parents are going out and she’ll be alone for a short while. I sometimes get an “I miss you” back.

I try to always let her know intuitively when I’m on my way home. There’s a pretty strong correlation between her coming to greet me if I’ve done so, and her staying in her igloo bed if I didn’t!

If we do some training of an evening, I rarely use intuitive communication for that. I think some people must think that I’ve got a perfectly trained dog because I can communicate exactly what I’m asking for, but the trouble is that she is a terrier who has Strong Opinions about many things, namely whether or not she wants to do the thing. Bring back the days when I had Labradors from working stock, who defaulted to wanting to please, because this dog definitely prefers to do as SHE pleases! If she’s not really understanding what I’m asking her to do but she is motivated to do so (due to the presence of a treat…) I will use intuitive communication to try to help her, although if I’m honest she’s usually so focussed on the treat that the communication doesn’t really get through to her!

If she wants to communicate something to me and I’m not tuned in to communication, she will stare intently at me - and if that doesn’t work she has a very effective whinge and whine. This is when I use communication with her the most; I’ll tune in and ask what she wants. Usually it’s something simple, like me to move her bed for her. Quite often she is asking me to go to bed before I’m ready, because she is ready and she wants to snuggle! Sometimes it’s to remind me that I promised something, like a Kong, some training, or a second walk. Other times it’s to comment on something that seemingly doesn’t really need a response; she once told me “big bird” around 2 minutes before I heard two aeroplanes flying overhead - it was just commentary on what she could hear.

I use communication to help her to prepare for change - like when we go on holiday, I’ll describe the journey and what we will do, who we will go to see. When I take her to meet friends, she’s often more settled if I’ve told her about it before we go. And - goodness I hope this is a great many years away - when it’s her time to pass I hope I will have the chance to communicate with her and help prepare her for that, too.

I’m soon going to be teaching people how to get in tune with their pets. If you want to make sure you get the heads up when that happens, drop me a message HERE and you’ll be the first to know!