What is Your Pet Really Thinking?

by Jennifer Baltz

Animals are a lot smarter...and more perceptive...than you may think. Just because your dog spends most of his time "sleeping" doesn't mean he's not paying attention to EVERYTHING you say and do!

Tip, a small mixed breed dog, unexpectedly began making doggie deposits on a small throw rug in the living room, much to the dismay of his owner. He also began scattering droppings from the cat litter box. "His person had tried various methods to correct him, from yelling to pushing his face in it, but to no avail," says Penelope Smith, author of Animal Talk. "She told me it all started soon after she got a litter pan for the cats, when she had changed to having them indoors." Hmm...

But Tip's version of the story was amazingly (and amusingly) different from his owner's. When the litter box appeared, Tip watched his person "playing" in the litter every day. He thought it looked like fun. So, he decided to play too. "Since she made such a fuss over their (cat) poop, he'd make a present of his own where she'd be sure to see it and definitely know it was his gift and not theirs. He thought she'd enjoy scooping his poop as much as the cats'," says Smith. Tip didn't understand when she yelled at him, since she never yelled at the cats for going indoors. He ignored her, and continued leaving "presents," thinking that sooner or later she'd enjoy his gifts.

A solution was proposed. Tip's person first thanked the dog for his attentive efforts. The concept of litter boxes was explained to the dog, and that he should leave his "gifts" outside. It worked. Tip immediately stopped making deposits on the rug and stayed out of the litter box, too! A little communication goes a very long way when it comes to our animal friends!

How Telepathic Communication Works

Telepathy is the ability to communicate without words. It is especially effective with animals. Most animal telepaths get a combination of words, pictures and feelings when they ask a question. Animal communicator Sam Louie says "Animal souls are of equal value. All souls share the same desire to seek happiness and avoid pain and suffering. Based on these things, we can speak a common language, in terms of wanting happiness and avoiding unhappiness. Let's say I ask a dog if there is someone on the farm he doesn't get along with. I might get a picture of a horse, then the feeling of a bad smell. My interpretation is that there's a smelly horse on the farm that he doesn't like."

You can communicate telepathically with any animal, from a fly to a horse. Dolphins are a lot of fun, too. One gorgeous girl at the Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco had a lot to say. Telepathically, I asked her to let me know that she could really hear me, by going to the opposite corner of the tank and playing with a ball that the dolphins had been ignoring. Seconds after my request, the dolphin was at the other end of the tank, playfully scooting the ball across the water and making a big show of it. A few minutes later, she slowly cruised by my position at the window, eye focused directly on me. In my head, I heard an amused sing-song voice say "Does that answer your question?" We proceeded to have a wonderful conversation-during which the dolphins informed me that they believe we humans need help in learning how to play!

Goat Watch

Some might say this is mere coincidence. But Sam Louie related another story to me that can't be so easily explained. It seems that Irish, a farm goat, had been attacked by two wandering dogs. Hurt and anxious, he ran into his stall, where he was a sitting duck for the dogs. Louie had been called in to give the goat instructions on what to do if the dogs chased him again. "My client wanted Irish to run to a horse named Sis, who was the 'boss mare' on the farm. Sis told me she would protect Irish. The farm's collie also agreed to protect the goat and asked to be let outside to keep watch."

The following week, a stray dog came onto the property and chased Irish. This time, Irish ran straight to Sis the horse. The collie followed quickly. The dog and horse sandwiched the goat between them and protected him!

It sounds like something right out of that cuddly pig movie, Babe, but interspecies communication specialists and other psychics have hundreds of stories that make it all too real. Often animal-human relationship problems are caused because the human being just doesn't listen or make the attempt to see things from their animal companion's eyes.

How Animals Think

Animals have a much different perspective on the world than we do. Often, they don't relate to the artificial rules that we humans create in order to live in civilized society. Sometimes, their strange behavior occurs because of their natural instincts, as in the case of Spike, the cat.

Raphaela Pope talked to Spike when his frustrated person called her for help. "Spike wandered in during the first winter that Nadine spent in Idaho," says Pope. "He ended up in front of the fire in a few days. He's a thorny old guy with torn ears and a 'been around the block' attitude. But when Nadine got out of bed every morning, Spike would follow her and attack her feet and ankles." Since the otherwise friendly Spike weighs over 16 pounds, the problem was literally beginning to be a real pain for Nadine. When Pope talked to Spike, she began to laugh. "The picture he gave me was that she wears a long flannel nightgown. Underneath it are these twinkling little toes and feet that look like little pink mice to him!" It was too irresistible. Spike just couldn't stop himself. Pope told Nadine to start wearing slippers to cover up those pink toes, and Spike stopped his morning foot raids.

Anyone can learn to be more in touch with his or her pet. Simple communication can solve a lot of animal problems that might otherwise have tragic consequences. The reason we don't do it more often is that we just don't know how to listen, to receive: "People spend a lot of time in the doing mode, in the active mode with their animals. They pet them, they groom them, they take them for walks. What you need to do is go into the receptive mode, the quiet mode. It's not reverie or being in your own thoughts. You get quiet and you focus, gently, with the animal," says Penelope Smith.

Changing Your Perspective on "Pet Ownership"

Animal communicators see our non-human friends as animal companions rather than as pets. They are careful to make that distinction and usually call the human guardian a "person" rather than the "owner." A particular animal may come into your life for a special purpose--as a teacher, a healer, or just a good friend. Animals can be powerful teachers. Are you learning all you can from your companion friend?

Excerpted from Heart Dance Magazine. Copyright 1997 All rights reserved. For permission to use this article in any form, please click here: