http://www.care2.com/greenliving/if-animals-could-talk.html
If Animals Could Talk
By Barbara Hey, Natural Solutions
I am living in a newly blended family consisting of two adults, four children, three cats, and two dogs. All the humans have issues–the adults too numerous to discuss, the teenagers what you’d expect (angst at the constrictions enforced by the parental regime), the younger kids the anxiety of displacement.
But as people we have an outlet for our issues: We talk. When that’s not enough, we turn to the battalion of therapists we see and we get to talk some more.
Lately, though, I’ve noticed that the creatures sharing our space seem out of sorts, too. The animals have been acting out–not by skipping school or piercing body parts, but with an exaggeration of their usual behaviors. One dog has grown clingy, the other withdrawn. Meanwhile, the cats have taken to hunting, leaving the body parts of small animals on the doorstep each morning.
I understand how they must feel with their territorial boundaries in flux, their sleeping spots usurped. But my patience reaches its limit when their distress leads to an unfortunate scent around the home, traceable to what is politely described as “elimination problems.” Something must be done.
In less forgiving times the solution for such unruly pets was to send them to the “farm” (to which my frisky Labrador retriever was dispatched in 1968, never to return). But these days, our pets are as much members of the family as our children are, and there’s no shortage of experts ready to offer advice, from trainers to behaviorists to “animal communicators.”
It’s this last category that intrigues me. I grew up watching Lassie (”I think she’s trying to tell us something”), and I need someone to help me get inside my animals’ heads and figure out what they need from me.
That’s exactly what animal communicators do, says Penelope Smith, who has been one since the 1970s and is the author of Animal Talk and When Animals Speak. “We’re born with the ability to communicate telepathically with animals, but it’s socialized out of us,” she says. Communicators are more tuned in to those abilities than the rest of us. With practice, many say they can hone their skills to the point where they can even work with animals over the phone.
It sounds far-fetched, but I am desperate. So I place a call to Kate Solisti-Mattelon. Based in Boulder, where I live, she and her energy healer husband, Patrice Mattelon, have been communing with animals professionally for nearly a decade. Kate is the author of the Conversations with Dog (and Cat and Horse) series. I ask for a home visit so she can meet the animals face to face.
First, there’s Sherlock the high-strung sheltie, who spends his time alternately sleeping, trying to herd me, or looking at me forlornly, in need of something he can’t articulate. Then there’s Lily, the smooth collie mix from the pound, who’s skittish around doorways, men, and golden retrievers. Lily’s anxiety has escalated to the point where she’ll only rest when she’s by my side. Neither dog will eat or play unless I watch, and both ooze apprehension.
While we’re on the phone, Kate tells me to speak to each animal and tell them, “Kate is coming to talk to you.” Lily listens attentively, Sherlock averts his gaze, the cats ignore me, and the kids think I’m nuts.
If I’m nuts, I tell them, then so was Saint Francis of Assisi, a plastic statue of whom stands in my backyard surrounded by tennis balls and chewed bones, and who is the most well-known animal communicator besides perhaps Dr. Dolittle. “All good animal communicators use telepathy, intuition, sensing, and feeling to understand each animal from the inside out,” Kate says.
I explain to Kate the situation that has five animals and six humans commingling in a small space. I tell her the names, ages, and stories of how each animal came into the family, but I focus on Lily, a dog born in puppy-mill country, fostered as a baby, and adopted, then relinquished within a year for reasons she’s not telling.
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17 comments
add your comment »I believe in telepathy among humans. The number of times I have thought of a person and had the telephone ring with a call from that person immediately after are too numerous to count. Our brains operate with electric energy so why is it so far- fetched to think that thoughts and feelings could be shared to a certain degree? I am not a new ager either, just a 70 year old woman who has shared life with many a dog and cat. I have always talked to and listened to my animals. One long-haired calico named Patches would listen intently while I talked to her and told her how beautiful she was; she was a little diva and loved to be brushed and admired. Animals may not speak English, or French, or Chinese, but they do speak their love and honesty and caring, if we respond in kind.
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What an interesting article! I agree with Brenda P., we do communicate with animals and vice versa. Wish we could develop that ability better. If St. Francis of Assisi could do it, why can't we?
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After reading this article, I felt compelled to throw my own comment into the ring.
I have a personal experience to share about the communicator mentioned in the article, Kate. I read one of Kate's books so, like Mel, decided to contact her for some insight into my furbaby's life. Our session was wholly unhelpful and a waste of both time and money. Our contact was over the phone, so perhaps that had something to do with the lack of success.
While I believe Kate can probably help some animals, she offered no vision or insight for us. She basically just offered (unsolicited) nutritional/supplemental suggestions. She was also inaccurate in the "visions" she had regarding my dog's physical ailments/problems, which was my main reason for contacting Kate .(We visited the vet two weeks after the session with Kate and my concerns for my dog were confirmed.)
Throughout my session with Kate, I kept feeling like I was "being taken." She gave vague, general comments only after I gave her requested info (behavior, physical tendencies, eating habits) which could've been applied to any canine; nothing was anything more than an educated guess.
On a higher note, I contacted ANOTHER communicator a couple of months later who was MUCH more in tune to my dog -- VERY accurate in ALL of his physical ailments, big and small. She did a full nose to tail "examination".
So my experience with animal communicators wasn't entirely fruitless.
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Well Chris, I used to agree with you. Then Diesel ran off and didn't come back in the days before the entire property was fenced. After a night and day of looking, I called a local communicator. She didn't know me or either of the dogs she "spoke" with (Scarlett ran off with Diesel but came back later that same night) but the info she gave me of what she "saw" and heard was spot on. She was uncertain if he was still alive or not as he said he was trapped. She saw black and brown around him. I thought he was trapped in the woods around the house but she thought that was not accurate. After 3 days he was found a mile up the road, with his leg stuck in the undercarriage of a train on display at the museum. The train was black and the unpainted parts underneath were the brown color. Apparently they had been chasing a coyote and it had jumped up on something under the train. Diesel doesn't realize his own size and when he went after the coyote he tried to push off or climb up but the part he stepped on was an odd shape and trapped his leg. He was hurt, dehydrated but ok.
Do I believe in animal communicators? Abso-damn-lutely
Do I believe all who claim they are communicators are? No of course not. But don't close your mind to the possibility.
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Oh, this is so cool! If you have Kate back, please do a follow-up article!!!
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I am not sure if Mel's point is to listen to the subtle (and not-so-subtle) communication from your animals or that mental telepahty with animals exists (and over the phone no less!?) Mental telepathy is just preposterous, and anyone who thinks that needs to seriously think about seeing a doctor about it. Now, highly sensitive and perceptive people and/or others who are great behaviorists are worthy of respect and I'd listen to their advice. I hate the fact that people try to market the hogwash when they could simple state that they are experts in animals behavior.
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I just have one more thing to say before we had birds we had this wonderful cat by the name of Harvey. Some how he looked like a Harvey he had a double set of claws one pair was brown and the other set was a regular kind. he never damaged anything because my husband build a scratching post and he loved that scratching post to death. The cat would hug that post and attack it but that was his best buddy. When we would come home you could hear on the otherside of the door screaming for us to open the door to say "HI". When we would go up the stairs we would have to separate because the cat would run up the stair and jump on the corner of the bed and put his paw out for us to go over to say "HI" back to him we would ignore him but finally we would go over to say "HI" or would fall off the bed. When would get close he would hug us with his paws but he was always closer to my husband because they would sit on the couch and talk for hours about what I don't have a clue but all I could hear was my husband laughing so I guess they understood each other.
The sad thing he died from fleas no matter what we tried to do to keep the fleas away it never worked and we spent a lot of money trying but it just didn't work and we he died my husband was so upset it took years for him to stop speaking about his buddy that died from something we had no control over.
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All animals speak but the humans have to be willing to listen and that is a fact.
When I was a child we had one dog and one cat and they were really confused who the dog was and who was the cat because we treated them equally so they really got along very well.
My cat used to bathe the dog that looked the dog shown in this article and cat would bathe under her neck he eyes he feet like she was her kitten and never got hair balls and that was before there was no medicine or foods to help that problem all she would eat was grass to help her digestion. They both lived over ten years each. In fact the dog was thirteen (13) years old and the cat passed when she fourteen (14) years old.
They both knew the rules of the house without any words spoken. They both knew that my mother had rules and you had better go by them. My mother would speak to them with her eyes like she did with us.
We would know just by the way they would act there was someone in the house didn't feel well especially our dog named Chrissy she would stand by the person in give them comfort.
My husband and I had birds and I was more or less their owner because he really wasn't close to them as I was. If I would be upset my birds would come up to the side of face and rub their face against mine and that always made me happy and would start laughing so the do communicate in so many ways but it is up to us humans to understand what they are saying and that is the way it is.
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I love this article. I know my animals understand me and sometime I understand them.
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Sorry! Got cut off. To continue my story; ... I stated, "Oh, I'm soryy, you are the queen, aren't you." I then looked at Joe and stated, "She is the queen, isn't she, Joe.", to which he replied (while looking me staight in the eyes), "She THINKS she is."
It came through so crystal clear and all I could do was laugh. I truly think that I heard Joe laughing, too. Mouse, who hates being laughed at, left the room in a huff and gave both Joe and I the cold shoulder for several days afterward. I still have to laugh every time I think about this. LOL!!!
Oh, sorry, Mouse. ;-)
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