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We are glad you are interested in practicing talking together with an animal!
To get started, greet the animal and ask if they have time to talk with you. Remember that animals also lead busy lives even though we may not see all that they do. If they aren’t available, check back later.
Introduce yourself and explain why you are reaching out to them: that you are a member of the Animal Talk Coaching & Mastery Club and learning to better communicate with animals and would appreciate their help. You can ask them any questions you want. Typically they do provide a response. Please share your impressions of their personality, energy, how they feel and any insights they may share with you. By sharing what you get, the animal’s person can provide you with feedback and others can jump in too.
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GingerModerator
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Hi Patty. I was drawn to speak with Ginger today. Thank you for allowing her to be one of our teachers.
My general impression of her is that she is a happy dog, and can be a trickster (kind of a Marmaduke personality). She like to lay in the sun, and she nudges you with her nose to wake you up.
I introduced myself, and asked if we could talk.
G: Oh sure, what do you want to know?
Me: Thank you, how are you?
G: I’m honky, dory, dandy, fine!
Me: So glad to hear that. I’m sensing you like to have fun.
G: Yep, I sure do!
Me: What is your favorite thing to do?
G: Snuggle with my human, chase the cat, eat, and be lazy.
Me: Sounds relaxing. What would you like to share with me?
G: Oh, I don’t know. Can you tell my mom I love her?
Me: Yes, I sure can!! Anything else?
G: I’m very content and happy, and I feel good.
Me: Awesome! Have you always been with Patti?
G: No, she got me out of a bad situation.
Me: So glad she did! How old are you Ginger?
G: I’m 8.
Me: Is there anything you don’t understand about us humans?
G: Yes, why do you eat with your hands? (LOL)
Me: Our bodies are different from yours, and we stand upright, so it’s easier for us.
G: I see.
Me: Anything else?
G: No, not really, I just find humans amazing.
Me: In what way?
G: You’re so different than me!
Me: Yes, we are. What can I help you understand?
G: Why can’t humans just relax and not be so up tight?
Me: Well, Ginger, some of us can, but we have a lot of different kinds of concerns than animals.
G: I just don’t get it! (LOL)
Me: I understand, yes, we are different. What do you like about being a dog?
G: I have freedom to do whatever I like during the day, and get fed, and loved on.
Me: That’s great! Well, Ginger, thanks so much for sharing with me.
G: You’re welcome! (Big yawn!) -
Hi Sharon, I just found this when I came to post accountability for the week. I wish there was a way we could be notified via e-mail when someone communicates with our fur-kids (hint, hint, Barb and the tech crew!)
Thank you for choosing to talk to Ginger. I will take her word for it on her age, I had no clue, so that’s good to know. The person I got her from didn’t know either, and beyond him, I don’t know any of her story. I guess it’s just as well, as they don’t hold onto their “baggage” like we humans do. His family was moving and he didn’t want to or couldn’t take her with him. As I had already told her she could come and live with me if she ever needed to, I brought her home with me.
She is just the best little dog ever, but it’s easy to tell that somebody at some point really made the impression on her not to express her feelings. I have yet to ever have a doggy kiss from her on my face, she acts like she wants to, but then quickly turns away, even though I tell her it’s ok, that I like doggy kisses. She is only just now starting to show some enthusiasm when I coax it out of her and she knows it’s ok, like when I ask her if she wants to play or go run around, or get excited about her food.She likes to lay beside me on the couch in the evenings when we’re having our relax time. She does occasionally chase a kitty, but not very far, just enough that the kitty runs away. She does love her food and her treats, and is usually in the same room with me whatever I’m doing, laying on the floor or in her bed(s) beside me. It touched my heart when she asked you to tell me she loves me. It’s good to know that she feels good, because I’ve been wondering about that recently. I’m so glad to know that she’s happy with me, as it’s hard for me to tell sometimes. She does occasionally give me a big doggy grin when I give her a belly rub. 🙂
Thank you for talking to her and sharing with me!
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Thanks so much for getting back with me. So glad Ginger is with you. I’m also glad this was helpful in your understanding of her. I know that sometimes we really don’t know what our pets think of us, or being with us. I found it really interesting that she is curious about us humans, especially why we eat with our hands!
Have a blessed day!
Sharon -
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Hi Gabriela,
I would love it if you could talk to Ginger. She is in spirit now, it’s been almost a year. I would love to hear what she has to say. I should get an email notification when you need a response from me. And thank you! I think about her so much!
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Hi Patty,
Thank you for letting me practice. If this does not resonate with you, please attribute it to my imagination:
I have the feeling that Ginger wants to talk about transitioning.
Ginger says that there was a time when she was still physically with you when you were thinking about how unpleasant it feels when realizing that your animals are approaching an older age and you might have to let go of them one day.
She knew that you dislike those end-of-life-decisions that humans sometimes have to face when they worry about their beloved animals’ health conditions.
I have the impression she wants to say that a shorter or sudden transitioning (when for example a heart simply stops beating) can be looked at as a gift too, by both parties, the ones leaving and the ones staying behind, and it can even be looked at as a gift to each other, especially when it is clear/evident that things are not getting better.
It could be that you lost somebody (human or animal?) over a relatively extended period of time (due to an illness maybe), with a prolonged goodbye and a lot of emotional suffering, and that Ginger therefore tried to keep her own passing – compared to the transition period of that other soul – shorter or more evident, for both your and her sake, without endless visits to the vet (or hospital, in case of a human) back and forth, to save you both unnecessary tears.
I feel she says that between the two of you, all was good and said and done. She feels good being free of her body.« Patty can weather any storm »
I get the impression that you have a lot of energy, a lot of drive and that you are an active person.
She tells me you are a « formidable » person and have a strong personality (meant in a very positive way). And she admired you for that. It was something she lacked, a certain confidence in herself, but she learned it from you. And at the same time you softened her so that she could completely relax, open up, and in turn have a giving-something-back effect on you. So you were very good for each other.She goes on to describe you as a reliable, authentic person. When you are upset about something, you say so. You do not store emotions that are negative for you, instead you let go of them (which is healthy for your body), doing something outdoors in the fresh air. You let what you are unhappy about « wash out like rain », thereby find back your balance and let your “sun shine again ».
Are you able to whistle, Patty?
I feel that occasionally she could have a little taste of your(?) food or some leftovers. So she was not restricted to dog food only. And she loved you for not being a person who strictly counts calories all the time (so I do not think that you put her on a diet even though it might have crossed your mind at some stage). She says you were being “generous”. I see her sitting in the kitchen, looking up (and waiting) in amazement at all those cupboards and doors (containing food) that humans can open and animals cannot.
She enjoyed the time with you and your way of living and environment was suitable for her later years in life.
She adored you, you are a person with a big big heart.
She cannot thank you enough for everything.
It was imperative for her to find heaven on earth, a sanctuary, a safe haven, which you provided for her.Do not worry about not being able to save everyone. You can do only so much. But every choice/decision/action of yours does matter.
Which reminds me of the story of the starfish (…after a storm, when a lot of starfish are washed onto the shore, you cannot save every single one in time by throwing them back into the sea, simply because there are too many. But to the one that you are able to throw back, it matters immensely).
I believe that is Ginger’s way of saying thank you for saving me .I do not feel she uses the word « Mum » for you because your relationship was more of two companions, sharing life time. Though the word « Mum » would be appropriate to describe the amount of affection she had for you and has and will always have.
I do not feel that this soul has been with you before but now that she has been with you you will always stay connected.
Much love,
Gabriela
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Hi Gabriela,
That was a really great conversation you had with Ginger. I read it last nite before going to bed but didn’t want to respond yet due to it being really late and I wanted time to spend with my response. I read it again just now, and both times it brought tears to my eyes.
We did have another dog several years ago, Cooper, who was just the sweetest boy ever! Due to a vet’s mis-diagnosis, what actually attacked his body was too far progressed to treat, if there was indeed a treatment for it. I don’t remember what it is called, but he progressively lost the use of his back legs. We had a couple of conversations with Val while this was going on, and, like Ginger, he wanted to get better at first. We tried several things to try to help, but nothing did, and on our last call with Val, he asked her to explain euthanasia to him. He decided that’s what he wanted, so that’s what we did. The situation did last for quite a while, and Ginger saw it all, so I’m pretty sure that’s what she was talking about as far as we are concerned. She may have had some other point of reference from before she came to be with me.
It never gets any easier to let them go, and I agree with her about the sudden stopping of a heartbeat may be a blessing to both, even thought at the time it may not seem that way. To let a situation drag on when there is little or no promise or hint of improvement seems torturous to me. I don’t think of it often, but once in a while it does cross my mind. We did make a couple of trips to the vet for holistic treatments for her because I thought if it would help her, it was worth it. There was no improvement that either of us noticed, so we talked to Val, and Ginger decided it was time to go. I got the feeling of “completeness” when she left. I do miss her and Cooper both! I’m glad to know she is still a happy girl.
Ginger had been mistreated before she came to live with me. You could tell by the way she dropped her head when she was petted and by her lack of confidence in most of her behaviors. Just her whole demeanor begged “please don’t hurt me”. She came to know that she was safe with me and the cats wouldn’t hurt her. Her confidence increased the longer she was here, and I was hoping to one day get a puppy kiss from her, but that never happened. That had been educated out of her at some point. I could tell she wanted to, but she would always turn her head away before she “lost control” of that particular emotion.”
I have never learned to whistle, no one has ever asked me that before, haha. I find it interesting that she describes me as “formidible”. I’ve never thought of myself in that way, but I am not a bit shy about expressing my feelings. I know what I like and don’t like, and what I allow and don’t allow in my life. It’s taken me a long time to get here, but I don’t put up with anybody’s shit anymore! As I told someone recently, and it’s so true, we teach people how to treat us by what we put up with.
Ginger never was allowed people food when she was with me. She got lots of treats and I kept trying to find the best food I could afford for her (pet food is SOOOOO expensive, especially if you get into the special diet food, as I’m sure you know). I am vegan, so she probably wouldn’t have liked my food anyway. No meat in this house except for her food and the cats’ food. She was a bit pudgy when she came to live with me, but that seemed to just naturally go away over time.
Interesting what they think of us and our habits. Like all the cabinets that we don’t give a second thought to, but they fascinated her.
I love your story about the starfish. How often I have wished I could “save them all” and remember my mom telling me I couldn’t. I hold it in my heart that I do what I can for those that I can, and that’s important. All of my babies were rescues of some sort.
I’m so happy to know that Ginger was happy here. I wondered sometimes because she got loose once and immediately went back to her old house, which isn’t very far from me. I wondered if she was looking for those people and if she missed them and wanted to go back.
Thank you again for having this conversation with Miss Ginger. I have thoroughly enjoyed it. If you talk to her again, would you please tell her that I love her and miss her very much and it was a pleasure hearing from her again?
Much love to you and yours,
Patty
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… I will, but she has heard you …
Thank you, Patty, for writing back so detailed (so I know where I was off track), I can feel you well through the way you write. You say that Ginger went back to the house to look for those people … how sad. She just couldn’t believe that they had left her behind, a feeling of abandonment weighs heavily on such a loyal sentient being. So wonderful that you took her in. If you take in rescues (of some sort), it says a lot about you. Besides providing for basic needs like food, shelter, security, you mend broken hearts and restore their faith in human beings. What is more, you don’t mind them being older and accept that they come with certain experiences/behaviour etc.
I know you know this. So why do I ‘spell it out’? This is a “thank you, Patty” coming from all your rescues, I ‘hear’ it (in my mind) like a choir.Have a good Easter Monday
Much love,
Gabriela
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Ginger
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