ATH conversation with Dakota D’s Kola

[Moderator]

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.

Some conversations have been lively, and we’ve learned some amazing insights, and laughed at jokes. Remember that this is a safe place to practice. This is about practice and learning, it is not about getting it perfect. The animals have much to teach us, to share with us and we with them. Enjoy!

Kola

Moderator

[Stacey Newell]

Kola,are you a rescue? Were you a street dog? A Rez dog? I can see it in your eyes. You seem unsure or you have trauma in you.

[Dakota Duncan]

I am so sorry that I never got a notification of your questions. I do not believe you are still active, but in case you are, here’s the answers. No, Kola has been with us since she was a 14-week-old pup. No real trauma that I can think of. She may have been concerned about me taking pictures. She doesn’t have much patience for it.

[Nita Mukherjee]

Hi Dakota, thanks for allowing me to speak with Kola. I am woefully short of practice, so I hope some of this resonates with you.

Dakota appears to be serious, and has a wondering look, there is great depth in his eyes. He walks slowly, and has a high pitched bark. His fur is smooth to the touch, and the temperature is warm. His aura is largely orange, reflecting his high energy. However, his energy seems to be balanced. Is there an issue with his left hind leg?

I see him playing with sticks, and bounding through the green grass in a meadow. He seems to enjoy car rides and feeling the wind on his fur. Indoors he sits near some tall frame.
Does he have a blue bowl with white markings, and does he like fish? Or does he go near a water body that has fish in it?

Kola is an old soul, wise and mature, and has much to share. He has had a difficult past, though I am not sure if it means a past life or before he came to you. He has had many incarnations, known losses and learnt lessons. He misses his siblings….does that mean anything? Was he one of a litter? He shows digging the soil furiously, and a time when he ran off.

When I explained that I need to practice to be able to connect with my departed dogs, he agreed to help me.

He seems to be a loner with regards to other animals, but wants to stay close to you. He is a teacher and guide, to teach forgiveness and patience. His message is not to worry so much, and that death is not the end.

Thanks again to you and Kola, he’s such a lovely boy! Love and blessings to both of you.

[Dakota Duncan]

Nita – I remembered one other thing I wanted to tell you. Yes, Kola is a loner. She gets along with our cats but is not buddy-buddy with anyone other than me.

Thank you, again. 😀

– Dakota

[Dakota Duncan]

Nita,
Thank you for talking with Kola. I am so sorry that I never got a notification that you had posted. I would have replied right away. I’ll ask about that in case there is a glitch in the system.

You did so well! I am impressed. I am going to go through each part of your message to try to provide good feedback. Kola is a female, but I don’t know that it matters much. Kola is just Kola. 😀

She is fairly serious, though has her times of being silly. She does walk slowly fairly often, especially inside the house. She tends to vary her speed depending on what we are doing. Kola’s bark is not high-pitched, however, both of our closest neighbors have dogs with high-pitched barks. Yes – her fur is smooth, warm, and I agree with the orange aura. She does have a problem with her back left leg, nice catch. It is a cyst that we had removed once but it grew back within a year,as the vet said it might. It is growing larger and does seem to cause some stiffness. Please let me know if you sensed serious pain. We’ve been mostly leaving it alone as some of the meds we tried made her sick. Maybe we need to try again.

Kola doesn’t go after sticks, but we do walk in our own grassy meadow multiple times a day. We are on 2 acres, so it really is more of a meadow than a yard. She does not really enjoy car rides. Her main daytime bed sits right next to a four-foot tall cat tree! Nice job there!

As for the bowl – there is one that is a white bowl with a large blue stripe all around it. It’s actually a scene that my daughter painted when she was younger – green grass with a blue sky, a dog, a tree, and a big bone with the name Kola on it. She’s never seen fish. Although she does love to eat the leftover fish flakes that we feed the cats.

We have had Kola since she was about 14-weeks old. No serious trauma in this life. She did lose her cat brother about 6 months ago and they were somewhat close. It’s good for me to know she misses him. I will try to give her more comfort and talk about that with her.

Kola hasn’t been much of a digger – a bit when she was younger. She did get out of her kennel or slipped past us a few times several years ago and raced to the neighbor’s yard with us furiously chasing after her.

I am glad Kola is willing to help you. She is a sweetheart.

I have to tell you, this came at a great time for me. I often start wondering if this stuff is real. I’ve been successful myself and KNOW it. . .but my logical mind likes to get in the way. You had so many things that were “correct,” and they were very specific, not general. It gives me hope and has me quite excited to get back to my course homework! Thank you so much!

-Dakota

[Moderator]

Testing notification 😉

Moderator

[Dakota Duncan]

I received an email and the “bell’ notification on the website. Thanks!

[Nita Mukherjee]

Hi Dakota, thanks very much indeed for the detailed feedback. Don’t worry about the delay….technology can be erratic! You’re too generous…..but I’m glad I got some things right, being rather low on self confidence due to lack of practice.

I wonder why I felt Kola is a male….maybe because of her personality? A learning point, for sure. Also, did she refer to a past difficult lifetime? I wonder if I heard the neighbor’s dogs!!? Sure I have a long way to go!

I didn’t sense severe pain in the leg, just some discomfort, maybe because of the stiffness. You might try some alternative/holistic treatment….one of my rescue’s growth was healed with CBD and ayurvedic medicine…there’s also an effective homeopathic remedy.

The bowl sounds lovely! Glad she’s no longer a digger! My first rescue (now in spirit) regularly dug under the fence to escape with me (at my age!) in hot pursuit over hilly terrain!

I’m sure you’re a much better communicator than me, so you’ll do very well with the homework!

Thanks again for your time and great feedback, and a chance to practice,
Love and blessings to you and Kola

[Dakota Duncan]

Nita,
Thank you for your kind words. You should really give yourself more credit. Instead of focussing on what wasn’t quite right, be proud at the numerous things that were spot on. You did so well!

I do not know about Kola’s past lives. I haven’t “officially” tried communicating with her – just our normal conversations where I think we do connect. I will consider the CBD and look into the rest. Do you have any suggestions as to homeopathic remedies or a place I could start researching?

Thank you and keep up the great work!
-Dakota

[Nita Mukherjee]

Thanks ever so much Dakota…you’re so kind and encouraging. Yes, I have to develop more self confidence!
Regarding the homeopathy, I’m copying Mary Hill’s message from one of our discussions on the forum (under “Paws before dying”)

Hi Nita, Dr. Falconer finally got back to me. He says best address is https://vitalanimal.com/join-vital-animal-pack/
I think Val has heard of him, he is a great homeopathic dr. He learned under Dr. Pitcairn long ago. He lived in the states for some time and then moved to India. He sells online courses for a small fee. They include a lot of information about natural remedies and how to use them. There is a large community of students as well. He has video seminars once a month in the evenings and answers all kinds of questions. I have used his natural remedies for Layla. Val has a masterclass in vaccinosis, and remedies are also mentioned in the masterclass you and I have looked at, Paws before dying. Most remedies can be purchased online or at health food stores. I also use them for myself.

There are also a couple of FB groups “Homeopathy for dogs”.

I’ve been using homeopathy and Ayurveda for my 9 dogs for years, with excellent results. It’s become even more relevant now that we live in a remote rural homestead in the hills, and the nearest (good) vet is 3 hours away, so one can’t risk any adverse effects from conventional medicines!

Hope that helps!
Lots of love and hugs

[Shelly Chance]

Hi Dakota!
I checked in with Kola today (5/18/24 at 12:20 pm CT). I did not look at any prior AC chats from others as I wanted to go into this uninfluenced.

I introduced myself and told her I was your classmate. She appeared to be resting, apparently not in a sun spot, just somewhere on the floor/ground in a nice cozy spot. She seemed in a very calm and relaxed state and was willing to still chat with me. I sensed she was at home and not somewhere else. Here is how my talk went with her.

I asked her what are some things she likes to do, enjoys doing, favorite activities. She showed me that she likes to play outside a lot. She showed me chasing a yellow tennis ball and bringing it back to you, she acted like she knows how to play fetch – or at least knows how to play in her mind. I couldn’t tell if she already plays that or if she was showing me she wanted to play that game with you. She showed me how she likes to pull stuffing out of toys and thrash them around.

I asked her if she likes having Max and the two new kitties, Shasta and Lexi, around. Kola gave me the feeling that she is ok having them around. She is still trying to figure out the two new kitties, but she is ok with them being there, no problem. She said she would like to have another dog to play with though, to do doggie things with, but she doesn’t know if you will get her one. LOL! 😅

I asked her if she felt Max likes the new kitties and Kola quickly said, “you’ll have to ask Max that”. I asked if there was anything Kola could do to help Max and the kitties bond better and Kola showed me how she (Kola) will love on the kitties (nuzzle them, roll around with them on the floor, etc.) while Max is watching to show Max that the kitties are ok.

I asked if she had a favorite treat or food to eat. All I got from her was that she eats kibble and that works for her, no complaints made to me on the food choices.

I asked if she likes to bark and if she would show me what her bark sounded like. She gave me the impression that she doesn’t bark that much, only when she feels it is necessary. She said she wasn’t in the mood to bark right now to show me what it sounds like. That was cute!

I asked if there was anything that her mom Dakota does that Kola loves or is there something she would like mom to do with her. She showed me that she likes (or would like) you singing to her while rubbing on her. Better warm up the vocal cords, mom, if you don’t already do this with her. 😄

Lastly, I asked if there was anything she wanted me to tell you, that perhaps you hadn’t already learned from her, and she told me just to tell you she loves you. She said you already talk to her and you already know everything she wants to tell you so all she could think of was to say she loves you. Oh, and she brought up getting her a dog to play with again. LOL!

I thanked her for talking to me and to pop up in my mind anytime she wants to chat! I scratched her scruff from afar and sent her my love. Call ended.

I will be anxious to see if I got clear messages or not. I think I am noticing changes/growth in my AC abilities – I mean, I notice when I just go in as though I am having a normal conversation with someone sitting next to me, it seems like the AC conversation flows quickly and easily but when I concentrate more on the conversation, it seems harder to get answers. Kola is my first full AC attempt at doing just that (I had a short test run at this method with Scarlett FAT earlier) – talking to her like I would with a person sitting right next to me and putting aside the “thinking”, so if I missed the mark on what she was showing me, that is okay. That just means more practice with this method. 🙂 Thanks for letting me talk to Kola!

Hope you have a fantastic weekend! Hugs to you and family! 🤗
Shelly

[Dakota Duncan]

Shelly,

Nicely done! I think you connected well with Kola – some of the things were quite accurate. First off, yes, we slept in late that morning and Kola was still in her crate when you talked with her. It is her cozy, safe place and is under what could be a breakfast bar in our kitchen island. Instead of stools, we have Kola’s large dog crate, plus her food and water bowls. 🙂 The sun never reaches it.

As for playing, every day when Kola gets done with her outdoor time, which is spent in a large kennel/fenced in side yard, I come out and play ball with her. At times it has been with tennis balls, but now she has a variety of more rubbery-squeaky balls, most of which don’t squeak anymore. She likes to try to pull the fabric off of tennis balls rather than play fetch so I don’t get those anymore. She is a very good fetcher. The ones she plays with the most are the blue and orange “Chuck-It” balls that many people use with a hand launcher. They are the size of tennis balls.

Kola LOVES pulling the stuffing out of toys! The top priority is getting the squeaker out, which usually involves removing a great deal of the stuffing. Shaking them and playing with them is all part of the process.

The conversation about the kitties sounds right. She does seem fine with them. She and Max are on good terms now but have had their rough patches. Her saying you’d have to ask Max seems like Kola. I don’t think she’d assume to know what is in his head. I can’t imagine she’d want a dog. She has never been well-socialized with other dogs. We live out in the country with only a few neighbors. They have little dogs, one used to taunt her from outside of her own kennel. Kola’s gotten free and chased her before, actually caught the little one once and drew blood. She ended up being fine, and her owner said it was her dog that started it so didn’t blame Kola. We also had the dog I told you about before living with us, and that wasn’t an easy situation. So, no, we won’t be getting another dog.

Let’s see, what else? She does eat her kibble gladly and would pretty much eat anything. She does not bark much – only if there is another person or dog on or near our property. She rarely barks from inside her crate so I am not surprised she wouldn’t bark for you, especially since her humans were sleeping.

I have not ever sung to her but I will try it! 🙂

I like what you said about just chatting as if someone was sitting next to you. That’s how it feels for me, of course, I am still very much learning, so keep that in mind. Thank you for sharing what you got from Kola. This is fun stuff, isn’t it? You did well!

[Shelly Chance]

Whew! I still get the old nerves wondering if I completely missed the mark or not. LOL This time, though, with Kola and me trying to just relax and talk to her like I would someone sitting next to me actually seemed a bit easier and less stressful – I got answers much quicker – wasn’t sure how clearly I got them, but they came in faster. I think I got more correct, though, in the message receiving than I did when I did more focusing and concentrating, so that is good news! I’ll have to keep practicing that method. I guess I was making it harder than it needed to be.

This is a lot of fun! And the more I communicate with an animal, the more comfortable I get. I just keep reminding myself that the messages I may miss or don’t get right, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are wrong. I just need more practice to better discern, interpret, and see what they are trying to tell me more clearly. The biggest reason I may miss the mark is my interpretation. Reading your AC chats really helps me in that department. The way you word the messages you get helps me to broaden my interpretations. I still need more practice to fine tune the interpretations, but it will get there. 🙂

Thanks so much for your feedback!

[Erika Taylor]

Hello! I did not look at previous responses, but tried to connect with Kola today.

My first impression was that she is an old soul. She was warm and willing to talk, but I got a sense of calm, kind energy vs. being excitable and rushing over to greet me. Almost like she’s nice, but not exceptionally sociable or seeking out interaction.

Does she sleep in bed with you? I got the feeling that she likes to sleep with you (or that she would like to sleep in the bed), and that she does not sleep in a crate or somewhere separated from you. When I ask about you, I get a very full, fluttery feeling in my chest – she loves you!

She enjoys being outdoors. Walking, sniffing, exploring, she loves it. I asked about toys and got a mediocre response for stuffed animals with squeakers. She likes them just fine and may play with them occasionally, but shes not toy-obsessed and isn’t chomping at the bit to get one. I felt even less interest in balls and tug ropes. She’s not a big fan of riding in the car. She’s quite content to be home and outdoors.

My dogs began interrupting me and I started to lose focus. I thanked Kola and i thank you for an opportunity practice with her.

[Dakota Duncan]

Erika,
Thank you for reaching out to Kola. You seem to have connected with her quite well. Kola is pretty calm and not too excitable. She’s not hugely social but is friendly. So, you really sensed her essence.

She actually does sleep in a crate downstairs, away from our upstairs bedroom. She is not much of a cuddler and has never slept in our bed. Not sure if it’s something she thinks would be fun but she rarely comes into our room.

Yes, I think Kola does love me. I am definitely her person. 😀

Kola does love being outside, sniffing and exploring. She’s not much into toys anymore but was when she was younger, so that is spot on. She still loves destuffing toys to get to the squeaker but only gets one now and then. She will only play fetch with a ball with me in her kennel in the evening. Others times of the day or with other people – not so much.

You are right, Kola is not crazy about car rides at all. She is, indeed, a homebody very content to be in her yard or take walks around our 2 acres. She does spend time alone outside in a very large kennel (our whole side yard), so it is nice she seems content with her outdoor time. She gets a bit restless if she doesn’t spend at least a few hours outside every day. That’s been a bit tough with the heat we’ve had this week because I don’t let her stay out for very long. She may have been eager to show you outdoors because she’s feeling a little more shut inside than normal. I can say she is appreciating the AC!

Thanks for sharing your conversation with Kola. Great job!

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