Tips and tricks for communicating with animals
Today I’m going to share some tips on communicating with animals by telling you a little story.
My calico cat, Molly, is well known to participants in my animal communication workshops and she features in many of my articles. Our latest development is our big move in September from Whidbey Island, Washington to Portland, Oregon.
Since moving to Portland, Molly has missed the richness of living on the grounds, interacting with bunnies, voles, mice and snakes. She spent hours napping in tall grasses and wandering through mazes of blackberry bushes. She once arrived home with two blackberry thorns stuck up her nose. It looked like a little rhinoceros!
Although she misses the island, Molly is adapting well to life in the city. For one thing, she can stay out later because there are no bald eagles flying overhead or coyotes roaming the streets. And she has a cat neck. She did it without hesitation or trial and error. I just showed Molly a film – telepathically – of her stepping through the hatch. soon! She walked over to the cat door and went out for the day. Now I just have to remember to show her a movie about going through the hatch too!
Tip: I have found that movies or sequential narratives help with learning. For example, I have used them with scent tracking dogs who lose their scent in certain situations. Showing them how to go back and pick up the scent trail is sometimes all it takes to help them overcome a difficult training hurdle.
Molly does face some new challenges here in Stumptown. The neighborhood cats see my house as an extension of their territory. One goes so far as to have the body slam the front door of Queen Anne and look through the glass at Molly. I’m learning that my little country cat is a lover, not a fighter.
As I write, Molly is lying on the couch eating candy while I figure out how to get the neighborhood cats to change their behavior. My point is that they want what Molly has: a home, love and personal property (one cat has snuck in a few times and checked out Molly’s many toys).
Tip: Simply telling animals to do what we want is not enough – they have free will. It’s about a relationship. It’s about learning what motivates each animal.
Often in the community dance between humans and cats, cats can be courted by reactive, instinctual behavior. That’s what I’ll ask of the neighbor’s cats. I will invite them to express their consciousness to the fullest extent and to choose from the wider range of options visible from this perspective. I will invite them to choose peaceful coexistence with Molly instead of rubbing her.
Tip: Dog-aggressive dogs, horses that pounce unpredictably, and cats that spray all have the problem of reactivity. A stimulus causes a response. In other words, they react instinctively before thinking. In our communications with animals, if we can teach them how to build a delay before they respond, we have created the precondition for choice, the choice of adaptive rather than reactive behavior.
Here’s the catch. No neighborhood cat has a name. The two, a turtle and a mute turtle, live in their front yard 24/7, just as the three dogs in the household live in the backyard 24/7. They do not live in meaningful relationship with people. The way I see it, I’m going to ask them out, which may be the first time. By calling them out, I can convince them to grow and change their ways.
Tip: I define animal communication as the art of creating deep, loving connections with animals in motion.
Fast forward a few months. It’s February and I’ve been working with the neighborhood cats as suggested. They go by the names I gave them. The turtle, Radha, happily spends her time in the house with Molly and me. The muted turtle, Smokey, comes as close as the wicker chairs on the front porch. We did achieve peace by entering into relationships, first through intuitive connection, then through gestures of kindness.
#Tips #tricks #communicating #animals
