Joyce Leake's Animal University » dogs

Animal Communication – Striking Up A Conversation

Joyce Leake — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 16:22:07 +0000

A First Level student in Animal University’s Interspecies Communication Certificate Program was recently completing an assignment required to move on to the next Level. She was having difficulty ’striking up a conversation’ with a reticent therapeutic riding horse. She felt that her questions were not compelling enough for the horse to answer and her frustration ended in thinking that her skills were not improving. She asked for some suggestions from me and here’s what I wrote to her…

Hi Terri: Wow! Those are excellent questions. I think that my suggestions would be along the same lines that you have already asked, however, here are a few to consider:

Would you mind sharing a few things about your favorite rider
How does he feel on your back
Do you have suggestions to help him ride you better
What do you feel is his most pressing issue that he wants to share with his people (I realize we are asking about the person but it does stir interest in that the horse feels he is more of an assistant than being for a passenger only)
What’s your favorite time of day
Do you listen to the birds
Does the tractor bother you
How do you feel about the folks who tend to you
Does this responsibility meet your expectations of what you had thought your life would be
Do you feel satisfied with your life/frustrated/stifled
Do you spend your time in the now or do you ponder wishing you were ‘doing what you used to be doing’

I have learned that animals are like people…some prefer surface conversation while others want to get to a meatier discussion. Tailoring your questions to meet their needs and interests sometimes means being a little nosier/digging deeper to figure out what their style and interests are. It’s a little tricky, I know, but leaning on our own experience, talking with people, can give you confidence to ‘talk with animals’.

So if you find your communication with animals a little lacking, expand your communication repertoire and ‘just talk’! You’ll be surprised how that closed dog, cat or horse will open up to your inquisitive invitation.

Animal Communication Helping a Dog in Pain

Joyce Leake — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:37:04 +0000

My friend, Carly, called me asking for help with her Jack Russell terrier. As she described her dog’s actions, I could ‘feel’ a rush of heat course up the back of my neck. What an odd sensation. Within a few seconds I ‘knew’ that there was something wrong with this little dog. What I was feeling was significant pain. According to Carly, her dog would scream at odd times and without apparent reason. In my years communicating with animals, I have discovered that rarely do animals show emotion, especially a scream, without exhibiting a clue leading up to it. We just have to ramp up our observation skills and tune into their signals of distress. After a few more minutes of conversation with Carly, she shared that she had observed her tail wags and could distinguish between a happy wag and a disturbed wag. And furthermore, she could even recall when ‘just prior to a scream’ her dog’s tail wouldn’t wag but shiver. Ah ha! Good job, Carly. Your skills are tuning to a ninth degree of accuracy. With that word of support, Carly can now ‘take her evidence’ to the veterinarian to help diagnose the problem. Our dogs, cats, horses and more are always finding ways to communicate with us. It’s just that their method to do so is obviously – different from ours. The language barrier doesn’t have to be if we will just take the time to tune in and watch for the communication signs. Isn’t it neat? We really do have skills to communicate with our dogs, cats, horses and more. All we have to do is use them.

Stop Barking! Who Me?

Joyce Leake — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:52:55 +0000

I said, “Stop Barking!”. Whew, the pitch of the lady’s voice shrilled those words as she was describing how much her dog barked, and according to her, over nothing. I almost agreed with her because I didn’t see anything that would prompt the dog’s high-pitched sounds and intuitively, while communicating with him, it was hard to locate a ‘reason why’ until I caught that ’shrill sound’ in my ear canal. I got it. Further questioning of the dog confirmed that the noise volumn in the house was enough to make anyone shout. Once answered, I started to notice that the rest of the noise in this house was in the ’shrill’ range. The TV was blarring, the kids were screaming, the back door slammed and the phone kept ringing, ignored, of course, but the answering machine message chimed in loudly so as not to be missed. This was exhausting to say the least. I started to smile, what else could I do in the midst of all this chaos, and caught the attention of the little dog. He ‘knew’ that I got ‘his reason why’ and quietly sat down right in front of me and said, “See what I have to put up with here? How else can I compete?” Boy, he was right. Now not all barking problems are for this reason, but it was a wake up call to remind me that sometimes we people are just too noisy. No wonder we have the need to get back to nature. The next best thing to nature should be our dog and a little R&R in the back yard. But with noise competition, no wonder this little guy felt he had to make a big statement, maybe just to keep up with the rest of his family. Communicating with animals doesn’t have to be this loud.

Animal Communication – Key To Trust

Joyce Leake — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:16:00 +0000

These financial times are hitting everyone pretty darn hard. At least that is what we hear, read and water-cooler. Once, the sky was the limit, now, inches ever more downward toward vulnerable workers and entrepreneurs.

Losses, credibility cracks, crooks, shysters, cut-backs, layoffs, bailouts – doom, doom and gloom. Is there anyone ‘out there’ who has integrity, honesty, loyalty and just plain old goodness? Of course, take a look at who is wagging tails, planting jump marks on your neat and tidy clothes, barks incessantly and runs rings around your welcomed return. And don’t forget those who whinny, meow and chirp in not-so-perfect pitch.

Take a look, a hard look, deep into the eyes of real loyalty, real truth and total honesty. Your dogs, cats, horses and more, those special souls will never let you down or lie, cheat and steal their way to the top.

They are always honest, truthful and trustworthy, okay, maybe they don’t always come when called. You can depend on them honoring, loving and giving to you.

Take them seriously, share your world with them, feel confident that your ‘confidence’ will always be revered. These truly are your trusted partners waiting to support, help and share their thoughts with you. They can talk with you and you CAN hear them. All you have to do is consider conversing differently and learn how to un-block a few patterns.

Seriously, you are missing a ‘world’ of information out there. It’s walking around, licking your toes, purring you to sleep or carrying you through hill and dale. Just ‘do it.’

Welcome to our NEW Animal Communication Blog

Joyce Leake — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:39:00 +0000

To share my ever-growing abilities and experiences with you, I have created this blog to keep you updated and therefore help you continue your learning and improve your animal communication skills.

If you’d like to know when I add new articles to this blog, click on the “subscribe to” links on the left and you’ll receive an email whenever I update.