When we live with a dog (or dogs) we communicate with them whether or not we realize it. We get in sync with them and recognize a certain barking and what “those” eyes mean. But our dogs are communicating with us all time and we barely recognize it. Like humans, they mostly use their body to signal us and other dogs. (We do this with a raised eyebrow or hand gesture.)
Earlier this summer I met a woman named Maureen who does animal communication. Her business is called Animal Translations and can be found on the MetroWestDog.com website. I was curious how this type of (mental telepathy-like) communication worked and how it was different than the more scientifically studied body language communication. It’s much more personal.
I sent her photos of my dogs and she did her magic. (It was pretty magical!) Some of things she told me about I already knew but hadn’t told her about. She told me that my yellow lab mix was missing the old dog. I kind of had a feeling that he felt that way – but I think I’m pretty tuned in to my dog’s emotions, body language and eating habits. What I wasn’t expecting was a reference she got from him about alligators in Florida. It was mind blowing! There had been a story on the morning news about an alligator that attacked a guy. (I talk to my dogs – as I’m sure you do) and I said to him that the guy was pretty stupid to go into the water when he knew there were alligators in there. My dog let me know that he understood. Wow!
She also told me some things about my other, recently adopted dog. She said he had had an injury to his right hind leg but it was never taken care of. I wasn’t so sure about that because he has a limp that I thought was coming from the right FRONT leg. Anyway — I took him to a doggie chiropractor to see if there was anything that could be done about the limp (as it could affect his spine) and she told me that she could feel the muscles in his right hind leg were not right and that he must have had an injury at some point. OMG! I then told her about what the doggie communicator had said and we were both pretty amazed!
(To read a little more about canine body language see a related article from the Dover-Sherborn Press:
