Do you know much about your animal’s life before it came to you?
- Do you know what it experienced, both good and bad?
- If it had any companions and what happened to them?
- What its previous people were like?
- How it was treated?
- How it felt when it first arrived with you?
I had a session last week with a horse in spirit. The client asked, amongst other questions, about this horse’s life before it came to her, since she knew nothing of its life from age 1 – 7.
The horse shared a few memories about its horse companions, its people, its environment and it’s nice to now go back to my client and share those things.
But it got me thinking. If we knew about our animal’s past, how would that help us with their present?
When you meet a person who you’d like to befriend, you often chat about past experiences, don’t you, as a way of getting to know each other.
Perhaps you’ve both been through similar things and can relate to each other because of them?
Perhaps you share a similar upbringing or place where you grew up and can share stories and experiences?
Maybe you both had a controlling parent so can share and support each other whilst listening to similar experiences from your childhood?
Perhaps you both had a bad experience with a specific type of food and can laugh now that you know someone else shares your dislike of ‘mashed potatoes’?
Maybe you were both bullied at school and now find it hard to make friends?
It’s the same with animals, and I feel this is even more poignant in the case of rescue animals. When you know about their past, you will have an idea about the things that they might be struggling with in their present.
Here are some examples:
Rescue Animals
It’s a beautiful thing to rescue an animal, to give them a safe place to spend their days. Perhaps you’re removing them from a war-torn country; or from a puppy breeder or animal hoarding situation.
But imagine for a second, the ‘baggage’ that those animals come with; maybe fear of loud noises or shouting, anxiety, abandonment issues? So many more to list…
Stray Animals
It’s always heart-warming to read stories of people taking in stray animals and giving them a loving home.
But again, imagine for a second what these animals might be feeling. Fear of not having food; not wanting to share with other animals; fear of being closed in, just to mention a few.
Each situation brings with it, its own set of ‘issues’ and animals might carry those same issues with them throughout their lives.
How could an animal communication session help?
Having a communication session can ask specific past-related questions, in a respectful way (not all animals want to talk about a traumatic past).
If a communication session revealed:
- Your animal had a fear of loud noises, we could listen to what they had to say about that in order to understand WHY those loud noises were so frightening. This means you could focus on that. We could use a session to explain what those particular noises were associated with, and why they won’t experience them again.
- Your animal had a fear of shouting, you could ensure that the animal isn’t exposed to that (both in person or on the TV) and even could involve a behaviourist to deliver a program where noises are introduced slowly on an ever-increasing level over a period of time.
- Your animal had anxiety, or abandonment issues, we could explain to the animals all the details about its current environment and explain that it won’t be abandoned and if required, seek a behaviourist to help the animals move through the anxiety.
- You animal had a fear of not having food, we could explain to the animal that it will be fed at the same time every day as part of its new household routine.
- Your animal didn’t like sharing with other animals, we could explain to it that it had its own bed, own food and water, and of course we’d ensure that there wasn’t a resource shortage in a multi-animal household.
- Your animal felt a fear of being closed in, we could find some way of ensuring it was able to feel free in some way; perhaps walking on a lead or running in a hired dog-park, or setting up a catio.
Because you now know and are aware of those issues, you can take that into account in your care for them, and make tweaks to their environment to help support them.
They might need emotional support too, of course:
- Maybe they’ll need extra patience and care so that they learn to trust you and know that they won’t be beaten.
- Maybe they’ll need to be included in all areas of your life, so that they learn that they won’t be ignored and are indeed part of your family.
- Maybe they’ll need to be given as much affection as they are comfortable with so that they can learn that it’s safe and something enjoyable. And maybe after a time, they will eventually become comfortable with GIVING affection.
Animal communication goes so much deeper than simply finding out if your animal feels happy or safe; or if it prefers the beef-flavoured wet food to the chicken-flavoured dried kibble. (Although, yes, there’s a time for those questions too.)
Just like it is with humans, the more we know about someone, the deeper we can trust, love, and respect them.
The more you know about your animal, why it FEELS what it does, why it DOES what it does…the more you can trust, love and respect them.
And the more you do that, the more it will trust, love and respect you.
And we all love a win-win…
