I contributed to an article titled: What Pet Owners Need to Know About Homebuying, includingfeatures of a pet-friendly home and neighborhood. Animal specialists give practical information on meeting animals’ needs when you move and helping them to feel safe and happy in their new home environment. I was pleased to add something about the helpfulness of communicating with animals.
In response to my last article, Why Animals May Not Speak Up About Abuse, a reader asked: What do you do when you suspect abuse or the animal tells you he's being abused? I know many of us would want to rescue the animal but we can't do that always and it could make things worse for the animal. What is the best thing to do that would be in the best interest of the animal without insulting the owner or becoming angry? Elaine Winter, MSW, LCSW
An equine therapist wrote to me years ago with a very earnest and powerful question. I’ve expanded the answer I wrote to her for this column. I recently listened to a talk you gave and I was very delighted with your message(s). The message I most gratefully got from your talk that I have been wanting to hear from the Animal Communication world is:
"I want everyone to learn how to listen to their own animals.” As a bodywork practitioner, observer, and absolute lover of animals, I have had a resistance to Animal Communication popularity simply because I have so many clients who are paying huge amounts of money for someone to "talk" to their animals when the animal is practically jumping up and down screaming at their person to just notice what they are trying to “say."
I often hear from people who love animals and wonder what to do when they witness animal suffering on social media or experience it in their lives. They may get very upset and be disturbed or depressed for a long time. How can sensitive people who care about animals protect themselves from cruelty that feels overwhelming?
After I wrote the September 21 blog on How Horses Feel About Humans, a reader wrote to me about horses having pain when they are ridden with a reference to a book and articles by Maksida Vogt, which scientifically shows how this is so.
Before I talk about these studies, I’d like to give you my perspective from communicating with numerous horses and falling in love with these sensitive, beautiful beings.
I frequently get e-mails from people lamenting the suffering of animals, how horrible it is and how terrible they feel about it. Some people even conclude that efforts such as education to raise human awareness are fruitless when there continues to be so much abuse of animals in the world.
One person sent me a notice by an animal rescue organization about an animal who was rehabilitated after abuse and adopted into a loving home and commented:
Another life saved, but I continue to be concerned that we are continuing to put bandages on problems when we do not prosecute those cases of abuse and neglect. Please let me know your procedure to address the root of these human cases of animal abuse.
