by Karen Frazier, Managing Editor
Paranormal Underground Magazine

Way back in June, I wrote a rather tongue-in-cheek blog about pet psychics. It was actually one of the areas of the paranormal that I thought I had a pretty good handle on, and that handle was that it was pure rubbish.

In response to that blog, I was contacted by a pet psychic named Heidi Wright. Since I’d always prided myself on my open-mindedness, I decided to set aside my doubts and interview Heidi for an issue of the magazine. I have to say, if my mind wasn’t open to the possibilities before I talked to Heidi, certainly it was afterwards.

Since then, I’ve run across a few people with animal communications abilities. As a matter of fact, I was emailing with one just this morning, which is what sparked this blog. His name is Brian, and the way he feels he communicates with animals may seem a bit unconventional. On his website, Animals Speak Out, he has a number of recordings of various animals. He believes that in these recordings, there is some element of animal communication taking place. Visit his site and see for yourselves.

I have to admit – when I listened to his recordings, I had trouble hearing what Brian was hearing, but asked him if maybe the reason he heard what he did was because he has clairaudient abilities that allow this type of animal communication for him. He admitted it was a possibility.

Many people – including people who pride themselves on being open-minded like me – seem to sort of shut down when they hear about animal communications (aka Pet Psychics). I was speculating today as to why this would be.

Say that animal communications are a real thing. What would it entail for us to shift our belief system to know and understand that our animals can communicate very real things with us – like preferences, memories, emotions like sadness, fears like abandonment. How would that shift our onus of responsibility as “pet owners?”

Many of us assume some level of dominance over our pets. We feel we have to or they would overrun the house. To accept the fact that when we decide to spay/neuter, they mourn; when we decide to board them, they lie there and worry that we may never come back; when we argue with our spouses, they fear that we might get a divorce; when we call them “bad dog” they understand and feel shame…all of these things could shift how we partnered and interacted with our pets in our daily lives if we believed that animals could truly communicate through animal communicators. It would have to, because as loving and responsible human beings, we would have no other choice but to place much more consideration in how our pets felt as we went about our daily self-centered lives.

Once, we thought that primates like gorillas were mere animals without anything approaching the level of consciousness that we humans had. And then along came Koko, the gorilla who learned sign language. When she could communicate, she asked for a kitten. She named the kitten All Ball. When All Ball died, Koko cried.

Apparently gorillas are capable of far more consciousness than we once believed.

Is it such a leap, then, to believe that our pets do have consciousness that includes guilt, shame, joy, fear, hurt feelings and so much more? And if they have that consciousness, what kind of leap is it to make to believe that there is a way to communicate with them?

Maybe it is our egos that won’t allow us to believe that our pets are so much more than eating, sleeping, pooping fur balls that inhabit our homes.

Aside from interviewing Heidi and talking with Brian, I’ve never had experience with pet communicators. I haven’t had anyone “read” my dogs. Not because I don’t want to know – but because the opportunity hasn’t arisen. And yet I wonder – if I did have such an experience, how would my relationship with them change? Would they now be allowed on the good couch? Would I stop dressing the girls up in silly dresses? Would the dog purse become a thing of the past, or would it come out even more and get bigger so that all of the dogs could go on every outing, every time? In other words, would my pets become more human to me so that I would have to show them even more consideration than I already do?

I love my dogs. This is apparent to anyone who sees me with them. Right now I have one curled up on my chest, sound asleep while one lies at my feet and two sit on the couch next to me. They are wonderful creatures who bring joy and light into my life. And yet, at the same time, the communication is rudimentary. I have to guess at what they want and feel. What if I knew for sure? Would I change how I treated them? Maybe someday, I’ll have an answer.

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