When behavioral issues occur with animal friends, it can be annoying, frightening, or downright dangerous. We interpret their behaviors through our human perspectives and act accordingly. However, an animal’s behavior, influenced by survival issues and past experience, makes sense to that animal. If we understand the animal’s perspective or find a common language, we can discover common ground and a direction for problem solving.

When he wrote Doctor Doolittle, Hugh Lofting opened people’s imaginations to animal communication. A century later, telepathic animal communication has come to the fore as a viable service for problem solving between animals and people.

Animal communication is a conversation with your animal friend using telepathy, which is the way animals “talk” to one another. While the skill to communicate telepathically is inherent in everyone, it is often beneficial to use a trained interpreter. A trained interpreter receives images, emotions, colors, and sensations from the animal and translates these non-verbal signals into words. The interpreter also takes a person’s words and concepts and presents them to the animal in ways it can easily understand. With two different languages and ways of communicating, the animal interpreter is a resource to facilitate problem solving between species.

Like many animal communicators, I have spoken with and understood animals since childhood. What began as conversations with pets in play expanded into an intimate exchange with every creature I encountered. (Spiders are especially good communicators — possibly the best listeners in the world.) Nine years ago, I began formal training to refine my communication skills, and practiced extensively with both wild and domestic animals of as many species as I could find. Three years ago, I began communicating professionally, and have helped hundreds of animals and people to negotiate peaceful resolutions to their problems. Many of the animals were recent adoptees. Others had significant illness or challenges in their environment.

There are unknowns when we live with an animal. Many pets are rescues whose history is vague. When we leave home, what happens when we aren’t there? Communication may also be unclear because of fear, illness, or urgency.

Receiving more information from the animal’s perspective can help both parties to see the broader picture. Animal communication opens the door for compassion and for seeing beyond the moment to seek understanding and resolution. Animals often have good solutions. From their perspective, they sometimes have difficulty getting their person to understand what they need.

The following cases are examples of behavioral issues I’ve addressed with animal communication. Names have been changed to preserve confidentiality.

P.T.S.D. is a common cause of behavioral issues in adoptees. Duke is a seven-year-old Airedale Terrier who was abandoned. Susan, a trainer, adopted him when he was two. She knew Duke had escaped often from his person’s yard and was not neutered. She knew he had lived on the street, but not for how long. He was starved and frightened when he came to Susan’s family.

Although Duke bonded with Susan quickly, he bit reflexively when awakened or approached quickly. When Susan left the house, his separation anxiety made him destroy anything within reach — shoes, books, papers, or food. When he was on leash for walks, Duke went into a rage, a red zone where he didn’t hear or respond, when seeing other dogs. He lunged aggressively toward people, parked cars, and soccer balls, and nipped several people. When visitors came to the house, Duke lunged at the glass door, and he constantly barked in the yard to the neighbors’ distress.

When I arrived at Susan’s home to help, I explained to her and Duke how the session would work and allowed Duke to warm up to me and get comfortable in the room. Susan began listing her questions and concerns. I checked with Duke when concepts were not clear or when I had no words for them, and he offered additional information to help us understand exactly what he wanted us to know. I also took questions, comments, and explanations from Susan, then visualized images and projected feelings to Duke so that he could understand.

Through this facilitated conversation, Susan and Duke made a contract. Instead of being a victim of terror, Duke responded to being given a job of protecting the house when Susan leaves. Previously, Duke would get confined while Susan was away. Now, he has full run of the house, which is a strong motivator for him not to destroy anything. Before, when Susan would leave, Duke didn’t know if she would return. Now, she tells him that she is leaving and when she will return, and also reminds him of his responsibilities. While we were negotiating his new behavioral contract, Duke asked, “There will be treats involved won’t there?”

Susan added, “Since meeting Judy, Duke is a different dog. We no longer see the deep sorrowfulness in his beautiful brown eyes. He is definitely happier.”

Pain is also a common cause of behavioral issues. Jodie’s veterinarian referred her to an animal communicator for her horse PJ, who, Jodie explained, experienced something traumatic two years ago. “I had been dealing with a horse that had multiple symptoms — physical, emotional, and mental. I changed feed, gave sedatives, pain meds, homeopathic remedies, training aids, and nothing helped. We gave him chiropractic sessions, massages, and even acupuncture, but these lasted only a few days.” Jodie described her horse as angry, anxious, on high alert, and unable to be touched. Multiple tests had been done, but with no conclusive result.

“Grasping at straws,” said Jodie, “my vet asked me to consider an animal communicator. I thought he was crazy. He told me that sometimes the communicator can relay messages to the veterinarian to use as a guide to find where the animal hurts. I was very skeptical. Then, the communicator told me it could be by phone, and I was sure it was a joke!”

When I worked with PJ, I asked his permission to meld with him. This involves being one with the animal and feeling what he is feeling but in corresponding parts of my own body. With animals, I see areas of dysfunction the same way I do with my clinical clients. It’s as though I have a camera going through the different systems of the body, but the animal is willingly showing me what is going on. In PJ’s case, my background in equine craniosacral therapy was advantageous because I was familiar with the bone structure and pain patterns he was showing me. When I relayed the specific procedures and parts to Jodie, she told her vet, who performed chiropractic techniques on those parts, and PJ got the relief he needed.

“After Judy communicated to PJ, I gave the information to the vet, and he checked all the locations the horse showed her. About 90 percent of them were right on the money. The improvement was astounding,” Jodie explained.

Other behavioral issues are developmental. Acacia, a black-throated monitor lizard at a small zoo, was behaving aggressively, lunging at the window of his enclosure and frightening even his handler, with whom he was very close. When I connected with him, he was despondent.

Recently rescued from a too-small aquarium, Acacia had begun to grow and develop normally within his spacious area at the zoo. That included hormonal growth — he desperately wanted a mate. He was a heartbroken teenager! Because he was so bonded with his handler, we helped him understand that he was frightening her and creating a dangerous situation that did not allow his human friend to enter the enclosure. He responded immediately to this valuable friendship and, while still having growing pains, was able to manage his behavior so they could be together.

Some behavioral issues are simply due to human error. These are the “Aha” moments that surprise us when animal friends really do understand what we want but teach us a different aspect of it. Oscar, the guinea pig, was given the ability to choose what he wanted and did! His young person, Tammy, had trained him to ring a certain number of bells for his different needs: one for food, two for water, three for treats, four for running free, and so on, up to eight bells! When Tammy called me, she said, “He’s ringing the same number of bells all the time, and I want to be sure he understands the system.” When I connected with Oscar, he said, “Of course I understand! Didn’t she want me to ring three bells for treats? That’s what I want!” Tammy was able to laugh at herself, saying, “I think I need a different system!”

The animals have so much to teach us. When animal communication is used to solve behavioral issues, it is not unusual for closer ties to develop between animal and human. Animals show us a different perspective and open us up to their world. The communication frequently facilitates a shift from offensive-defensive reactions to productive progress with greater understanding on both sides. It unlocks other aspects of friendship and relationship.

Judy Ramsey has been an interspecies counselor for nine years. For 25 years, she has been a translator, social work counselor, educator, and mediator. She is a craniosacral therapist in Ann Arbor at Head To Toe Therapies. She teaches basic and advanced animal communication, and also provides shamanic animal healing. Visit hearttoheartanimalcommunication.net for details. Contact Judy at judyramsey777@yahoo.com. Please note: animal communication is not a substitute for good veterinary care.