When I started working in animal rescue, I got introduced to a group of people who call themselves animal communicators. These are people who claim to be able to talk to animals. Not verbally like Dr. Doolittle, which I would find more believable than what they actually do. No, they claim to be able to talk to animals psychically. They’ll look at a picture, a collar, a blanket, or even (gasp) a live animal and tell the owner what the dog is thinking or feeling. I’ve heard several occasions where a communicator was “talking” to someone’s dead dog, and asked it if it could help them contact an unrelated, live, lost dog - and it “did”. So dead animals can talk to live animals - wtf? I really don’t care if people want to believe this nonsense, but what has me in a lather is that whenever a dog gets loose and we assemble a bunch of volunteers to search and post flyers, these shysters have to get in on the act.
They never ask for money, so I think their motivation is just attention seeking. In a lost dog search, like one that is going on right now for one of our organization’s animals that jumped a 6-foot fence, these self-proclaimed “communicators” will email the searchers with “seeings”. They’ll say that the dog is “showing” them a blue house, or that he’s holed up near a gas station. They’ll say that the dog is telling them that he’s afraid to approach any people or that he wants to go home, or that he does NOT want to go home. In a search, you’ll get two or four of these idiots telling the searchers completely contradictory information; he’s on the west side of town, the east side near a McDonalds, on the north side, on the south side near a culvert under a highway. If you ask them to come and physically show you the location, they go radio silent. It only accomplishes making the volunteers search unrelated areas and go on wild goose chases.
And what really makes me grind my teeth is that so many of my friends believe this bull shit. Nearly all of them have a person who they know is “legitimate”. They never admit that the person’s “seeing” was wrong because the dog just moved locations or changed it’s mind or any other story they want to make up to allow the shyster an easy out. One friend tried to convince me that her person was absolutely the real thing and very good… but oh darn, when we needed her to help find a lost dog she couldn’t because of a prior bad experience that made her not want to do that ever again… and yet she still consults that person for her own dogs on frequent occasions. My friends, all of whom would laugh and roll their eyes at the idea of patronizing a palm reader or consulting the psychic hotline, swear on a stack of bibles that their communicator is 100% right.
Believe me, I started out with an open mind on this. After more than five years, I’ve seen nothing but shysterism and attention seeking and not one actual, factual success in finding a lost dog.
Doing a quick Google search on Animal Communicators, it looks like (a) the woo is strong in this group and (b) I think we’ve identified another profession that’s closed to men.
My local area has a community email service where people can, amongst other things, advertise their own small businesses. We have one of these pet psychic idiots who pops up every now and then offering her services. She can even do it without coming to your house, she says, because she can communicate over distances.
One of my favorite things ever was the day her cat ran away and she posted a teary plea for everyone to please keep an eye out for her. I’ll never know where I found it within me to not respond with, “You know what would come in handy here? Someone who could psychically speak to your cat, no matter where it is.”
Yes, the woo is mindblowingly strong. It’s also apparently a combination of narcotic and addictive. Not sure how I managed to evade it, but perhaps it’s because I just don’t have an additive personality.
Back in the day, my friend’s mom had a cat that was extremely friendly. If you walked into a room, the cat would meow at you, jump in your lap, want to be petted, etc. Overall, a very friendly animal.
She then got a companion cat for the animal, because she felt bad about leaving the cat alone when everyone was at work, school, etc. This cat was much more of the stereotypical cat - apathetic around people and minded its own business. This isn’t to say that the cat was antisocial or hostile; it would still want attention at times, but compared to the first cat, this one was at a J. D. Salinger level of reclusiveness.
After a few months, my friend’s mom was seriously considering going to a pet psychic to find out why this cat wasn’t as personable and approachable as the first one. I think she got the idea from a show on Animal Planet. When we would be over at my friend’s house and she would talk about it, you’d see the look of sheer embarrassment on my friend’s face.
He would engage / challenge her beliefs, asking what language the cat spoke, if the psychic could read the minds of insects and fish, etc., but his mom stuck to her guns with her belief. I think she just wanted so strongly to believe that she could have that intimate connection with her pet, that no amount of logic would sway her.
I think my two and a half year old may have a career path! My big fat greedy cat meows a lot in the morning, because she wants to be fed. I asked my daughter once what Luna was saying, and she said, “Please”. Which is what we’ve taught my daughter is what you say when you want something. I think she’s missing some nuances (I think what Luna is saying is closer to “Feed me! NOW!” than “Please”), but it’s a good start.
Oh, my dogs absolutely talk to me. Their body language is clear as glass. But people who claim to know what a pet is thinking by looking at a picture of it, or touching it’s blanket or claim to talk to it across distance (like in the lost dog situation) or talk to it while it’s dead, those are the people I hate. As someone else said, the woo is strong and it’s just so aggravating that so many of my friends fall for it.
No, I feel your dog wishes something else, something to do with a leg… The fog is lifting for me… Oh my og, what is your dog doing to that poor man’s leg?
I bought a couch off a pet psychic once. I’m glad she didn’t try and communicate with my cat, I just wanted her husband to help me carry the couch.
