What Is Animal Communication and How Does It Work?

Whenever I tell someone that I’m an animal communicator, one of the first questions is usually, “But how do you understand what they’re saying? They don’t speak English!”

And of course they don’t.

The type of communication I’m talking about isn’t dependent on spoken language. I describe it as telepathic communication through the Universal language of the Soul.

When I connect with an animal, information can arrive in all sorts of ways. I may receive words or thoughts, but equally I might be shown an image, experience an emotion or become aware of a physical sensation. I then have to translate what I receive into something that makes sense to the animal’s human.

It sounds very straightforward when written like that. In practice, it requires me to get very quiet.

I often say that subtle information can’t get through a traffic jam of my own thoughts. I need to be grounded, clear-headed and in a meditative space so that I can recognise what is coming from the animal rather than what is coming from me.

This is also why I sometimes smile when somebody asks if I can just have a “quick chat” with their dog and tell them to stop doing something!

Animal communication isn’t really about telling animals what to do.

If a dog, cat or horse is behaving in a way that is causing a problem, I may be able to find out more about why they are doing it. Once we understand the reason behind something, their human may then be able to make changes that help.

For me, the important word here is listen.

One of the more difficult parts of animal communication is when an animal shares something painful from their past, particularly experiences of neglect, fear or abuse. I may be shown images, given emotions or sometimes feel something physically that reflects what they went through. These moments need to be handled very gently. Quite often, simply being able to share and have that experience acknowledged seems to bring a release for the animal, as though being heard allows some healing to begin.  This often brings about an understanding of certain behaviours that  an animal may exhibit and this level of understanding can be very helpful for the guardian.

Animals also have a choice in the matter. Just because I can potentially communicate with any species doesn’t mean every animal is going to want to communicate with me, or necessarily want to communicate at that particular moment.

And that brings me to something people occasionally find confusing about the way I book my animal communication work.

I book a time slot rather than a strict appointment time for the communication itself.  There is a very practical reason for this. Sometimes the animal isn’t in the right energetic space to communicate freely. Sometimes I’m not either!

Perhaps the animal is tired, distracted or simply not interested in engaging at that moment. Equally, if I’m not completely feeling well or tired I’m not going to force a connection simply because the clock says I should be working.

I would much rather stop and try again later.

The integrity of the communication matters far more to me than sticking rigidly to an appointment time.

Most of my animal communication work is carried out remotely, so the animal doesn’t need to be physically with me. They might be ten miles away or on another continent. I also sometimes communicate with animals who have passed into spirit.

Distance, in my experience, isn’t the important part. The connection is.

Once I have completed the communication, we arrange the part of the process that does have a definite appointment time: the feedback call.  I usually do this by video call and allow up to an hour.

This isn’t simply me reading out a list of things your animal has apparently said. We go through the communication together. I explain the thoughts, feelings, images, sensations and information I received, and you have the opportunity to tell me what you recognise and what makes sense.

That validation is a very important part of animal communication.

It is also one of the reasons I deliberately avoid doing background research on an animal or their human beforehand. I want to know that information I receive genuinely comes from the animal.

Sometimes a tiny detail that meant very little to me turns out to be enormously significant to their human. Those are often rather lovely moments.

Animal communication isn’t a replacement for veterinary care and it isn’t about diagnosing illness. Nor, for me, is it entertainment or a way of controlling an animal.

At its heart, it is simply another way of trying to understand them and it is from this that we may be able to help them.

And that is really the purpose of everything I do with animal communication to:

Listen. Understand. Make a difference.