So You Want to be An Animal Communicator?

Suzan with Dog

Animal Communicator Career

woman and dog

Animal lovers everywhere dream of a more direct communication with their animal friends. If you’re one of them you many feel called to the profession of Animal Communicator as a result. But like any expert, an animal communicator who is good at what s/he does has training and practice. He or she should adhere to a code of ethics, and should be experienced. Work as an animal communicator requires other skills too. Those are counseling skill that include patience, empathy, clarity, and a commitment to personal emotional growth. A thick skin is also good to have.

I Love Animals, People Not So Much

Have you ever said “I love animals; it’s the humans I can do without?”

Then becoming an animal communicator is not the right path for you. While we serve and advocate for animals, we are also the compassionate listeners and counselors to their people. Counseling skills are required to navigate deep and disturbed emotional waters of a person who is upset. They may be grieving, energetically scattered, unable to listen or hear our advice, or unwilling to implement our recommendations.

Compassionate Detachment is Queen

As an animal communicator, the practitioner must be detached (to some extent) from the outcome of any case. Our clients may come to us for advice after they have already made up their mind what they will do about an issue. They may be unable to follow through with even simple suggestions to make their animals lives better. They may promise to do something different, then call you next week to report that nothing you suggested worked. You’ll be left feeling puzzled.

Say what? Buddy is Miserable

A client called me recently who told me her cat Buddy was miserable. He certainly was. Buddy was waning away because he was stuck in a bedroom, overfed, hiding under the bed and hating life. He wanted to feel the grass, catch bugs, lay in the sun, and roll in the dirt. Buddy had no vertical space in his room, and he longed to see a point of view from a tree to relieve his stress. But he was strictly an indoor cat who had given up on life.

I began negotiations with his person about how to keep her cat safe while allowing him to go outside. She told me she would take him out if he would agree to the use of a harness.  I tried it out on Buddy telepathically and felt it would be quite restrictive for this particular cat. He asked if she would consider just the regular leash and collar. “I always use a harness on my cats,” she told me.

With the harness, Buddy explained to me he was also giving up his most important defense mechanisms: the ability to run away and climb up high in the case of danger. Buddy was nervous about going out. Images of dreadful things that could happen to a cat outside danced in his human’s head.

Eventually my client told me she had never actually used a harness on any of her cats.

Finally, the woman took Buddy outside. He stayed completely still on the leash surveying his surroundings and getting his bearings. She decided this meant Buddy had never really wanted to go outside at all. This was not the case. Buddy was thrilled to be outside. He just needed a little time to assess the danger and readjust his instincts. His person’s decision to keep him inside was very disappointing both for me and for Buddy the cat.

Anonymity Can Mean Cruelty

Because we often do our work by phone, our clients may treat us as an anonymous person. Then it’s easier to treat us callously, or blame us for things that are not our responsibility. Misdirected anger is a phenomenon that’s all around us. It is safer to take our anger out on someone we don’t know, and perhaps will never meet.

Misdirected Anger

This is particularly true for people whose pets become missing. Someone may have let them out carelessly, failed to latch the carrier properly, or forgot to secure the bedroom screen. The animal communicator could become the repository for those negative emotional feelings.

Who Are You Really Angry At?

When clients have misdirected anger, they often question your skills, talents or intentions. Your response needs to be detached compassion.

What do you know?

Or they may decide you don’t know what you’re talking about if they have already made up their minds. “I know my cat was stolen,” a woman told me, but that was not the information I was receiving.  You just have to move on and see how else you might help.

With lost animals emotions are on edge, money is on the line, and what the person really wants is the exact address of their lost animal friend. That’s just something we can’t provide.

S. Vaughn

Becoming a good animal communicator may be a good path for you if you can go to a place of compassion under difficult circumstances. Understanding and compassion are called for when your professional ethics and your desire to help are questioned. However, to be good as a communicator, one must self-examine, and evolve. Becoming the balanced person who doesn’t take things too personally is a goal.

Not All is Rosy

So far, I’ve never had a person call me because everything in their world is rosy. The phone rings. It’s because there’s a problem and the person on the other end of the phone trusts you to fix it. They’re paying their money for you to do just that.

What’s Needed

  • an open mind
  • a keen ear
  • an extensive skill set
  • and a sturdy shield of compassion

If this work calls you to help enrich the lives of animals and the people who love them, fantastic! Prepare for the blessings and fulfillment that healing brings. It’s a wonderful thing when your practice makes the lives of those who come to you better, happier, and more harmonious.