with
‘The Animal Psychic’
Jackie Weaver
Copyright
2012 Jackie Weaver
Smashwords edition
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Jackie
Weaver © Copyright 2011
All rights reserved
www.animalpsychic.co.uk
No parts of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
First published 2011
Cover Image by Personaldesigns © Copyright 2011
Interior
artwork by Jackie Fennell –
www.jacksart.co.uk
All rights reserved
Jackie Weaver has always had an affinity with animals; she had often been aware of their thoughts and feelings but didn’t really know why. A devastating illness changed her life forever and through her work she has changed the lives of countless animals. She listened to them, relayed what they said to their owners, and helped transform their lives. Much of her work is because people simply want to hear what their animal has to say, and Jackie gives them a voice.
With the help of these celebrities’ animals they will show you how they really are just like little people in different bodies and know so much more than you would ever have dreamt of.
Books by the same author:
Animal Insight
Animal Talking Tales
~~~
About this Book
Jacky Newcomb: Sunday Times Best Selling author of ‘An Angel Saved My Life’.
“Jackie Weaver contacted me to see if she could interview my cats by way of a psychic animal reading. I have to admit, I do get asked to do a lot of things that I turn down, and felt this was likely going to go on the ‘no’ list, as I didn’t know if I even believed in such a thing.
After exchanging a few emails I decided I would seriously think about it, after all she was prepared to travel to my home to do the reading. In the meantime Jackie sent me a copy of her first book and I have to be honest; I was completely blown away by the stories. Some were sad but many literally made me laugh out loud. Did the pets really say these things? I really felt they had, so invited her over.
Jackie arrived at my Midlands home and didn’t even need my pets in the room although one of them joined us anyway. I was stunned—It really was just like she was having a conversation with my cats and telling me their reply! The insights she brought me were so interesting and amazingly accurate. Not only did she seem to connect with them they even passed their mannerisms over to her. My two cats are very individual and her conversations demonstrated this perfectly which you will read in this very fascinating book.
I felt very comfortable passing Jackie’s details on to some celebrity friends for this book, what had they got to lose? Nothing at all, as you’ll read for yourself. I know you’ll enjoy this magical work as much as I did.”
Jacky Newcomb.
~~~
Jenny Smedley—Radio and TV presenter, best-selling author, and columnist.
“There are, thank goodness, more and more of us who are able to connect with our spiritual partners, the animals that share this planet. Jackie has taken a huge step forward for those animals with this book, which will bring animal communication to the forefront—where it should be. Our connection with animals has to be accepted and they have to be respected if this world and the people who have temporary custody of it, are to thrive and progress in any kind of meaningful way. I salute people like Jackie who are pursuing this end with dogged determination and enviable courage. Jackie has proven her abilities over and over again and I really feel this book is the one that will give her the credit she deserves. Inspiring and often breath-taking, this book will lead you on an incredible journey you’ll be so glad you took.”
~~~
Barrie John—Multi Award Winning International TV Medium, Presenter, Broadcaster, Speaker and Columnist.
“Jackie has touched the heart of our animals, and makes us all aware that communication is important also for the living too. Animals are very intuitive and this psychic work is of great benefit to us all to help ensure that love, happiness and understanding are continued within our homes. Also, who would have believed that my dog would tell her about his love of a roast dinner on a Sunday?!”
~~~
Acknowledgement
For
Bob, Sally and Stanley and all animals,
Thank you,
‘You are my world’.
To all the celebrities
in this book,
and for all the people who helped make
this
dream a reality, I thank
you from the bottom of my heart.
~~~
~~~
If someone said to me five years ago that I would be referred to as, ‘The Animal Psychic’, I would not have had a clue what they meant, or why that would be. I had an inkling about the fact that people could get information from animals but never in a million years thought we could actually have a conversation with them. I say, conversation; it is a telepathic conversation, but not really a lot different from a person using a mobile phone and hearing what another being has to say. The obvious difference is that the animal’s voice is not heard out-loud, but conveyed to people’s minds, very much like a thought. You can’t see them, touch them, but thoughts are real to us; we have them every day.
This wonderful, and extremely, fulfilling work is not without its sceptics and quite rightly so. I am the type of person that if told something that, to be honest, sounds incredulous, I too would be looking for proof.
It was a chance comment by someone who said, “If celebrities believed in it, then everyone would!” Oh, if only that were true, but I understood her sentiments and it planted a seed in my mind. So, from that ‘little acorn’ eighteen months ago, this book is the result. I live in the real world and know that the public tend to follow, listen to and read about what celebrities do in their lives—it makes news and provokes interest. So, how on earth would a person like me achieve this? Yes, I have written two books and am recognised in the field that I work in, but that is miles away from contacting celebrities. Firstly, their privacy is closely guarded. Secondly, would they have any pets? Thirdly, would they believe what I do is possible? Finally, would they be prepared to let me talk to them, and their pets, and then write about it? Quite daunting really! It was a huge task but having had other challenging things in life to deal with, I started upon my quest to make this book a reality. Through the help of the ‘celebrity platform’ I just know that it will spread the word that being able to communicate with animals is completely, and utterly, true!
To say my life has been challenging is a bit of an understatement. I am still the right side of fifty, just, and I have not had an easy life in any shape, manner or form.
I lost my father to cancer when I was seventeen, which had a profound effect on my life, and I suffered from lack of self-esteem. Having been brought up on a farm, I then went in to veterinary nursing. I found solace with animals and little did I realise then that I could actually communicate with them—so many things make sense now.
I got married to Bob in 1995 and my life rolled along on its bumpy track, as most people’s lives do. Little did I know, ten years later I would feel like I had been run over by a steamroller!
Although I was active and always outside, either riding horses or teaching people to ride, I was forever getting, or feeling, ill. I had constant stomach pains and then I got shingles, which really knocked me for six. I had become increasingly aware of a large swelling just below the sternum of my rib cage. This turned out to be my liver that had been seriously invaded by cancer, but the doctors were struggling to come up with a clear diagnosis. However, it was not just my liver that was involved, as I was to find out later.
In my life now, I often say to people that I believe when animals are going to come into your life, they will! In the midst of my deteriorating health, I went to the local vets to get some flea treatment for our dog, Bruce. I walked in and there was a lady standing waiting at the counter with a very pretty, but nervous, young collie sitting at her feet. I remarked how lovely she looked and those fateful words came out,
“She needs a home you know!” The lady went on to inform me that she had rescued this collie from a horrible and rather unsafe environment. She was visiting the place in an official capacity and apparently, it took her two hours to persuade the man to part with this poor little dog. To repeat this wonderful lady’s words, “I wasn’t leaving without her.”
I went back home and told (note—‘told’!) Bob that I wanted this collie. I said that I had arranged for us both to go for a walk with her to see if she liked us. As you can imagine, immediately he responded with,
“But you are so ill—we can’t take on a rescue dog in the middle of all this!” I admitted that it was probably the last complication we needed to add to our pile of woes but I was determined. I just knew that I had to help her, and I was going to!
Having got this little dog, that incidentally had not had one home but two, and was around seven months old, we changed her name to Sally. (It sounded very similar to her previous name and she responded to it just the same.) Anyway, it was very apparent that she was extremely anxious and scared, but we could see how much she wanted to love and be loved. We kept telling her we would not give up on her and that she was safe with us. (I did not know then about how much animals really can, and do, understand.)
Sally now became something else to focus on whilst I was still waiting to find out what type of cancer I had, and what lay ahead for me. This might sound selfish to some people but I believe that so many things are ‘meant to be’ so instead of going against the flow, just go with it. As I explained in my first book Animal Insight, it transpired that neither the lady nor I should have been at the vets at that time—I know it was fate and ‘fate’ I feel is something that cannot be ignored or controlled.
Sally was also a focus for Bob. Apart from finding the time to look after our two horses and Bruce, our other dog, and finding time to come to visit me, he also had to keep up his horse dentistry work to pay the bills. He couldn’t wallow in self pity about the situation his forty-year-old wife was in (not that he is the type) but, he had to make the time, and have the presence of mind, to encourage this dog to learn to trust and let go of her fear. (At a later date, through an animal psychic, it turned out her past was a lot worse than we had ever thought).
I took a turn for the worse and landed back up in hospital yet again. The problem was that my liver was so enlarged that it was trying to burst out of its own viscous capsule—agony, to say the least! Unbelievably, more often than not, it would be on a Sunday that I would have a pain crisis. In fact, Bob used to exclaim, “What you will do to stop me drinking on a Sunday!”
This particular Sunday, the paramedics quickly arrived (our address had become a regular callout on their ambulance database) and promptly administered the usual high dose of morphine so that within five minutes I was totally oblivious to the pain and my brain was not acting quite as it should. The light was fading fast outside and the paramedics had to get me to the ambulance parked at the side of our house. Well, Bruce kept running up and down the wheelchair ramp showing much concern for me. Sally, however, was trying to encourage the ambulance men to throw a ball for her and this is why…
Sally had been so scared of strangers but I had very quickly found out that she loved playing with a tennis ball and so I had put this positive action into use by linking the action of someone giving her a ball with a certain phrase and, it worked! She could be barking furiously at someone but if I gave them a ball to throw for her, she instantly associated them as a friend and played happily, and silently.
Back to the ambulance—just as I was starting to lie down on the stretcher, hornets appeared from somewhere. I think they were drawn not only by our porch lights but also the ones in the ambulance. As they were buzzing around my head, I managed to say to the ambulance driver,
“Quick, swat them!” in my best drug-infused voice.
“No—you swat them!” he replied.
“I can’t—I am the ill one here,” I giggled in my druggy fog.
“Oh yeah, but I’m scared of them,” he admitted sheepishly.
Bob quickly came to the rescue with a rolled up newspaper and batted them out of the ambulance for the both of us. (Before anyone thinks that nowadays I could just ask a hornet to ‘please go away’, I can’t. I, like anyone, can say the words, but my work is to the subconscious and if it wants to carry on buzzing about—it will.)
Anyway, to continue—it was during that particular hospital stay that my health deteriorated very badly. I didn’t even have time to get Bob to accompany me to see the head consultant who had come from Cheltenham Hospital (Herefordshire’s Oncology Treatment Centre) to see me. He gently said,
“You do realise that you are very ill, don’t you?”
I nodded as I sat there looking like ‘Michelin Woman’ (you know that advert for tyres) because my lymph system had stopped circulating and my body seemed to be inflating with its own fluid.
“We know you have cancer although we are still not quite sure which one but, sorry, we know you are stage four. Do you know what that means?”
“No,” I mumbled as the tears rolled down my cheeks.
He explained, “The grade goes from good to bad; it goes from one, where is very first stage, to four, where it has spread throughout your body. We are going to send you to Cheltenham Hospital today as you need to start on chemotherapy right away.”
He went on to tell me they had found cancer in my liver, spleen, and bones. There was also a large tumour growing in my stomach area. They had to do more investigations to establish which exact cancer it was.
Eventually I was diagnosed with non Hodgkins lymphoma, and not just one type, but two! Never been one to do things by half! (Having two types at once is extremely rare which is why they could not get conclusive results.)
The next part is rather a blur. Someone had to get hold of Bob as he was out working, and pass on the grim news. I had been on morphine patches for months so it was easier on me mentally than it was for him, and his family.
Amazingly, after a few weeks I started to feel slightly better—much to the surprise of the oncology team! Eventually I returned home, although I was to endure six more months of the strongest chemotherapy I could take.
It wasn’t all bad. Yes, the treatment wasn’t nice but I had a lot of laughs on the way. You know that saying, ‘laughter is the best medicine’? I think there is a lot of truth to that. I learnt how to look for the positive in a negative, and still do. My first example of doing this was when I was losing my hair and my friend suggested that we do a ‘head shave’ and raise money for a cancer charity. It went ahead (no pun intended)—she had her blonde locks shaved off, Bob’s head was also shaved and, as for me, I think I was actually quite relieved to see the rest of my hair go. We raised £3500 for charity and I will never forget the headlines in a local paper, complete with the ‘before and after’ photos, saying, ‘Hair today, gone tomorrow!’
Although I berate my body for deciding to plonk the evidence of too much chocolate on my hips, its healing powers far out-weighed the expectations of the cancer specialists and defied all medical reasoning.
During the hospital visit when I was told I was finally in remission, I casually asked my consultant if they had expected the cancer to go out of my liver and everywhere as well as it had. He replied, with all honesty,
“No, Jackie, we didn’t think you would make it past four weeks—we never expected you to leave hospital! You should do the lottery; you have no idea how lucky you are!” Although quite shocked at the first line, I laughed at the second. They had got to know me so well by then and even when I was feeling ill I would try and make the effort to bring some cheer to their day. After all, they do such a mentally and emotionally challenging job—they deserve medals for the work they do.
By that time, my mind and thought pattern had changed forever. If you think you are dying, which I most certainly did, nature seems to ‘click’ a switch in your mind; you seem to gain an acceptance of what is happening and where you are supposed to be going. I look on it this way,
‘This illness didn’t take my life—it actually gave me my life.’
My brain was now open to all possibilities and the small things in life, many of which you cannot change, and are not of your making anyway, paled into insignificance.
As I said earlier, I had an inkling about animal communication as we used to recommend a lady, Julie Dicker, to our horse clients. I knew that she could get information such as their saddle was too tight, back problems and so much more, but I just didn’t make the connection that she was actually being ‘told’ by the horses themselves. Whilst in remission I discovered that Julie had been battling cancer at the same time but, unfortunately, did not win her battle; however, she is well remembered for the fabulous work she did.
After this, a client contacted me to say that she had found another animal psychic, Beth, who was booked to visit her. She said she would let me know how it went and came back to me very quickly to say that Beth had been great and very accurate. I suggested to Bob that we book her for a visit as it would be lovely to know what our animals were thinking. This would be such a lovely treat. (Many people have communications done with their animals simply to hear what they have to say—it does not have to be for the sole purpose of finding out about problems they may be experiencing).
Beth was great and chatted to our horses first. She gave us information that she could not possibly have known—I was in awe! When we went across to our house, she uttered the words that have changed my life…
“You can do this, you know.”
“Er, pardon?” I asked, bemused, “What do you mean?”
“I just know that you can do this too and, I can show you how!”
(Now that I do this work I come across this too; you often have a ‘knowing’ about someone and a lot of the time it is the person’s animal that will tell us.)
With Beth’s guidance, and (as I have said so many times before) it was like sitting down at a piano and suddenly being able to play the Moonlight Sonata. My life had been transformed and so many questions had been answered.
At one of my check-ups a few months later I sent a note to the consultant saying,
‘I have won the lottery! It is not money though, but what it is I would not swap for a million pounds!’ I am proud to say that I then proved animal communication was possible by means of a chat to the consultant’s secretary’s dog—and they actually sent a letter to my doctor about it! It said that they were extremely pleased with my progress and for them as a medical profession; they were simply amazed by what I had proven to them to be possible. I wonder how many other people have it on their medical records that they are psychic?!
I have to admit, most of my life I was rather like a square peg in a round hole and knew things but did not know how I knew them. On the farm and in my vet nursing work I used to find myself getting emotional but for no apparent reason. Over the years when I was holding horses for Bob to do their teeth I used to, for no explicable reason, get a wave of anger, frustration or sadness. Bob used to think I was sometimes being irrational and, to be honest, so did I! I would have been happily holding a horse, nothing had gone wrong, yet I was feeling awful.
In this work, animals do pass over their emotions to us, sad and funny ones. You may be wondering how this works. It works by telepathy, which is sending and receiving information via wavelengths through the air. Sounds impossible, doesn’t it? Well, if you bear with me for a minute I will share a few thoughts with you. We all take the telephone for granted, so can you imagine what was said to the first person who suggested a mobile?
As the great Alexander Graham Bell said,
“I know not what this power is; I just know that it exists.” That quote was pinned on my fridge for years. And so right he was. (I had to laugh; a journalist who visited my house spotted this quote. So, in an article it said, Jackie has the words… written on door of her fridge—just when I was hoping for more credibility, not less!)
The word and meaning of psychic is nothing to feel uncomfortable about; it means simply I, like many others, have a gift/skill to be able to use another part of my mind to tune into sources for information. Psychic actually means, ‘a person sensitive to things beyond the everyday range of perception’ so using telepathy I can have a conversation with an animal. Animals use it all the time—do you think horses only talk to each other when they neigh and that your dog has to bark to another to speak?
Being psychic/telepathic is far more common than you might think. How many times has the phone rang and you ‘just knew’ who it was? Psychic work has been, and is, used far more often than you may realise; psychics help the police, it was even used in the war and is used daily in life as guidance/mediumship for many people. There is so much evidence to support that when people and animals do pass over, they live on in spirit, or as I like to put it, ‘go to Heaven’. We have Angels and guides to help us here on earth too. My easiest example of this is on those occasions when you are driving round a sharp bend and you just suddenly know to move tight to your side of the road. It is as if a voice told you (like a thought had been passed to you) and sure enough, someone was coming the other way, and more on your side of the road. (I can feel your heads nodding from here! Only joking).
I don’t choose to do the ‘people’ side of things as my life is to work with animals and give them a voice to try to make a difference in their lives. When I ‘tune in’ (which is, basically, putting my mind to what I am doing) they pass me images, I hear information, and they manage to convey what they are thinking over to me. They give me their physical and emotions to feel; you would not believe how much I laugh with my work, animals can have a great sense of humour too!
Once you read about the wonderful times I have had with these celebrities, whose work is recognised through their various different walks of life, you will see for yourself how being an animal psychic works. I hope you will understand how through my efforts, with so much help from so many people and, not just the celebrities themselves, that this is seriously good news that needs to spread.
If animals can communicate with us, and they most certainly can, this would help solve so many problems and avoid many misunderstandings. This should make a huge difference to the lives of animals. This is a reality; there is no make-believe about it. After all, if it was, there is no way the personalities in this book would lend themselves to my cause and endorse what I do.
I know that I have beaten the odds with my health, although that has not all been plain sailing—since my cancer I have had two major operations and in fact, Bob laughs and tells people he thinks I am trying to leave him bit by bit!
So, if you think something is impossible, think again. We might not all achieve our dreams, but if you don’t try, you most certainly won’t.
If you don’t think I have been laughed at for saying animals can ‘talk’, think again. I have put my head above the parapet so many times, and have on occasion, been shot down. I just bounce back up and keep going; the message I am trying to get out there is far more important than my feelings so I am pushing forward and doing the best I can do. I hope to inspire you, amuse you and warm your heart. I live by the concept of, ‘nothing is impossible’ and you know what—you would be amazed at what is!
As I said at the beginning, this book started as a little acorn before growing into its entirety. My hope is that it helps plant many more seeds for thought. Like the grand oak tree, it will give the strength and stability for animals knowing that we do know they can communicate and that we are willing to listen.
I have been blessed with help from so many people and thank each and every one of them for helping me make a difference for the animal kingdom and bringing me such happiness and fun on the way.
ooooOOOoooo
Jenny Seagrove
When Bob and I moved to a lovely hamlet in South Shropshire, England, nestled in a valley below the forestry we were delighted to say the least. What made the move even more wonderful is our neighbour, a lady called Veronica Thackeray, who is one of the most interesting I have ever had the pleasure to meet. Veronica is now in her early nineties (the naughty nineties as she likes to call it) and has a life story that would be sure to make a best-selling novel.
Not only is she a published author talking about rural life and so much more—she was in the S.O.E (Special Operations Executive) as a code breaker based in Egypt during the Second World War! This work was invaluable as depicted in the film Carve her Name with Pride starring the wonderful Virginia McKenna. Whilst talking about this project with Veronica she kindly offered to pass one of my books to Virginia, whom she has known for many years. Most of you reading this will link Virginia’s name with the Born Free Foundation after her role in the film. Sadly, Virginia did not have any pets at the present time for me to talk to but, in a beautifully hand-written letter, said that she had spoken to her good friend Jenny. In Virginia’s own words, “Jenny is a wonderful person and a great dog champion”, and now having met and talked to her many times, I couldn’t agree more.
Jenny and I made contact and I quickly established that she knew all about animal communication and had even done a little herself! This was going to be delightful so I offered to chat to both of her dogs for her. Although we had planned to meet up in a few months we decided to do the chats sooner than that as there were a few pressing issues to discuss.
With pictures and details received, and the time arranged, I telephoned her. Just like the other lovely people in this book, she instantly put me at my ease and I had chosen to start with Louie, her six-year-old brown and white Springer Spaniel. He described himself as,
“A bit of a chap with lots of charm!” and stated that he was good at stay!
“That sounds just like him”, Jenny enthused, “and, yes, he is very obedient.”
Louie certainly wasn’t shy. He informed us that he was really bright and always one step ahead and that he was not one of these ‘silly’ ones and had actually grown up very quickly! This was bold information as Springer Spaniels have the reputation for being slightly slower in the maturity stakes. Jenny said she thought he was right and he was ever such a clever boy. Louie then gave me a picture of him walking with a look of certain purpose and Jenny said,
“Yes, so true, but as he has declared how clever he is, could you ask him not to pull as I have tried to ask him and he is not listening.” I explained that pulling was hurting Jenny’s hands. This was quite difficult to discuss as he kept telling us how exciting his walks were and that he just wanted to get there. I pointed out that the more he pulled, the more Jenny had to keep slowing him down, so, in fact, if he went at a more sedate pace then he actually might get there faster! I used my ‘bonding key’ process to hopefully prick his subconscious. From Louie, his words for Jenny were ‘Easy’ to slow him down, coupled with ‘Good Boy’ if he responds and if he still isn’t listening to try ‘You’re not helping.’ I wished her luck on that one.
I asked Louie what he thought was fun? I burst out laughing as he seemed to be showing me Jenny throwing a ball that did not go in the right direction. I politely said to Jenny,
“Do you find that sometimes when you throw his ball that it doesn’t go in the direction you would expect?” She laughed and said she knew exactly what he was showing me—when she takes him to the park, which is full of magnificent trees, sometimes the ball ricochets off one and goes elsewhere, quickly followed by an enthusiastic Louie.
Louie then volunteered that he was okay to be left alone and Jenny was not to worry. Jenny said that was true to a certain extent but could I ask him about being left in the theatre dressing room whilst she is on stage. Jenny explained she was talking about the Duke of Yorks in London where she was performing at that time. I asked him to show me how he felt and he made me feel rather on edge and as if he kept looking and feeling expectant. I could hear footsteps up and down a corridor. I passed all this over to Jenny and she said that she felt that he was edgy too. We established that her dressing room was in fact in a corridor but as it was further along it, this meant that there was a constant flow of people passing the door and this was what Louie was struggling with. He was worrying that people could come in when Jenny was not there who maybe shouldn’t be in her dressing room at all. Oh bless him, he didn’t realise that only people with permission were allowed in that area. So I asked him what would make him realise that they were friendly, no threat and indeed were doing no wrong? Immediately he presented me with a picture of those long and flat dog chews. Jenny said that sometimes she did give him them. So, by using them as a positive item we devised a system—Jenny was to break some up and put them in a jar so that people who entered could give him a treat and this would show that they were friendly and good because the only way they would know about giving him the treats was because Jenny would have told them! Also, I knew that he shared this time with his friend Millie, Jenny’s other dog, and as she was completely relaxed about wherever she stayed, I suggested that he have a word with her too.
After that slightly serious discussion Louie made us laugh by noting that Jenny comes in looking one way and goes out looking the other!’ We chortled and thought that was a good way of describing costume changes. When I asked him if there was anything important he wanted to share with Jenny, he said,
“Please tell her that I know I am her boy and that she would not let me go.” These were beautiful words indeed but had a deeper meaning; Jenny had not been his first owner; she had actually got him when he was eighteen months old as the family he was with could no longer cope with having a dog. It was so lovely to hear how contented and secure he felt with her. He also said how much he adored Jenny’s partner who unfortunately was allergic to dogs. Louie was so sweet about this and said although he would love a cuddle he quite understood and said it is fine to be admired from a slight distance. What a sweet boy.
I knew that I was going to meet Louie personally with Jenny in a few months time as the play A Country Girl in which she was playing the leading lady, was coming to Shrewsbury. Funnily enough, the leading man was Martin Shaw, who in Judge John Deed, has a keen love interest in Jenny (aka Jo Mills) however, in this play, Jenny was to be his wife.
I thanked Louie for the chat and asked if he had anything he wanted to share with us before we gave Millie her turn. He most certainly did and it was a very poignant bit of advice about life and this is how it went.
“Sometimes in life you feel like you are on a moving escalator that suddenly comes to an abrupt stop but usually you can find a staircase!” A very clever way of pointing out not to give up as there is usually another way to continue your journey.
So over to Millie who had patiently been waiting her turn, which was quite surprising as I was about to find out that she was a prolific hunter and had the habit of getting in and out of places she shouldn’t! The picture that Jenny had sent to me made me think Millie was actually bigger than she was. She was black in colour with that lovely ‘I have been around a long time’ grey muzzle.
“I am easy going and fit in anywhere,” is how she described herself, and told me she was keen to please and also did that ‘please stroke me’ look and that Jenny got her ‘by accident’. Jenny said that sounded just like her too. I was interested to know more about the ‘by accident’ line as, although I knew that she had come from an animal shelter she definitely was not giving me the impression that she had been a cruelty or neglect-type case. Jenny said that she hadn’t been which was then confirmed by Millie saying,
“I simply got lost as I used to scavenge.”
“Used to,” laughed Jenny, “she still does, she is terrible.” Jenny explained that at first, they had to keep a close eye on her as she would do a ‘Houdini’ as Jenny put it, out of the park. Apparently she would slip through the railings and go off like a bullet to check out the nearest bins and wherever else with the remote chance of a free feast. As most dog owners know, apart from the obvious getting lost, which is exactly what happened to her, is that should a dog eat the wrong thing, say, like a tasty chicken carcass—the chicken bones are lethal as they can pierce the intestines and, sadly, many dogs have lost their lives this way. There are many more that can be added to the danger list, corn on the cob, chocolate (mind you not many people throw out chocolate, well, certainly not from my house anyway!) and of course, poison put out for vermin—all inviting for a greedy dog just the same. Millie however, did stop her ‘park escapology’—firstly she learnt to be more obedient and secondly, she’s got too plump to get through the railings anyway!
On the subject of animal shelters—I have done work to help various rescue centres but the one I know more about than most is the Dogs Trust and I know that they do incredible work helping and saving so many dogs and cats. (Yes, they do help with cats too). I know sadly, and from personal experience, that some other animal centres only allocate a limited time they will keep an animal for. With the Dogs Trust, however, if they think an animal can be re-homed, then they will keep it for as long it takes to find them a new home. This all takes a lot of time, money and dedication and I know that Jenny is a Patron of theirs and huge supporter of their cause, as are many other animal loving celebrities. The work they do is invaluable and they keep all their supporters up-to-date with their monthly magazine, Wag. In one of their editions they highlighted my Animal Insight book which I hope triggered people’s interest in animal communication and how we can try to help with rescue dogs. Something that I have heard time and time again from re-homed dogs is the question, “Am I staying here?” or the other, “Am I going back?” This might sound strange but some animals will try to keep their barriers up emotionally as they daren’t believe that this wonderful home is theirs to keep. I equate this to a person having come out of a bad relationship and when they meet a truly lovely partner, sometimes they have that, ‘too good to be true’ feeling and are wary to let go should they lose that person again. Everyone can do this for a new dog to their home—just tell them in plain English what you yourself would want to hear, and make them feel secure so they can relax and enjoy life knowing that this is now their life and reality. This can work wonders, I promise you.
Jenny now knew for fact that Millie hadn’t had a horrible previous home and asked if she missed that family.
“Oh no,” she quickly declared, “my house is so warm and my bed so comfy!” She went on, “I am quite lazy really and I love my warmth, peace and quiet.”(They were her priorities at this time of the conversation and I was sure she would go onto talk about her love for Jenny, well I was hoping so). I asked her, what was the best bit about her life?
“Eating!” No real surprise with that reply and Jenny saw the funny side. With that she also gave me the picture of her chasing something and looking up a tree, I suggested that she enjoyed a good squirrel chase?
“Oh yes,” enthused Jenny, “I tell her they are tree rats and she runs like mad after them.” Millie then told us, sometimes there are more than one which causes confusion when they split up and go in different directions. All was not lost according to Millie, who wanted to inform us that she could find them as they tend to poo so she can find them by their scent! Such good fun and exercise with no actual harm done to the squirrels at all. I have to say, whilst embarking on this celebrity quest; I never expected to learn the true art of determining a squirrel’s whereabouts—so thanks Millie for that little gem!
One little animal that is not quite so lucky is the mouse—Millie is a dab hand at finding them and dispatching them. During one phone call at a later date with Jenny the way she said something still makes me laugh,
“Can you ask her how her eye is? She has had a run in with a broken plant pot whilst mouse hunting.” Not funny about her eye, but the ‘run in’ bit instantly conjured up a funny picture of this broken plant pot making its fighting advance towards ‘mouse-hunter’ Millie! Fortunately Millie made me feel that her eye was fine with just a slight scratch on the eye ball but with no permanent damage done—this was basically the same as the vets conclusion, so Jenny felt relieved to hear this confirmed by two separate sources. (I now know that her eye did in fact heal with no further complications).
Suddenly I got that fantastic feeling when somebody with nails scratches your back in that certain way that makes you wriggle and squirm and plead with them to keep going. I could then see a hand doing this on Millie’s back who was quick to inform us it was her favourite sign of affection, which I let Jenny know. Jenny confirmed that she did that and would do it even more so as she knew it meant that much to her.
On a more serious subject, which was one of the reasons for this phone call, Jenny wanted me to ask about Millie’s right eye as she had been in a scrap with another dog, and its owner’s foot as she tried to separate them. Unfortunately, in the panic of trying to separate the dogs the owner had been over-forceful and somehow managed to cause Millie’s eye to pop out of its socket. Jenny was not walking Millie that day but, fortunately, Millie’s walker rushed her straight to the vets so they were able to treat the problem quickly. According to Millie she could still see out of it but felt there was some damage to the peripheral vision on the outside. She seemed totally unfazed by it and simply informed us,
“I just have to turn my head more!”
You would think by reading this that maybe Millie disliked other dogs, but this was not the case. She was friendly to other ones but not this certain dog. This other dog was a hairy mongrel who, according to Millie, was a ‘cocky little devil’ and she really didn’t like him and with good reason according to her. Apparently this dog had been rather ‘full on’ with Louie on a previous occasion, and Millie had certainly not forgotten this although it was over a year ago! So, on spotting him across the park, she seized the opportunity, made a beeline for him to give him some ‘full-on’ attitude herself. I thought I would ask Millie,
“What did you gain from it?”
“I lost!” was her succinct reply. I had a discussion with her about doing it again and explained that things could be a lot worse, so please forget him and let bygones be bygones. I gave Jenny a bonding key (also to be passed to anyone else walking Millie), which I hoped would work and keep her out of harm’s way. Mind you, I think the other dog’s owner will keep a keen eye out for Millie appearing over any horizon in the future too.
“Does she realise how much I love her?” Jenny enquired. As soon as those words left her lips, Millie showed me a delightful picture of her ‘Millie dance’ with the words,
“I can make her smile!” Jenny immediately recognised ‘the dance’ and said it certainly did have the desired effect. Millie was on a roll now and declared, “I am absolutely adored!!” She explained that if she was somewhere with Jenny, that Jenny would always ‘introduce’ Millie to them, this made her feel very important and, in her own words, ‘an integral part of Jenny’s life.’
As I have said, this was done prior to me meeting Jenny so I knew that there were a few things that Jenny wanted to ask about. Having covered Millie’s eye problem and about the other dog, I asked if there was anything else. Jenny paused and then said,
“Er, yes. She, for some reason, has taken to weeing under the piano, would you mind asking why?” I asked Millie outright, why she was doing it. Her response was swiftly given,
“It wasn’t me that started it and is it wrong?” Immediately I thought to myself that I was pretty sure that Louie had not been guilty of such behaviour as surely Jenny would have noticed and asked about him first. So I simply repeated the reply to Jenny and asked if it made any sense to her. Jenny thought for a moment and then said,
“Actually, yes it does.” She went on to explain to me that an old dog of hers had passed away peacefully under the piano and if her memory served her right, he had made a wet patch at that time. I explained that although it had been thoroughly cleaned I assume that there was still an odour that Millie with her strong nose could pick up. I set about explaining to Millie that what she was doing was wrong and was in fact a rather undesirable thing to do and could she please stop doing it. Although dealing with animal’s ‘toileting mistakes/problems’ I know from experience can be very hard to solve, I asked Millie what Jenny could say to her to remind her that it was wrong, and Millie suggested that should she venture under the piano, Jenny should simply say,