I got a wonderful call on my radio show today from a retired animal communicator/spiritualist named Linda, we had the most fascinating conversation on the program for nearly an hour.

She talked about her work communicating with animals, and her experience with telepathic animal communications. I could have talked to her for hours, and I hope she calls often.

Linda talked about visualizations with me, and also about telepathic communicating with animals. a conversation I rarely get to have. Like me, Linda believes in visualizations and has had great success working with dogs by visualizing the outcomes she wants. That is just what I do.

She told her stories, and I told mine. She lives in California, and I wish she were closer, I’d love to sit and talk with her about the minds of dogs and other animals.

Bud has had a recurring problem with the snow and ice, when the ground gets hard, there is no smell to guide his eliminating outside, so he was beginning to eliminate again in the kitchen and the bathroom (which was thoughtful of him.)

The problem was worst when the ice-covered the ground, as it has lately.

I decided to try visualization with him. I went to the back door with him, and waited before I opened the door. I cleared my head of distraction, checked to make sure my mood was even and calm, and then looked to the Maple Tree and pictured Bud rushing towards it, sniffing and circling it, and then eliminating on the pasture side.

I focused on this image, and I saw him turn to me, expectant and a bit confused. What were we doing standing there? I projected this image in my mind several times, Bud always went to the same place.

I opened the door, gave the command “get busy,” which I used to housebreak puppies (and Gus and Bud). Bud made a beeline for the Maple Tree, he circled the tree sniffing two or three times, then eliminated on the pasture side, just as I had pictured it.

It was as if there was a movie inside of my head, and he saw it.

Since then – that was four days ago – Bud has not had an accident in the house, he has eliminated right around the Maple Tree or close by. I absolutely believe that I communicated this outcome to him – telepathically, through my emotion, facial expression and focus.

Red and I have a profoundly spiritual relationship.

We rarely touch one another, and I rarely speak with him. I don’t need to, he understands what I want him to do, he anticipates me with almost supernatural accuracy.

When we work at the Mansion, I simply look at the person I want him to go and comfort, and he goes to see them. People there often wonder how I give him commands, and the truth is, I don’t, I just think and he knows.

When he was dying last year from four tick-borne diseases, I was preparing to euthanize him, he was so sick, he hadn’t moved or eaten in days. I sat down in front of his crate at the vet’s and leaned against the cage. “I’m not ready to go,” I heard a voice say, as clear as bell. “We have work to do.”

I knew he wasn’t going to die then, and he came home the next day.

I don’t believe Red spoke to me, I believe he was able to project his reality over to me, and I can do the same thing with him. I am not a psychic or an animal communicator.

But I have learned the power of what I call “The Quiet Mind.” We talk so much to our dogs we  never learn how powerful quiet is. Last night, Maria swatted a fly, and Bud was terrified at the sound, he tore out of the bedroom, ran downstairs and was trying to rush out of the house, something he has never done. I  have never seen him so frightened.

I called to him and went looking for him, he was piteous, trembling under the dining room table. I called out to him, and he didn’t come, so I woke up and started thinking.

What about being quiet? I went back upstairs and sat on the top step. I sat silently and said nothing. In a few minutes, I saw Bud’s head peering tentatively around the corner at the bottom of the stairs.

I remembered hearing that Bud was terrified of people, especially men, when he was  rescued.  The sound of the fly swatter hitting the wall had meaning for him.

In my life with dogs, I have had the greatest training and bonding experiences when I am quiet. If you are quiet the dog will study you and come to know you, we are also talking to them, shouting at them. Quiet is just as powerful for them as it is for us.

When I meditate in solitude, I often think of the dogs, about doing things with them, calming them. I believe that is a conversation with them in ways I don’t understand. Very few training shows or books or videos emphasize the spiritual, but that is where people and dogs so often meet.

I thought but did not say ‘it’s okay Bud, you are safe here, nobody is going to harm you.” I just stayed quiet, and in a minute or so, Bud came slowly up the stairs, trembling almost violently.

I walked him into the bedroom and called him to come “up.” He did.

I gave him some treats and after a few moments, he curled up between me and Maria and fell asleep.

Bud was fine this morning.

I am grateful to Linda for inspiring me with her stories and for affirming my work with the dogs. It does help to have someone believe in you, and she is the real deal, I felt her balance and spirituality and wisdom over the phone.

I need to write more about this work I am doing, and work  harder at it. I confess to being shy talking about it, no editor or publisher of mine has encouraged my writing about it.

I’ve had some wonderful people call me on the radio show, it is a great learning experience for me, I learn much more than I teach.