Maria has taught me a lot about talking to animals, and I have taught her a lot. On my own, I’ve experimented for some years now with exchanging images with our animals, which many biologists believe now animals talk to themselves.

I even got Elvis, a 2,000-pound steer, to come and stay on command. My farmer friends couldn’t believe it.

You clear your head, think clearly about what you want to happen, and see if the animal grasps it. I do this with Zinnia all of the time, and it works almost all of the time.

I did it with Red quite often. I almost never had to give him a verbal command, he seem to know instantly what I wanted him to do.

Dogs and humans are believed to trade imagery as they get closer. We know dogs don’t have our vocabulary, but we also know they seem to sense what we want and are trying to tell them.

This is a complex subject, very hard to quantify or calculate. It’s not something I would have believed until I did it myself.

People make the mistake of thinking their know what their animals are thinking. I don’t think this is ever literally possible, since they don’t have our vocabulary or language.

But I do think we can communicate our feelings, and sometimes, our desires in ways that are not our words.

But I know it works, and I’ve seen Maria do it to the sheep and donkeys (even chickens) all of the time. I wrote a book about this called Talking To Animals, but it didn’t sell very well. Too soon, I think. Or maybe I’m wrong.

In the image above, Maria is talking to the sheep, explaining the death of Pumpkin.  Merricat is listening, clearly, almost nodding in agreement. They are clearly exchanging feelings.

I don’t believe Merricate is grasping any of the literal details of Pumpkin’s death, but she is somehow picturing what Maria is telling her and grasping. Merricat was looking for Pumpkin, one of her pals.

The best trainers have been doing this for years.

After Maria got close to her, she stopped looking. Maria didn’t say anything, she just traded her feelings and images of Pumpkin’s death.

Author Temple Grandin has written extensively on this subject, for those who want to pursue it, she has helped farmers understand and communicate with cows and other animals.

Some researchers believe that animals like dogs talk to one another in the same way autistic children can communicate with animals – through images. They are able to sense what the other animal is seeing and thinking and transmitting.

I believe this is true because I see it all the time.

I see the animals stop and listen to Maria all the time. They exchange messages; I see them every day.

I have this with the dogs, but not with donkeys or sheep. She is just the opposite; she communicates with sheep and donkeys but uses verbal and other cues with the dogs.

I hope to write more about this. When Red died, I began to get closer to the sheep. I’ve always been close to the dogs, and I feel Fanny and I can exchange these images and understandings.

I got away from the subject for a while but am eager to get back into it.