3 Tips for Changing Animal Behavior Through Communication

Animal behavior problems can be frustrating.

Beyond the embarrassment of having a dog that jumps on every guest at the door, or a cat that uses your living room carpet as a litter box when you have the neighbors over for dinner, bad pet behavior can cause serious harm.

A dog that obsessively chews shoes or furniture can do damage to its digestive system and teeth. A horse that shies and bolts without warning can run themselves, and their riders, into fencing or traffic, getting hurt in the process

These bad behaviors are a sign though, not of a “bad” pet, but of a pet experiencing distress, anxiety, pain, or illness.

As their human — their caregiver — it’s your job to learn how to read those signs and communicate.

Three tips for effective animal communication

When you enroll in our classes, you’ll be guided through the five stages of The Heart Wisdom Method of animal communication:

1. Hearing their voice
2. Exploring concepts, ideas, thoughts and more
3. Awakening your intuition
4. Removing barriers, limitations, and stuck spots
5. Talk together to build trust and teamwork

Today we’re going to take a quick look at the first important tip: hearing your pet.

Your pet can give you physical cues, but can you hear their non-verbal cues? The Human-Animal BodyMind Connection is constantly at work connecting you energetically and mirroring what’s going on for each of you beneath the surface…

And with compassion and a desire to understand what’s troubling your pet, you can learn to really hear their voice so you know what they’re thinking and feeling.

1. Be their new best friend and learn their viewpoint.

If you sensed that your human best friend was troubled or suffering, you’d sit them down and ask very specific questions, right?

Do the same with your pet. Once you’ve turned in heart to heart, mind to mind, ask them:

• Are you in pain?
• Do you feel misunderstood or confused?
• Are you afraid of something — is it fear for me or for you?
• Is their human asking them to do something they’re physically not capable of doing?
• Do they have a better way of doing something but feel ignored and dominated?

You want to understand the backstory to their struggles.

Smokey the cat had become a complete terror. He was stealing food off the kitchen counter, sticking his face in people’s drinks…behaviors he hadn’t ever exhibited before. He was being a very “bad” cat.

But, his backstory and viewpoint was this: he and his family had been displaced by the California Camp Fire.

His humans hadn’t realized how badly the upheaval had upset Smokey. He was scared, bored in his new home, missing his territory, and was acting out his stress.

The simple act of hearing his backstory gave him peace and opened the door for healing. And his behavior changed naturally back to the wonderful, loving, feline companion he’d always been.

2. Explore the worst-case scenario

Now that you know the source of the problem — the backstory — you can explain to your pet the consequences of their bad behavior.

You’re not intending to terrify them… simply explain to them what could come of their actions in ways that they may not have known or considered before. You know things they do not, just like they know things you do not.

Years ago I worked with two beautiful Dobermann show dogs that loved to chase cars. Their owners were extremely concerned, rightly so. But no matter how loud they shouted at the dogs as they were running down the street, the dogs just ignored them.

A heart wisdom conversation with the dogs revealed the excitement they felt chasing after a moving object…and they loved it when their owners “barked” encouragement at them while they chased their prey. It had become a competition between the two of them as to who could run faster and they felt proud when they “ran the car off”, clearly having “scared it away”.

I explained to them the physical dangers of being hit by the car. The car wasn’t a sentient being like a rabbit or a fox. In fact, it didn’t even know they were there and could care less if it did!

The car would do nothing to avoid a collision with them…and the human driving the car might not see them running alongside their vehicle. The car could suddenly without warning turn and run over them, maim or even kill them.

When they truly understood the physical danger they were in — and the emotional toll it was taking on their owners — they agreed to stop. And so they did.

3. Explore the best-case scenario

Allow your pet to explore their best possible choices in these situations… what would that look like? How would they feel? How would their person feel if they behaved better?

Show them the scene again, mind to mind, in the way that would make their person happy and relaxed. You can even ask them to suggest ways to be even better, because they may have ideas you’ve not considered yet.

Be open to what they know. Animals have a unique perspective on the world around them…and they’re keen observers of the humans in their life. They are uber aware of instability, and have a hyper sensitivity to it when they don’t know what’s going on, or why.

Is there something happening in their home that steals their happiness? Marital or family discord, constant moves from place to place?

You don’t have to cater to your pet’s every whim. Sometimes explaining to your pet that you have to move to follow jobs that pay the bills and keep you both housed and fed is a necessity…

Understanding both viewpoints, yours and theirs, helps ease the upset change can cause for you both.

Renowned entrepreneur and dressage rider, Kendall SummerHawk, acquired the Grand Prix horse of her dreams — an Andalusian stallion named Druso. She hauled him from Florida to her home in Tucson.

Problems started with Druso the day he arrived. He was dangerous, fussy, and aggressive. And when 1200 lbs of power is aggressive, there’s cause for concern.

Thinking that gelding him would help, he then foundered and went lame. The vet was out of ideas and Kendall was frustrated, frightened, and sad. What had happened to her champion dressage partner?

When I talked to Druso, he told me that he hated Arizona, missed his home in Florida, and felt like his rider wasn’t showing the leadership he needed to feel confident.

When he was then castrated, it was the final straw. He felt angry, betrayed, and had no one to turn to for comfort. He was miserably unhappy.

Once we understood how he felt, and Kendall offered a heart felt apology, he began to recover.

When we asked him what his best-case scenario was, he wanted to have a true partnership with Kendall…a deep bond. So Kendall talked to him, shared her vision for the two of them and her regrets that she hadn’t considered how he felt about being torn away from his familiar home.

That was the turning point for Druso and Kendall. He had found his purpose, and Kendall had found the exceptional forever dressage horse she had hoped for.

When studying animal behavior, make sure you hear what they’re saying

Animals have a great deal to say if you just learn how to listen. When you take our online courses and masterclasses, you’ll learn the Heart Wisdom techniques for tuning your hearing to their messages.

Not only will animals teach you about the world as they perceive it- they’ll share insights about you and the ways you interact with the world as well.

If your cat is shredding your houseplants, or your dog follows you obsessively around the house, don’t assume they’re doing it to annoy or inconvenience you.

Learn to look beyond the “bad” behavior and see animal behavior as a sign of something going wrong in the body — or mind or soul — of your pet. Or, perhaps something they perceive is going wrong with you that they’ve been trying to tell you…

And if you are frustrated and worried about your pet, let’s talk with them and find out what they’re thinking and how they’re feeling so we can resolve the issues between you.

By learning and practicing the HEART Method of Animal Communication as taught at The Heart School of Animal Communication, you will have a deeper understanding of your animals, improve your relationship and better support their needs.

Thousands of animal lovers LOVE the HEART Method of Animal Communication. Join us?

Related articles:

Separation Anxiety in Pets is Manageable
Animals: My Spiritual Companion and a Heartwarming Story
Easing Stress for Yourself & Your Pets in Challenging Times

Originally published at https://valheart.com on January 21, 2021.