How Can We Listen To Our Pets Effectively?

As pet parents, we have all explored the ability to connect with our four-legged children, where we talk to them, tell them about our day and share our dreams and aspirations. But have you ever wondered what it would be like to have them respond to you?

Our animals may not possess the skill to talk in words out loud, but they are able to hold a two-way conversation with us. Every being communicates in different ways - it’s all about tuning in and being all ears to what they are trying to say. Whether you have a dog, cat or a little piglet back home, it’s important to hold a space for them to share, express or even vent because who doesn’t wish to? And our animals are no different.

Every bond holds its ground with mutual love, respect and trust, and communication becomes the tool to achieve this. You may feel that on some level, you already do speak to your pet and understand what he is saying, but here’s how we can help you fine tune it.

Let’s begin with a small example. Our team has been working in the field of canine training and communication for the last six years. One of the most common problems pet parents face is making sure they provide a balanced and nutritious diet to their furry child. On one hand, where we would encourage natural, fresh home-cooked food, some vets and experts would recommend packaged food. This would leave pet parents confused as to who should they listen to.

So, we gave them the best solution, LISTEN to your pet first. Ask him what he would like to eat as he is the one consuming the food and would like to have a say in it. Even a simple exercise of placing two bowls right in front of your pet, one with home cooked food and the other with packaged food would help. Given a choice, your pet would like to choose what he savours the most and give you an instant answer. After all, it's their body and as living beings, they learn to listen to their own instinct and make the right choice.

INITIATING THE CONVERSATION

First things first, how do we connect to them? Simple, we just do. There is no rocket science or a deep meditation associated with this. It’s as basic as picking up the phone and connecting with an old friend. When we ask our friend, “hi, how are you doing?” and they respond with the answer, “I am fine,” do we introspect on whether we heard the right thing or would we rather accept their answer and move ahead with our chat?

Imagine starting the same conversation with our animals where we ask them about how they are feeling, what they would like to eat, what is their purpose in our lives and have them respond to us with answers!

BUILDING A MUTUAL BOND OF LOVE, RESPECT AND TRUST

When our pets feel heard, respected and cared for, we consciously see a positive change in their behaviour and personality. Moreover, they start becoming more open to sharing what they feel and social with people around them. Just like all of us, our animals too put their thoughts into words and actions. When we start influencing their thoughts through our own, we are able to direct them towards instilling their trust on us.

GO BEYOND TELEPATHY, READ THE SIGNS

This kind of telepathic communication with our animals is just one way to go with it. Our animals also use body language and movement, sounds and eye contact to express. Whether it’s your dog’s tail wagging insistently when he sees you after a long day, or your cat starting a staring competition with you when you tease her, or even a tiny puppy squeaking to convey a message to you - all these animals are trying to say something and it’s our responsibility to listen and act on it.

Some may say, “our dog barks all the time, most times we don’t even know what he is trying to say to us.” To that, we would like to offer a solution. This is a simple exercise that each pet parent can practice as a way to truly decode what their pets’ actions mean.

CREATE A PET JOURNAL

Start with maintaining a journal of what conversations you do share with your little furry friend. You could also write about his behaviour, what you felt he was trying to say to you, and how you feel he perceives the world around him. This helps you in gaining their perspective and becoming more empathic and understanding towards their actions and reactions.

The more effort you make to tune in and learn about what is going on in their minds, the more they would be open to talk about their feelings in a healthy space. Our animals have so much to share with us, and being all ears to it could just be the beginning of a beautiful and magical bond of eternal love.

________

The author Divya Sanbhwani is the co-founder of All Ears and a certified Canine Behaviourist.