My life pretty much revolves around animals. I wake up to a cat kneading my head and venture out at a dawn to take the dogs for their daily morning walk. Then I head off to work to talk to the world’s pet all day. I come home to taking the dogs for a swim, letting the bunny out into the yard, brushing the cats and then more work. When I was a child my grandfather had built a small sailboat. Sailing with the wind and the waves was my only true passion outside being at the stables. So now when I want to get away from who I am or what I do I head to the ocean. In 2002, I met Shawn my ex-husband. He gave me my first surfboard and surfing lessons in exchange for training his dog. Shawn taught me many lessons in life, but surfing was by far the most fun and the most healing. During one dawn surf session I caught a beautiful long rolling wave at the Ventura Point. I stood up, dropped in and to my surprise there were three dolphins, two on my right and one on my left, surfing the same wave. I took a deep breath in awe and looked up to see a full rainbow over the Ventura Pier. It was the closet I have come to heaven on earth. Over the years dolphins have caught waves beside me and have swum under and around my board and I. I have never feared them. I have only a sense of gratitude for their presence. A few weeks ago, a pod of dolphins were swimming around the surfers and I thought I would challenge myself to make friends with them. People swim with the dolphins all over the world. What is different about Ventura & Santa Barbara County? I started to send them telepathic messages telling them how much joy they bring people. How a sight of a dolphin makes people feel blessed whether they are swimming in the water or walking on shore. I told them how people around the world swim with the dolphins and how people have trinkets of them in their homes. This pod of four dolphins stayed around us the whole time we were surfing. When our backs were turned one dolphin would sneak up to us. We would turn around to find the dolphin slowly swimming off. The dolphins asked me about dogs and what they were all about. They asked me about cars and umbrellas. I told them I would call them the next time I came to the ocean. That night I dreamt of hundreds of them in the darkness of the night floating sleepily amongst the seaweeds.
The next week I called them. They came but I had already gotten out of the water due to the coldness. From the shore, I explained to them about body temperature and why people wear wetsuits. They thanked me for the knowledge and told me to come again. A few days later, I was dog training at a different beach and I swear the same pod came to see me. They played close to the beach; jumping out of the water twisting and wiggling. People stood in awe. “I have never seen dolphins so close to shore!” They exclaimed. I had feelings of grandiosity that some how they sensed my presence. That somehow an invisible string of energy connects us and they had come to this beach, miles from were I first saw them, to ask me questions and show that they too want to be friends.
That night when I closed my eyes I heard them echoing their songs and felt the ocean water rushing by my body as if I was one of them. I reminded myself that I am my greatest skeptic, but I am also my biggest believer. These past few weeks I have learned that I can no longer leave a part of me behind when I enter the ocean. I have begun to bring who I am and my work into the waters with me. Whether I fully believe it or not, I am making friends with the dolphins.

There is a dog training show on Animal Planet called “Its Me or the Dog”. It features dog trainer Victoria Stilwell. I urge all of you with problem dogs to watch her show. I want to share with you why I love Victoria’s show. Victoria Stilwell’s method coincides with the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT) humane guidelines. She, at the present moment, is the only dog trainer on TV that would be classified as using humane methods.
What humane dog trainers love about Victoria Stilwell is that she urges owners to put in time training their own dogs and exhibits in her show just how long it can take. In an episode you will see several weeks of training. What she doesn’t do is edit the show so that it looks like the problem is corrected in one session. She uses positive methods and positive reinforcement. She acknowledges that what works for one dog may not work for another. In some shows you will see her using the clicker method. The clicker is a device used to mark an appropriate behavior that tells the dog, “Good I like that. A treat or praise is on its way.” On other shows you will see her using the lure method. She teaches in her show how important praise is. She also teaches that it is important to touch your dog to calm them down. She teaches dogs boundaries by using a stays. A humane trainer builds up the confidence of the dog, by teaching dog and owner what is appropriate behavior. An old school dog trainer corrects inappropriate behavior and does not use praise. This teaches the dog to behave or they will be abused. Old school methods can be dangerous, because it can repress the behavior. Usually, the behavior erupts again resulting in serious damage to another dog or human. This can takes months or years. I call these dogs “Ticking Time Bombs” Owners usually say, “My dog was fine. This behavior was unpredictable”. That is because the owner never learned how to recognize what is the body language of a confident dog and that of a stressed dog. If you watch Victoria’s show you will see that the dogs are learning rather than “obeying”. Watch their faces. Their mouths are open and their heads held high. Their eyes are bright. These are signs of a stress free, relaxed, happy dog. Stressed and frightened dogs hang their head low, have their mouths shut and their eyes look dimmed and afraid.
Victoria is no-nonsense. If she feels like a client has created an unhealthy dog she will tell them. If she feels like a home is not right for a dog she will be honest. If you watch her show you will learn how to build confidence and how to recognize different behaviors and where they stem from. It is important to understand our dogs, teach them appropriate behavior and praise them for doing it right. Victoria Stilwell is the only trainer on TV that trains with respect and love for the dogs. I urge you to watch her show. You will see the methods that have been popular amongst humane dog trainers for the past twenty years. Victoria Stilwell is honest and trains with integrity. Her show is not just made for entertainment and ratings it is also developed to educate. You can find her on the Animal Planet channel and website or at her personal website www.victoriastilwell.com

Recently, I have been asked if animals dream. Of course they do. Many people have witnessed their dogs moving their legs and woofing as they are sleeping. When my dogs awake from one of those running dreams I ask them what they were dreaming about.

Maia, my wolf-hybrid, is almost always chasing deer through the deep woods of New York passing ponds and jumping over stonewalls.

Storm, my Aussie, is either chasing a ball or Frisbee or doing an agility course where he “has to think a lot”.

When Maia was sick with cancer every morning she would tell me that in her dreams she would play with old dog friends who have since died. I thought for sure it was a sign she was going to pass over. Maia recovered and still has those dreams, but not as often.

One morning, I asked Stormy if he had a good night. He told me he had a dream that birds were flying all around his head. He said that at first he was scared and then he noticed all the birds were pretty so he then just thought it was strange. I think this dream had something to do with the new birdfeeders that I recently put in the yard.


Joey, my oldest cat, told me this morning that the best dream he ever had was that he was lying in a field of lush organic catnip. He said the soil and the plants smelled beautiful and the catnip tasted perfect. He also said that sometimes he dreams of old people we knew and old places we used to live. For six years, I had a boyfriend who was an avid organic gardener. He chose Joey at the adoption agency. He loved the cats, soil and plants. For years every spring, summer and fall Joey had a mini field of catnip of different varieties. I feel a little guilty I don’t have the talent of a great gardener.

The other day, I spoke to a client’s dog that has been waking up at 2:00am every morning. She pants, scratches at her people, whines and paces. When I asked Lady what was going on she told me. “I keep having this nightmare that my mom (person) is hurt and that the ocean fog is rolling into the house, but it is not white like fog it is black.” Lady was terrified of her nightmare. Honestly, I was too of the image she showed me. I think it had something to do with her person moving to NY City and leaving Lady behind with her parents. Lady said “When she went to college she could still hear me, but she can not hear me where she lives now.” Lady’s person went to college in the country where it was easier to know when Lady was thinking about her. It is much harder to sense Lady in NY City where there are so many distractions. Lady said, “The only thing that helps is eating my kibble in broth.” So that is what they do at 2:00am and she settles much faster.

I had to ask, “What do bunnies dream about?” Bean, my bunny, said “Sometimes I dream I have wings and I am flying other times I dream of a big cardboard box filled with my favorite treats that is located in the middle of my pen.” This is does not surprise me.

Serafina, my cat I found in the Upper Ojai woods, added, “Sometimes, I dream about wandering outside under the stars and trees, but you wont let me.” She still doesn’t believe me about nighttime coyote hunting.

Makia, my pure white cat, said, “I often dream of talking to angels. They are teaching me how to send love to everyone who walks by our house. So many people are angry or unhappy. The angels say ‘there should be more beings sending love and peace into the world.’ I have an important job.”

Here are some thoughts from different animals that may help you communicate with your pet more effectively.

Harold (he is 3 years older than photo now): “I hear my mom (person) the best when she kneels down in front of me holds my collar and talks softly. Usually it is followed by a hug and a belly rub.”

Placido (handsome black and white cat): “It helps me when my mom directs her thoughts to the center of me rather than above me. I understand it much better. It is also nice when she slows down and waits to hear my answer.”

Tanner: My mom is perfect at talking to me. Sometimes when she hears me she laughs and doesn’t take my request seriously.”

Stan: “I like it when people pay attention to their breathing and make sure they are breathing really slowly before they begin. If they are breathing or moving fast I may bite them. But this is only to tell them move slow and concentrate on what you are doing.”

Chip (horse on left): “I think the most important thing to do with horses is to visualize what you want. It is much clearer, because then we can match all the things people are doing with their arms and legs with what is in their head. If you are talking about my mom talking to us the most important thing is if she thinks of us when she is in the bath. We love to hear from her when she is far away and that is the only time she is calm enough to send us images. Though we feel her love all day long.”

Seamore (parrot): “I need people to give me a grape first and then they have my attention. Otherwise I do not care to listen.”

Stormy (my Aussie): “When people are frightened or doubting they do not hear me as well. When I talk to a person I try and send it to them in a beam to their head and to their heart. People hear me the best when they are in joy. I bring a lot of people joy.

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about changing longstanding behavior patterns for the better. I get called into homes to change an animal’s behavior but very often a human needs to change in order for the animal in the household to change. And although there are times when I am surprised most often I can tell instantly which humans will follow through with my instructions and who will not. I can also tell which animals will try hard to listen and understand their people. These animals feel uncomfortable about their behavior and want to strive to live in a more peaceful confident way. The combinations of these human / animal companions are interesting to study. If the humans have any desire to change their animals’ behavior I may see a shift in the human, a shy animal that wants to be confident can truly transform a shy person into being more social and an aggressive dog can make an angry person less reactive.
Here I will talk to some animals that have witnessed their people change for the better. I ask them to tell me about it.

Chewy (Spaniel): My mom lost a lot of weight. Every morning, I would watch her walk by the mirror and grimace. One day, she woke up and while dad was getting the kids dressed she stood naked in front of the mirror for a long time. She cried and then she smiled. It was weird from that moment she laughed more, ate better and ran on that moving sidewalk in the basement. I think she changed because deep inside she knew she was happy. She just had to remember. Now even though the kids make her really tired her body feels good. She moves gracefully again.

(PICTURE N/A) Jude (Lab): I have always thought my mom has a lot of determination. One day she looked at my dad and thought, “I hate the way you treat me and I am tired of you not listening to me.” She stopped thinking about him that day. She used to always be mad at him and then she starting thinking about how to make her life happier. She studied and she played more. Now she no longer lives with my dad and he is a lot nicer to her.

Vinnie (Cat): My mom is very sensitive. She is really kind and a wonderful friend to who ever she knows. Sometimes my mom hears what people are thinking. Things they would never say out loud and that hurts my mom. She sees a lot of suffering around her. She would spend a lot of time crying. My mom now does these rituals where she asks to be protected and she does this kind of stretching that I think is similar to the way cats stretch. She is still sensitive, but others feelings hurt her less. It helps her to state everyday that she is protected from feeling too much of others’ hardships. Now she has more time to feel joy and do things that she loves.

Makia (cat): I have to say that I believe that in order to change you need to love your self and focus your energy on what you want to become. You have to feel that feeling all through you body. It is very hard to do and I have seen my person feel really good and healthy and then eat bad food because she doesn’t know what to do with all the vibrant energy. She gets scared she will not be good enough. But she is stopping that behavior and doing amazing things that I think will help change the world. Be courageous and hold your vision always in your heart and in your mind. Never let it disappear.

I teach to my clients that it is important to visualize what you are saying to your animals as well as the importance on telling your animal what you do want rather than what you do not want. For instance if you want to tell you dog to stop jumping you would say, “off” and visualize your dog with all four paws on the ground with you petting him gently. Rather than saying, “no jumping” which sends the image of your dog jumping. This is the same for the command “come”. When you call your dog “come” you want to picture your dog running to you rather than calling “come” while saying to yourself, “Dam dog is never going to stop chasing the gardeners. He better not nip them.” This can be very confusing to your dog and usually ends with your gardener in torn trousers.
I had noticed many years ago when my wolf-dog, Maia, was a wild thing who would not agree to have another dog share a four block radius, that if I left the house praying, “please let there be no dogs off leash on our walk.” We would almost always see a dog off leash. After a very stressful year of this, I started to walk out of the house saying to my dogs and myself, “This is going to be such a peaceful walk. We are all alone and you both are so well behaved. Thank you for being so good.” We magically began to consistently have wonderful walks that I could actually look forward to.
The past few weeks Maia started to have a bit of an incontinence issue. I realized the more I spoke about it the worse it got. For experimental purposes, I began to switch it and it seems the more I talk about her being healthy the dryer she is. Which makes me think, “What are we putting out there (into the universe) on our animals behalf”. If we keep talking about our animal’s naughty behavior they remain naughty. I had a little three-year-old French Bull-dog say to me yesterday, “I am pain sometimes and I am worried my spine is going to shatter into little pieces. Where will the pieces go?” It turns out she has a degenerative problem with her spine and this is what her person is worried about. It made me sad to think this little creature is worried about her spine breaking apart so I told her that her person is doing the best to make her feel healthy and have her bones grow stronger. I told her to focus on a strong healthy spine. What if it is real? That the power of our thoughts truly does create our reality. Do we really want to create this little dog’s spine to collapse?
We must ask ourselves, “What are we attached to? What thoughts and ideas are we holding onto about our animals that are not healthy? And how do we change them to be more positive?” I am not asking you to be in denial about your animals physical, emotional, or behavioral problems. Accept them for what they are and then hold the image of them becoming healthier and more confident. Even an animal that is dying can die in comfort and serenity if we hold that image. Anyone who lives with an animal has witnessed that animals understand our emotional state. What power lies in our minds to create a sense of wellbeing in the minds of our animals?
It has been joyful for me to integrate this new age power of manifestation into the lives of my animal friends. Experiment with switching your negativity to more positive feelings and images and you too may find more joy and wellbeing in you and your animals’ lives.

"This is my sense of those two men on the TV. One has the clearest scent to the ball and the other one is distracted with too many smells."...

"Am I like that Donkey Sancho"

Last year at dawn, I found my present bunny Bean hopping happily on the sidewalk in down town Ojai. Wild bunnies watched from the bushes praying she would not hop into early morning traffic. My Australian Shepherd instantly fell in love, but I didn’t feel I had the time for Bean so she flew with me to NY to live with my childhood best friend and his kids. In April, I spoke to her remotely and she pleaded, “Come and get me. It stinks of smoke and I am never out of my pen.” ...

Dear Laura,
My family feels very close to our animals. We even make up what they are saying. We feel we know them pretty well. But we don’t think we can talk to them like you can. Can you give us some ideas on how to communicate with them better?
Sincerely, Kimberly

Dear Laura,
Do you think that animals see color?
Sincerely Jerry

Read on to hear what Makia has to say:

Dear Laura,

I'm glad I found this website. Ever since I can remember I'd always
passed over your column as a bunch of typical Ojai psycho-babble crap.
However, once I got my dog, Huck, people I hold in high regard urged me
to take him to you.

Dear Laura,
Do dogs understand the word NO?
Sincerely, Alfred

It is around 7:30 am on a typical Monday. I am driving patiently down a curvy dirt road. My two dogs extend their heads out separate rear windows. They are catching their breathe from our morning stroll in the woods. Up a head, just past the next twist, I see what looks like

This morning as I lay in bed after one push of the snooze button the ravens outside begin to squawk incessantly. I know this sound well. They are mobbing a red tail hawk. I listen more closely. There is a distant distress call of the hawk’s mate.

Dear Laura,
I definitely want to hear what your posse has to say about the way animals view love.
Sincerely, Julia

Dear Laura,
This is sort of a generic question with a specific situation. What to do with dogs who inhale their food?

Dear Laura.

How can I get my dog to learn the dangers of traffic? I reward him after making his stop at the curb when we're out on leashed walks, but he doesn't seem to get it the next time we cross the street.

Signed, Dillon's Mom

Dear Laura,

I have a severe problem with my cat Ziggy. In the last two weeks she has crapped on my bed twice, crapped on the kitchen floor, and peed on the kitchen counter. She has access to outside 24/7 by way of the dog door. Here's the deal----I'm not interested in working with this cat. She has given me asthma. When I pet her, she loves it but when I pull my hand away she'll bite me. So I can't really give her to some little old lady. The bottom line is she has given me asthma. Do you want her? She hates other cats so I can't give her to the shelter. What should I do?

Sincerely, Stan

Dear Laura,

We have a wonderful lopped eared bunny named Addie. She hops over to the children and allows everyone to pet her. The only problem we have with her is that she bites us when we pick her up. This is a behavior that seems out of character for her. Why do you think she is doing this?

Sincerely, Jonathon

May you find wisdom and humor in the thoughts and feelings of these animals.

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