Mystical Mermaid Lounge
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Mystical Mermaid Lounge
The Language of Animals and Energy
******WARNING: ANIMAL ABUSE DISCUSSED******
What if you could truly understand what your beloved pet is thinking? What if the barriers between species weren't as impenetrable as we've been led to believe? In this captivating conversation with psychic-medium Melissa Engerman, we explore the profound connections possible between humans, animals, and the spiritual realm.
Details
Melissa shares her remarkable journey as an intuitive who has communicated with spirits and animals since childhood. Rather than seeing these abilities as extraordinary, she approaches them with refreshing humility: "Everyone can talk to pets. Everyone can talk to spirits. I don't have any special abilities." This perspective opens doorways for listeners to reconsider their own intuitive capabilities and relationship with the natural world.
The conversation takes fascinating turns as Melissa explains her process of animal communication—working primarily with photographs, entering a meditative state, and receiving information through mental images, physical sensations, and intuitive knowing. She shares touching stories of helping a diabetic dog understand the importance of insulin shots and mediating peace between household pets. These anecdotes aren't just heartwarming; they demonstrate practical applications of energy work that can transform relationships between pets and their humans.
Beyond technique, Melissa offers a philosophical framework that honors animals as conscious beings with emotions comparable to humans. "They feel the same way that humans feel," she explains, challenging listeners to approach animals with greater respect for their autonomy and needs. Her compassionate approach extends to humans too, as she emphasizes meeting people where they are in their understanding of animal care, recognizing that problematic behaviors often stem from lack of knowledge rather than malice.
Ready to explore new dimensions of connection with the animals in your life? Follow Melissa's work at www.ReikiByMelissa.com or join one of her community Reiki sessions at Tranquili-Chi to experience the transformative power of energy healing firsthand. Open your mind to the possibility that the beings around you—furred, feathered, or otherwise—might understand more than you think, and might just be waiting for you to understand them too.
Contact
Website: Reiki by Melissa
Address: Tranquili-Chi Center, 1421 Clarkview Rd., Suite 206, BALTIMORE, Maryland 21209
Phone: (410) 491-4906
Email: melissaengerman@gmail.com
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Welcome to the Mystical Mermaid Lounge podcast, a space where all spiritual seekers are honored and celebrated. This podcast was born from the journeys of your hosts, who have each faced her own dark night of the sun, but they've emerged with an unshakable belief in divine connection, cosmic inspiration and her true life's calling. Join us on a journey of personal growth, transformation and magical self-discovery. Your first co-host is Chloe Brown, a gifted intuitive empath and shadow work life coach. Your second co-host is Keoni Starr, an intuitive energy worker and acclaimed past life regressionist. The Mystical Mermaid Lounge podcast starts now.
Speaker 3:The podcast starts now I am Chloe and I have my awesome co-host with us.
Speaker 4:Hello, I am Keone. Today we have Melissa Ingerman with us Growing up.
Speaker 3:Melissa could feel the energy from the trees and all of the living beings which she's really never known any other way. As a child, she would speak regularly to those who had passed. In her young 20s she started to meet friends who were similar to her. She started to work with universal energy and then started training in different modalities of energy work in early 2000s. This included training to have more control of communication with animals. Last year, melissa started her own business in offering Reiki and animal communication and is a private Reiki practitioner. You can find her at ReikiByMelissacom, which will be in our show notes, and she is on Facebook and Instagram. Thank you for being here.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 3:What is your spiritual background? How would you define that?
Speaker 2:I'm part of the universe and part of nature, as I feel all of us are part of nature, as I feel all of us are, of what keeps this world going, just as much as the trees, the rocks, the non-human animals, all of us. My spiritual background it's really always been a part of me. I did study shamanism with an amazing coach friend, everything that was Andean shamanism, based in Peru. It's really about being in this world and in the other dimension, like one foot in, one foot on both sides, kind of a thing. I became interested in it because it was the first thing that actually seemed to connect to how I felt Working with nature, sitting at a tree, meditating, connecting with the tree and going to a rock and sitting on a rock and feeling the history of the rock. It's been through like all of that. It's just stuff I've naturally done. It seemed natural for me to go into the shaman world and learn about journeying. I do a lot of different things. I guess I'm a chaos spiritual person.
Speaker 3:I love that. I like the way you summed that up and didn't feel the need to put yourself in a box. That was important and great to hear. Did you have any particular religious or spiritual belief systems growing up? That was practiced in the household?
Speaker 2:I was raised in a Jewish home but neither of my parents practiced much. My mom did the holidays. My parents divorced when I was very young. My father seemed to always marry women who were Christians, so we'd do Christmas. I'm sure I carry some stuff I learned as a child, like in Sunday school, at Hebrew school. I'm only recently diving into my ancestral worlds. They were more religious on both sides. I don't follow anything I learned as a child. My mom would laugh when I would talk about God's helper who would visit me every night. She still laughs at it to this day, but she never tried to stop it. She just thought it was funny.
Speaker 2:I don't think she had any issues with me going through as a child and I still say it the house taught me how to tie my shoes. I can still see it in my head laying on the couch and all of a sudden being like oh, okay, and tying my shoe and running into the kitchen to tell my mom look, it wasn't something that anyone tried to stop me.
Speaker 4:My husband got kicked out of Hebrew school for chopping off a girl's pigtails, so I just want to make sure that wasn't you, was it? No, but I would have loved if it were.
Speaker 2:Please tell him you met the person. That'd be awesome.
Speaker 4:I'm going to let him know. Things came full circle this morning.
Speaker 3:I think that was a beautiful answer is that you were able to come up with your own thoughts and belief system. I love that. You were a free thinker from a young age and traveled your own path. A free thinker from a young age and traveled your own path. So one of the things you did mention, though, is you were open with your family about it when these things were happening.
Speaker 2:How do you think it came to you? It's interesting. I can tell you who they were, how they were dressed. I saw them in my head, but I don't know if I saw them in my head because I just had the knowledge of how they looked and so I put that image to myself, or if I actually saw it. When I was a little older than that, but still a child. My father lived in a house that had a full family that lived in it. I don't know where they were from, but the boys were in knickers. I remember them standing on the staircase freaking me out because I was probably 10 then trying to fall asleep.
Speaker 2:I've seen people who have passed. I do have things that are just knowing and not know how. People don't always have to tell me things, I just know it as a child. To me it was just normal. It didn't stand out. It wasn't something where I was like how is this working? Other people don't have that, so I didn't really pay attention to what was happening. It was just as normal as, oh, I'm going to go to my friends and walking out the door and walking over to someone else God's helper I felt the energy and I knew who they were, I'm assuming. As an adult now, I feel like it was probably one of my guides who was with me. The best way to explain who they were to me was saying that they were God's helper being there to watch over me. They always were on the same spot, just outside my window, when did you realize it expanded further that you could communicate with animals?
Speaker 2:Well, that was something I always did and didn't know that people did.
Speaker 3:So you were talking to all the neighborhood animals like how you doing? Are they feeding you properly? Do you sleep well at night? How much do you sleep at night?
Speaker 2:How much do you sleep at night? I could feel their energy or mood. If they were upset, I knew that they were upset. If they were sad, if they were lonely. I knew that stuff as a child. If I knew one of them was sad, I would interact with them. I started communicating with them in my 20s. I didn't really have control of it, which is why I went and took some classes so that I could learn to have better control of turning it on and off when needed. It's been about 30 years since then.
Speaker 3:Awesome. So it sounds like you've developed your own way to process or routine to drop in. Could you speak to what that looks like a little?
Speaker 2:bit. Usually for me, the preparation is, for the most part now, long distance, just getting a picture and going from that. I can't answer as to why I prefer it that way. I don't know. It's just what I'm most comfortable with. I'll look at the picture, see if anything comes to me. I'll feel if there's pain in the leg or some emotion then and do a short meditation to ground myself, to allow myself to just be in that moment, and then I communicate with the pet. You have to talk to the pet yourself and let the pet know it's okay to communicate with me and that it's okay to tell me whatever they want. Just saying it to your pet is all you need to do. Whether you feel it was understood or not it was understood. I ask for that before I communicate. I have had times where a pet will just be like I'm dizzy right now, I'm not going to talk to you right now, so I'll have to go back another time. I had this happen this past week.
Speaker 4:Are they mostly cats that give you toot? Why would you ask that you toot?
Speaker 2:Why would you ask that? I had a cat who was too busy. She's a one-year-old cat. Oh my gosh, you're going to be a handful. I did get to talk to her last night, so it was about four days in between. I happened to be out of town in between that, so it just didn't really give me a chance. I was too busy with things. It didn't really give me a chance to talk to her again. But last night she talked to me. At first she was like I'm too busy and in my head just see her like zooming around the house.
Speaker 2:If people have specific questions, I'll ask that. Sometimes people just want to know what's going on with them. I think of the human as the guardian to the pet. Sometimes it's a short conversation, sometimes longer. It depends Same as talking to a person.
Speaker 2:Some people don't want to go into details and other people will explain the same thing in 20 different ways. I have two different trends. One is someone wants to know what's wrong with their pet, something's painful. They're trying to figure out. Is it the stomach? Are they constipated or is it just an upset stomach because of something they got into? That kind of thing. Of course I'm not a vet. I can say what I'm feeling or what they're telling. There happen times where this pet needs to go to the vet, but I'm not a vet. I can only go by what they're telling me. If somebody wants their pet to understand something like a move coming, and they want the pet to understand that, or if they're traveling somewhere and they want the pet to understand that the one that I was talking about just now, where the cat was too busy a couple days ago. But then when I talked last night, her mom wants her to stop attacking her feet in the middle of the night. I was talking to her and explaining to her that the bed is only for walking around and sleeping on. Playing is only on the floor. And literally she showed me her mom playing with the string toy on the bed and was like then why does mom do it? Okay, I will tell your mom not to do it anymore. Playing is just on the floor or a cat treat, or you leave the bedroom, otherwise you cuddle with your mom, sleep or walk on the bed. And so then, when I was talking to this cat's mom, have you played on the bed before? Yeah, it was just that one time and I'm like that doesn't matter. That is what she saw. I was like, was it with the string toy? And she's like, well, yeah, because she wanted to play, and I'm like that she thinks now it's okay to play on the bed, and so I told her you know, I was like this is what I've said to your cat, this is what I'm going to tell you.
Speaker 2:One of the very first readings that I did that made me be like oh my God, this is really real and it's actually a dog I ended up adopting. She was in a foster home and diabetic and she would fight twice a day over having the insulin shot. I hadn't met the dog at this time. I explained the importance of the insulin shot and that she would get used to it and all this stuff. After that, the foster mom was like she never gave me a problem after that and then, of course, I had to meet the dog and then I fell in love and that was that. But that was my first wow, this is real. There's actual conversation. It's not me just imagining anything, which I think is common for all of us, because I feel like everyone can. I don't have any special abilities. Everyone can talk to pets. Everyone can talk to spirits. That's my belief.
Speaker 4:When you talk to them, Melissa, are you talking out loud?
Speaker 2:All in my mind. Sometimes I might verbally out loud, but they respond in mind they don't need to speak out loud. Usually it's in mind with pictures, like with the cat who showed me her mom playing. I literally saw the string going across the bed like fishing rod toys. I literally saw that and I saw the cat's arm going for it. I knew it was going on.
Speaker 2:There was a boxer I met and I wasn't doing a reading. It was a friend. It was the first time I was meeting the dog. It was a co-worker and the dog was coming in to say hi to everyone. It was the first time I was meeting the dog. Does she have an issue with her back left hip? Apparently she did, but I didn't know this because it was the first time I was meeting the dog. I was new at the job. I didn't really know the people very well, but I knew it was someone safe for me to say that in question. So I will feel things. I've had dogs with upset stomachs and I felt I have to just stop. It's so uncomfortable for me. I need to step out and tell the people what is happening because I literally feel it Cleansing. I am a tree hugger.
Speaker 3:I like going outside feet on the ground, but I work in a city and the homeless in our community have animals with them. I always felt I can pick up the energies of those, and some of them are the most happy. If you don't take better care of that animal, I'm just going to have to go over there and do a one-two on you myself. My question was how you dealt with that. If you're driving by and you pick up on something you just can't shake, If you're like me, it affects you.
Speaker 2:I had to learn to shut myself off when driving. One time I was at a stoplight and started sobbing because I was picking up someone's energy. I had to learn to realize my emotions and someone else's Driving around. I tried hard not to connect to that stuff. I think one thing that's really helped me is that I worked at an animal shelter, so I've learned to have really difficult conversations in as tactful of a way as I possibly can. I think that has really helped me as far as being able to know how to communicate a difficult conversation when meeting the person where they are.
Speaker 2:If you say something in an accusatory way, they're not going to listen to you and it's not going to change the situation. They're not going to listen to you and it's not going to change the situation. I present it as easy as I can. After my readings I talk to people on the phone, see where they are, see how they are taking the information and adjust how I'm talking depending on how they are. I really think the years at the shelter really helped me being able to talk to people and realize that just because someone's doing something that I'd say is not good, it doesn't mean hate or anger. It's just what they know. Coming from that angle really helps.
Speaker 4:I remember one time my husband and I were walking in the park there was a man we recognized from town walking his dog. The dog was very obese and so was the man actually, and my husband went off. Doesn't that man realize what he's doing to that dog? He was just beside himself, calling this guy every four-letter word he could think of, and finally I looked at him. I said I can guarantee you, knowing this man, seeing him in the neighborhood all the time, so friendly, so kind, you get a vibe from people right, and you also get a vibe from his dog. This is a happy dog. He's way overweight, but I guarantee you this man's love language is food. He just needs to be told. And of course my husband volunteered himself and I took him off duty. You're not the one to tell this man, but he did come back to me later and say I never thought about it that way.
Speaker 4:I was quick to judge. Doesn't this person realize it's just as bad for an animal as a human? He's made an assumption. Someone would know it, because if you don't know what to look for, a dog needs to be a little ribby, a little bit no-transcript. I thought it was interesting when you and I had talked before about one of the misconceptions that I was so happy you had cleared up. Most people don't do things intentionally. They truly love their pets.
Speaker 2:They just don't know we had a woman come in with a dog who had a serious injury to the leg that ended up being amputated. She had taken the dog to had a serious injury to the leg that ended up being amputated. She had taken the dog to the ER. Whatever information they gave, she took it as that was it and it's going to heal because that's what she was told and, as we all know, sometimes things don't go the way that they're supposed to. They did not have a lot of money. Her boyfriend kept saying we already went to the vets, we just need to keep wrapping it. And you could tell. The woman came in because she knew that this dog needed more care that they couldn't give, and so many people were oh my God, arrest this person. This is horrible. This is horrible.
Speaker 2:In the state of Maryland there's laws against things with domestic animals. We did go to court, but we were able to talk to the attorney. Look, here's the situation. You can tell that this woman really didn't know better, was following what she was being told by someone she loved. She did get some punishment, but not an extensive punishment, because we were able to be like look, we had conversation with this woman. This woman was beside herself when she knew she could not get this dog back after treatment, but she knew this is what the dog needed.
Speaker 2:This is not someone who didn't care. This is someone who didn't have the finances. There's not enough stuff, at least in this country. I can't speak for other countries to help people with low income who have pet and they still deserve pet. That should not be a thing. That should not be a thing of thinking. Because you don't have money, you can't have a pet. This person had to go to class for six months. People end up in situations you always have to remember they don't have the same background. I don't know what they were brought up being told about pets. I don't know what their finances are. Pet care is very expensive. You could tell they tried. You could tell they wrapped the leg. They were originally told it'll heal on their own. You just have to meet people where they are. It all comes together to make a human who they are.
Speaker 3:That reminds me of a scenario I had, and I won't go into it too deeply. But I was driving, and anybody who knows me in my real life knows I very much enjoy my stereo, so it is very loud inside my car with the music and I could hear this dog yelping over my music and I didn't care if I was going to be late to work. That is not going to work for me. So I look over and this lady is just fist punching this huge, big, beautiful dog. He wasn't a St Bernard, but it was that size and so she's just going after him. And so I ended up like a mad woman going up and over through the roundabout into a parking lot.
Speaker 3:Flyo never actually turned the car off, left the keys in doors wide open. I'm out onto the ground trying to stop her. I'm trying to approach her in a non-confrontational way. It was really hard to find words that were not harsh or abrasive. I was pretty proud that I wasn't confrontational, or so I thought, and as I was walking away, she grabbed me by the back of my hair and ended up assaulting me. They pressed charges against her and took the dog. Actually, so that was my lesson. She genuinely thought that this is how you deal with a puppy who's very mouthy. Because he was just a mouthy nibbles and because he was so big it freaked her and other people out, and this is right. When we went into lockdown and so she decide herself. It's a good lesson to share, because we forget, and until that moment in my life that got that extreme. I was not of the mindset to meet people where they were, whether it's animals or our own life, which is part of this podcast. I'm grateful you shared that.
Speaker 2:And when I was a child in the seventies, hitting a dog with a newspaper was how to correct them. Or, if they pee in the house, taking their muzzle and smooshing it into the pee so that they would learn that was wrong. I'm sure there's still people who do it because that's what was taught at one point and it just passes along. And, yes, there are people who think that smacking a dog in the face is the right thing to do. You don't know what they were taught. You don't know what they saw as a child. That, as far as being taught that as a child, or if it's what they were taught for themselves and they passed it on to their pet, it's important to meet people where they are and to try and put judgment aside for that moment, because you're not going to get anywhere by yelling at someone In your situation. At least the dog was taken away.
Speaker 4:I'm sorry you ended up getting hurt Melissa a lot what an alpha dog would do to another dog if they were misbehaving those types of things. Now they can be brutal. So I just wonder because he believes that he understands from a behavioral observation what's happening when he's observing a pack and that's what his intention is is to become the alpha and then school the animal from an alpha standpoint and teaching the human to be the alpha so that there's a submissiveness there as far as training goes. So I'm wondering if you've ever dealt with an animal that has been part of that Caesar type of training or, if not, what are your thoughts?
Speaker 2:on that, because the alpha stuff came out years ago and immediately became famous. By the time the people who put it out were able to come back. We were wrong. No one would listen. And still no one listens, because he's on TV.
Speaker 4:And he does get results.
Speaker 2:That's the thing Sometimes it's the same as when you abuse a child they become fearful, so they start doing what they're told. Trainers don't have to be certified. Anyone can say they're a trainer and people are desperate, so I don't fault them if they are following a trainer that is doing something that's harmful. When you're desperate, you're going to grasp at anything. I'm not saying this to blame any person other than the trainers doing this stuff.
Speaker 2:I had someone a friend of mine, who is a dog trainer and is a certified dog trainer. Actually, her training methods are pretty much the same way as how they train dolphins. You're not seeing the heavy-handed treatments. You're seeing respectful, scientifically-driven treatments. One of the things that she has said and I like this description is if you work for someone and they're barely paying you or they're treating you harshly on your job, you're going to do your job because that's the only option you have what you're worth, what you should be, plus also praising you and telling you what a good job you're doing and having gifts for you during the holidays or acknowledging your birthday or randomly bringing in cupcakes or something like that. You're still going to do your job, but you're going to be happier. You're going to be willing to go beyond a little bit, or you're not going to be reminded that you're doing something wrong as often, because you're going to be more into what you're doing and just happier.
Speaker 3:I understand you also do energy work with people. Could you talk about that a little bit?
Speaker 2:I do Reiki work, I get information. I'll say I saw you on a mountain, but you have to interpret what that means. Being on a mountain can mean one thing to me and another to you. You got to go with what you feel. I just enjoy helping people, but I also just really enjoy being in that space and being able to share that gift that I was given to the people. And I only call it a gift because it's not me doing the work, it's me taking the energy from the universe and passing it on. So it's like the universe has given me that gift to pass on. I enjoy being in that energy and in that moment I've had different people having different situations that they're coming to me for a friend and I do community Reiki twice a month at Tranquility.
Speaker 2:The max we can have is six just because we have the table set up and it's not a huge space. In those situations it's a room of people and we're just putting the energy in the room and then we work on each person. We go around the room so each of us is able to work on each person twice. We discuss if the person is okay with us sharing what we saw or felt to the group. We'll share that and we have a discussion. We just will say this is what we saw, I don't know. One time I could feel somebody hugging someone and this is what I feel. This is what I felt. It felt like a male gave the information that I have and they were able to say who they felt it confirmed actually something that they thought Other times. There's something where people are like okay, good, I got to sit on it and then they'll come back. This is what it felt like to me. So I do both personal and community Reiki.
Speaker 2:I see random spirits, not necessarily with anyone specific. I had a dead man come into my room once who didn't know he was dead. I was on the phone with a friend and I was like so the man who was just murdered down the street is in the room with me and the guy was like I'm dead. I felt so bad. Randomly people come to me. I see fairies, all sorts of different elements outside. As far as what I do, work-wise Reiki does go beyond where I share. If there's anything that I see or feel From my experience of receiving Reiki, there are times where nothing comes through. That doesn't mean anything bad, it's just that sometimes things don't come through. The first time that happened to me. What did I do wrong? I'm just laying here what happened, but I've realized it doesn't mean anything bad or good, it just is.
Speaker 4:I think the impressions that one can get while they're doing energy work is amazing and I love that you don't interpret it for them, because that can impact the way that message is received. I had just gotten a rescue kitten. She had been abandoned in a field and she was extremely hungry. And this organization near where I live is amazing, rescuing cats that are between a specific age group and vetting them and making sure that they're rehomed or homed in her case. I thought she's so uptight and she was doing this weird thing where she wouldn't leave my mouth or my nose. She just kept wanting to smell my mouth and nose. It was weird because it went on and on and she wouldn't leave my face. And it reminds me of when, a million years ago, when people would say don't leave a cat with a newborn baby, they'll suck the air out of you. And I said oh girl, I'm bigger than you, you can't suck the air out of you. And I said oh girl, I'm bigger than you, you can't suck the air out of me. But anyway, I think she's just so nervous, been through a lot, dumped on this corner in this field, she was trying to survive. Then she was found and taken to a vet and she was spayed. It's just been one thing after another with this poor cat who wasn't even a year old.
Speaker 4:I thought the best thing I can do for her is a little energy work and get her to relax. Some and young cats don't exactly sit with their paws out. I had to do a lot in my head and send her the energy I wanted her to have and get that heart chakra moving, because I know how I would feel if I had been abandoned and then felt like half my body parts were left at the SPCA. I never said a word to anybody in my family but within a week everyone was saying I don't know what happened to this cat. But suddenly she's behaving so much better.
Speaker 4:She was less spastic, less nervous. She still is a bit food aggressive. I've told her a zillion times you will always have food here. You need to know when to tell people I'm up to here with the treats. I just wanted to say that was an objective scenario with a very new skittish cat To get her to relax. I was out of options and I went to energy work. People observing noticed a positive change. I totally believe in energy work, sending intention and love, blasting out those chakras, getting that energy moving, and she started playing with actual toys. She left my side, she started playing with some strings and some balls and then I made her attack my feet. So I'd have that problem to correct in the future. I just wondered what your experience was with animals and whether you could see that relaxation or if you got any sort of information back from people whose animals you treated.
Speaker 2:Yes, I had a family who had two cats One was playful, the other older and grumpy and they wanted both cats to be able to sleep on the bed together and for both cats to be able to go inside together. So I had to have conversations with both cats the one that was grumpy. I said you can stay up towards the pillows, towards the head of the bed, and if the other cat gets on your nerves, leave the room, just leave the room. You don't need to fight, you can just leave the room. So what did you tell the frisky cat? Sleep towards the feet. If you want to play, go play somewhere else. Don't play with the other cat. He doesn't want it.
Speaker 2:And the person was upset because the grumpy cat left the room. I wanted them both in the bed. I can't force them to do that. I had to give him an out or there would be a fight. She understood it. It was like darn. But he usually stays in the bed all night long. It doesn't mean it's going to be exactly what you want. I have to make sure they're happy. I'm not going to set them up for something that's not good. As far as this grumpy cat, I had to give him an out, leave the room.
Speaker 3:This brings up another question. I have a dear friend, a listener this is you, when you're listening who has two dogs from separate litters. At first I didn't believe they came from separate litters because their connection. During COVID, I spent ample time visiting them. During COVID, I spent ample time visiting them. Every time I was around it felt like these dogs were soulmates and they were supposed to be together. When they walk they have this leash that actually connects them. But they're big dogs. Even if they're going potty, they can't be without sight of each other. They originally had two separate crates and all they would do was whine. I'd love to hear your thoughts on that.
Speaker 2:I don't see any difference between us and non-human animals other than who we think we are. I also believe we come back sometimes as a non-human animal. So even you have two dogs who at first were not the best of buds but now are inseparable. So it's the same as like with humans you meet someone, you might fall in love or just become really close friends where at first you were just acquaintances. A dog who will be right with every dog, and then all of a sudden there's one dog and they just go after that dog. What happened? The dog, who's great, but then a child keeps putting their hand in their face or grabbing their food while they're eating.
Speaker 2:You, as a human, would communicate if they don't stop. The dog doesn't have the same way to communicate. Their lips will change their eyes, will change their ears. There is body communication, but sometimes it's very minor, where another dog would catch it, but a human might not. Then the dog ends up biting it. It's oh, the dog's so bad. Well, no, they got annoyed. How would you respond If you were a dog? How would you respond? A cat? How would you respond?
Speaker 3:Never thought of a soulmate in a dog. Am I animating this scenario?
Speaker 2:There are things we process differently than a non-human animal, because meeting someone where they are, Can you feel the misalignment in an animal similar to how you would in a human?
Speaker 2:So when people ask this, my first question is what do you mean by misalignment? People use that word in different ways. There is a cat I've talked to, the grumpy one I was telling you about. If he were human we would say he was on the spectrum. He doesn't do well with change. He has his routine and if you mess up the routine he's nervous with new people. Once he knows you, it's fine.
Speaker 2:I have also experienced where there is a pet who just something is not connected correctly in their brain and so they act out, biting or snapping. It's something in their brain. It's not anything that ever happened to them or done to them, it is just not igniting correctly in their brain. I could feel they're not happy because they're constantly fearful, scared. They have anxiety, same with humans. Do you medicate them?
Speaker 2:One thing I have learned is that the non-human animal does not have a fear of death, so it's definitely different than with us. They of course fear pain, like us, but they don't fear death. So I am a firm believer that if there is not a way that you can make the pet comfortable and happy, and the pet is going to constantly live in fear, and I don't mean oh, there's fireworks and they're fearful every single day. You take them out to walk and the sound of cars or the sight of a car is scary, and you live in the city somewhere or when they wake up they're immediately scared to attack you something that is a constant, of course.
Speaker 2:Course, try things, but if those things aren't helping, is it humane to let this pet live like this, besides just the whole family having to live with that? Am I doing this for myself or am I doing it for the pet? And a lot of times it is that we're doing it for ourselves. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but it's helpful sometimes for people to hear from someone totally on the outside. Let's look at this from both sides. Try and come up with a solution that might work for everyone, keeping in mind that death it's not scary to them, a different realm that still exists.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 2:I had a dog who I had rescued from a fighting ring and she was terrified. Right to walk her around. I was fostering her and when I came home every day she had put herself in the crate in the corner. The door was open and it would take me 10 to 15 minutes to get her to come out of the crate and re-remember that I was safe, and in that time she'd pee her way out of the crate because she was so scared. I had her for a while but couldn't get her to the point where she could be adopted.
Speaker 2:It's one of those things where I had a big conversation with my vet and everything. This is not a way for this dog to live. So I did choose behavior euthanasia, which I know is a big conflict. But on the drive home from the vet I felt her thanking me and giving me kisses on my face. You could feel the difference in her. She was free, she wasn't in fear anymore. She was able to let that go Immediately. I was like, okay, I did the right thing. Behavioral euthanasia is not something to take lightly at all. It is something that you got to have a conversation with your vet, a trainer. I'm not saying it lightheartedly in any way.
Speaker 4:I just know a couple of people who could really qualify for behavioral euthanasia.
Speaker 3:Have a list, it's only three people. My aunt also lives in a major inner city and that is primarily what she does when she is not at her day job and that is her focus rescuing, fighting pit bulls and then filtering them out to the states, to the different rescues that can keep them safe. So sometimes, as hard as it is, it is important to just let them move on to just let them move on.
Speaker 2:The non-human animal just comes in a different shape and form than the human animal. They do communicate. They just communicate differently because we don't understand them, that they must not communicate. And they also feel. They feel the same way that humans feel. They feel emotions. They feel a lot that humans feel. They feel emotions. They feel a lot Pain, fear all the same emotions that we feel in such a wide range. It's in such a wide range, the same as humans. Every human you meet has different fears, different likes, different dislikes. It's all the same.
Speaker 2:One thing that I hear a lot is someone will meet a dog and they'll go to pet the dog and the dog ducks its head and they're like, oh, this dog had to have been abused. I'm not going to say it doesn't mean that every dog that does that has not been abused, but it's not the only reason for that reaction Could have been born doing that. It could be because they want to sniff your hand first, or they don't want you to put your hand over their head. They want you to go under their hand, to their chin or to their ear. Instead of jumping to that conclusion, stop and think okay, what else could it be? Unless I really know the dog, I allow the dog to come up to me, I put my hand out and I allowed the dog to walk up to me. And the dog might not want to walk up to me, but maybe it does. Of course, if the dog is with a person, I always ask also if it's okay. But I think that's something that's really important to remember. Their personal space is the same as interacting with a human's personal space. You don't walk up to a person and just go, look at you and start petting the person's head, ask consent, put your hand out and let them come up to you. And that's asking consent. They'll come up to you if they want to. They might sit down and the person might be like, oh, that's what they do if they want you to pet them, or something like that.
Speaker 2:But don't assume just because with your dog and the 20 other dogs that you've known and grown up with this one thing that they were okay with you doing that. You got to every pet. That's my biggest thing. And if for a trainer, ask them questions, ask them their methods, ask them what training they've had, ask if they're certified, because, again, they don't have to be certified. Anyone can just decide to put up a business. Ask where they learned. Ask where they were certified. Do your research, because it's the same as what you would do for your child. You're not going to just send them to a school, you're going to do your research.
Speaker 3:That's great advice and I'm still trying to train the humans around me to stop walking up and patting my head. Because I'm five foot tall does not mean I am their pet.
Speaker 2:Yes exactly?
Speaker 4:Have you been called fun size? Because I have.
Speaker 2:I'll tell you. Actually, I was with my family this past weekend and it was so wonderful being around people all my height. It was just so wonderful. There's a picture of four of us that are cousins and we're all the same height. I love this.
Speaker 3:I wasn't looking up at all. Is there anything you'd like to leave for our listeners?
Speaker 4:What do you say when you're thinking about animals in general and you're sending out energy to the universe for them?
Speaker 2:I usually just send out love. I'll stand outside, put my arms out, close my eyes and just picture love and hearts going out to just everyone the trees, everything.
Speaker 4:If we all do that once a day, it wouldn't hurt us. And if we can't get outside, stand inside and share.
Speaker 3:Visualize.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the energy goes through walls, you don't need to. I do that part because it centers me better.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me, thanks for diving into the depths with us today. If you enjoyed this episode, show your support at buymeacoffeecom forward slash mystical mermaid lounge, as every little ripple helps keep the magic flowing. Would you like some more deep soul yearning conversations? Well then, swim on over to our sister podcast, past Lives Cafe, where Keone deep dives into those past life experiences. Also, we'd love to hear from you. Please don't forget to rate and review and drop your feedback and comments at our website, mysticalmermaideloungebuzzsproutcom. Thank you again so much, and don't forget to catch us at the next High Tide Bye-bye.
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