Having personally worked with over 40,000 pets and their owners, it finally hit me that our pets know more about our needs than we do. I’ve worked with some of Fortune 500’s most successful CEOs and major Politicians -- you know, the stressed- out, always on the run type. By spending time in their offices and at their homes, I observed that when they were with their pets or even just talking about them -- they slowed down and entered the NOW. I believe that our pets have saved many individuals from heart attacks just by forcing them into a calmer state of being. Not that I’m one of those spiritual people -- I’m from Long Island, N.Y. and to me aromatherapy was Lysol!
I truly believe that our pets read us well and force us to make changes for the better. For example: Let’s say that I’ve had a bad day with the sales department at the radio station and I come home all anxious and fidgety. Many people would head for a cocktail -- but I de-escalate just by hugging my dogs Skyler and Cisko, then watching the welcome home dance that they’ve been practicing all day. They are able to read my moods and somehow mystically know exactly what to do give me the serenity I need.
Many of my clients are current & former well-known celebrities; with all of the pressures of paparazzi, entourages and TMZ following them around all day – they’re never able to just be themselves are often overwhelmed, e.g., Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan. I’ve seen personalities and their moods go from psychotic to mellow just after they’ve spent a few moments with their pet -- the one thing in their life that has no demands or criticism. Somehow our pets know how to make us laugh when we need to, and feel as stupid as we want around them. I bet there is not a pet owner reading this that doesn’t have those special silly times with their pets.
As eccentric as this may sound and heaven forbid that I should ever be called eccentric, our pets know when we are not feeling well even before we do. Even when our pets may not be close with certain family members, when those family members are not feeling well -- somehow they know and hang around that person. For example, my grandfather (who was not an animal lover and thought I perhaps needed psychiatric help) became very ill. Towards the end, the dogs and cats living at my mom’s house that had never spent anytime near him until the day before he died slept in his room. The bonds they build with special needs children and adults, the bond between seniors and their senior pets all of this is their ability to read us, physically, mentally and spiritually and anticipating our needs before we even know what those needs are.
