Soul Touched by Dogs

Welcome to the Soul Touched by Dogs
Podcast, the show for dog lovers who

see dogs not as toys or tools, but
wise souls worth our respect and care.

I'm an Herrmann, and I'm your host.

I talk to poor some humans, people who
do great work for dogs and their people.

So come and join us for
today's conversation.

Anke: Hello and welcome, Emma.

I'm delighted to have

Emma: you here with me today.

Thank you for inviting me.

It's, uh, it's lovely to be here.

Thank you, Anke.

Anke: My pleasure.

So, let's share with people
where you're based and, you

know, what's your business with

Emma: dogs?

Thank you.

Yes, um, I'm based in the UK and I
am an intuitive animal communicator.

So that means that I can speak
with animals of any species, um,

telepathically to find out their
point of view on any queries that

their human may have for them.

So at the moment, the main
sort of categories that I

focus on are health queries.

Um, behavior queries, and
also conversations with

animals who are in spirit.

So, um, you know, a lot of people find
that very comforting and it can bring a

lot of, uh, closure, really, and even joy.

So, so yes, but I'm planning in the
future to expand kind of the types

of communications I offer, um, you
know, just as things develop really.

So yeah, I'm an intuitive animal
communicator based in the UK.

Love it,

Anke: thank you.

Um, now, my mind's going offline.

So many questions.

The one word that jumps
to mind is trust, right?

So trust and like, almost like
coming at it from different,

from different angles, right?

So because, because You know, our
rational minds, like we kind of,

when we're little, like we're almost
like trained out of our intuitive

connection with everything around us.

Right.

So we're very sort of
head heavy, basically.

Right.

So, so I'm curious about the part of
how did you discover this for yourself?

Right.

So how did you discover it?

And also, you know, how did you
manage to trust what's coming back?

You know, because like, first of all,
there's this like, Perceiving it,

but then also the courage, I mean,
call it courage, like to trust it.

And then obviously the next step is how
do other people trust that the messages

that come through, that that's actually
what really the animal kind of, that

it really comes from the animal, right?

So that's, that's, that's like
the person that jumps to mind.

Emma: Yeah, okay.

So, um, I think you're first
asking, how did I discover it?

And really, it was completely by accident.

I'm not one of those people who
can say, Oh, I come from a long

line of, you know, mediums and
psychics and that kind of thing.

Nor do I have the story of, Oh, I
had, you know, an accident and an

out of body experience and I came
back with all these new skills.

No, it was completely by accident.

My dog Oscar came into my life.

Right when I needed him most.

He's absolutely fabulous
and he's very bright.

He's so clever, really intelligent.

And very quickly he
understood me and my husband.

He, you know, fitted in with us
and then he started training us.

So I thought he's so brainy.

I want to try and meet him on his level.

So it was just purely by accident.

I was just Googling animal
communication or dog communication.

I think trying to, I thought I
was just going to find stuff about

body language and vocalizations.

Right at the top of the listings
was a listing for, um, uh, a psychic

animal communicator based in the UK.

And I'd never heard of it before.

She was the only one in the listings.

All the others were behaviorists
or this kind of thing.

And I thought, I've never heard of
that before, but I know that I need

that in my life immediately, right now.

So I booked a session with her.

She and Oscar and I had
a three way conversation.

It was amazing.

And, you know, I had another, you know,
session with her a year or so later.

Um, and I, as soon as I've
had this conversation with her

and Oscar, I thought, I wonder
if I could learn to do this.

And I sat on it for a while and I
tried researching it and couldn't

seem to find much about it.

Eventually found a book.

It happened to be exactly the right book.

Read it.

Asked Oscar a couple of questions,
got some answers back, was shocked.

And then immediately went on
this, this lady, the author's

training and was astonished when
myself and the other students

immediately were getting messages.

So that can then kind of lead me
into your other question about trust.

How do you know that what you're
receiving is from the animal?

And you know that it, you
know, it does make sense.

So the way we receive the information,
I'm sure this will come as no

surprise to some people, maybe a
surprise to others, but we receive the

information in lots of different ways.

We get visual images, we can hear
sounds or even words, um, you can get

an emotion and a feeling, you can get
physical sensations, and the most, the

hardest one to kind of define, but I
think the most useful, is you just get

knowing, they just download, knowing to
you, just that, um, They just literally

share kind of like a scene with you of
something that happened and you get their

emotion, you get what they saw, what they
thought, what they felt, all as a package.

So, um, you get it in all sorts of ways.

And by the way, all of us
are doing this all the time.

This isn't a special skill
just for a few people.

We all do it 24 7 and we've been
doing it since we were born.

It's just it's mostly below the
level of our conscious awareness.

So, um, all you have to do is
just believe, trust and start

listening and you start getting it.

So the way then that you start to
trust that this information is coming

from the animal and not from you,
because that's the first question

all student animal communicators ask.

How do I know this isn't
just me making it up?

It's very simple.

So you pair up with another person
or student and you tell them about

their animal, they tell you about your
animal, and you go through certain

validation or verification questions.

Most, the main one is
around their personality.

You can feel the animal's energy, you
can feel their personality, you can

get them to describe their personality
to you, and as soon as you relate

that to the human, most of the time,
occasionally it's not quite right,

but most of the time, they'll say yes.

That's my dog or my cat
or my horse or whatever.

And yes, he does do that.

And yes, we do call him that.

And he has got that nickname
and that type of thing.

So you do little validation or
verification sort of questions like that.

But yes, we do get imposter
syndrome all the time.

Anke: Yeah, because I
mean, That's fascinating.

I mean, it's, it's, I find it totally
fascinating because you can sort of

see how it would, you know, and at
the same time, you know, like when,

well, to know the nickname, like how?

Emma: With things like that,
that are quite specific, usually

it would be if I asked them.

So here's an example recently,
there was, um, she was an animal

communicator friend and she'd kind
of rescued this dog that she found

at the side of the road, this puppy.

Right.

And she wanted to know
a few things from him.

And as I was chatting to him, I realized
that she hadn't told me his name.

So I was just thinking, I
wonder what his name is?

I didn't ask him directly, but
he heard the thought, and he

straight away, he said Ted.

I heard the name or the word Ted.

So when I clarified with her
later, I said, what's his name?

His name is actually Tate, T A T E,
but you can imagine if you hear that

faintly, Ted Tate, kind of sounds fake.

Yeah, so you don't always get it spot on.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, but that's pretty close.

Anke: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So, so, I mean, I think the
fascinating piece is that, that

Like it's not even, it's almost like
unlearn all the crap on top of it.

It's not even a learning a skill.

It's kind of remembering or

Emma: coming back to it.

Exactly.

That's exactly it.

It's, it's remembering or relearning
or just trusting and believing

that yes, we do this all the time.

And you know, most people are pretty,
tuned in with their animals and

they know what they want or need
and they know if something's wrong.

Um, and we do, we do it, but, um,
we just, it's not talked about or

nurtured, you know, in the mainstream.

So

Anke: I think that's the thing we
saw kind of like proof, you know,

scientific, visible, tangible proof.

And that's, that's, that's
where the trust thing comes in.

Right.

There isn't usually
that you can't sort of.

Rationally trace it back, right?

Do you find it's easier to communicate
with somebody else's animal?

Like, do you find it's harder
with your own, or you're

emotionally involved somehow, or?

Emma: It can be, yes, yes.

So with, with Oscar, my dog, um, once
you kind of get past the basics, like

how do you feel, and do you want to go
for a walk, and what's your favorite

food, and stuff like that, eventually
you get to this point of thinking,

well, Well now what do we talk about?

But um, yeah, so with your own animal
it's not that exactly that it's

harder, it's just kind of different
because you know all the day to day

basics so eventually you have to
start thinking of better topics.

Um, so So, for example, I was doing
a workshop on communication with your

own animal recently with Oscar, so
we were, we were being encouraged

to think of better questions.

So one we came up with together
was, um, you know, how do you

define unconditional love?

What's unconditional love to you?

So, my dog, he was so astonished to
get this question, he came running

through from another room and he
kind of looked at me like, what?

But what he said was, um, it's
a feeling of peace and trust.

It's being able to lie down
next to somebody quietly.

It's loving somebody even
if their energy is too big.

And his parting shot was,
I even love things I hate.

And he shared an image of a squirrel
in the garden because he loves a bit

of righteous anger about squirrels.

But um, just kind of as an extension to
that with your own animals, if you're a

bit stressed, if something's happened,
like they're injured or something, Very

difficult to communicate because all
your emotions are all over the place.

You can't calm down.

You can't tune in.

So you have to just kind of go back
to normal, basic communication and

try and communicate later or rope in
another, you know, communicator friend.

I guess that

Anke: would be the perfect moment to
kind of bring in somebody else, right?

Who hasn't got that, you know,
emotional involvement and

kind of be all over the place.

Yeah.

So what would I mean, you hinted
at the beginning, like, people come

a lot, you know, for sort of grief
and end of life stuff as well, like,

what, I mean, what would be the most
common thing that people come to you?

Um,

Emma: I think it's mostly, I
suppose, behavioural type things,

like, why is my dog doing this?

Or can you tell my cat to stop doing that?

Um, I can't tell them as much as you
can tell them, but really we need

to find out why they're doing it.

Um, you know, what's going
on from their perspective.

Um, so yes, it would be, why is

Anke: that?

Can you give an example?

Like say where somebody came, Hey,
why is my dog doing this and that?

And from what you've received, they've
managed to, to sort of change what

would be like a scenario there?

Emma: Yeah.

Um, So there was one where the
person asked me, she asked me to

tell her cat to stand up to the dog.

She's got two cats, and a dog,
and the dog harasses one of

the cats and not the other.

So one cat stands up to the
dog, second one doesn't.

So she wants me to just simply tell
the cat to stand up to the dog, but of

course it's not that simple because You
know, he's got his reasons for why he

does what he does, um, and basically it
just turned out that he's a pacifist and

feels that it would be too kind of, um,
confrontational to stand up to the dog.

Um, and he also explained that it's
not really the dog's fault because

the dog doesn't really understand.

He hasn't got a great level
of understanding really.

Eventually I then also had to talk
to the dog who thought the cat

loved it and it was a great game.

When I explained, though,
he doesn't love it.

Dog was really upset and really sorry.

And was kind of apologizing.

So between the two of them, and I
think it was mostly the cat, the cat

actually came up with a potential
solution, which was, um, for the

person to mark out a zone in the house
to say, this is the no game zone.

So the dog is not allowed to chase me.

You can come up to this
point and no further.

Um, and the cat even shared an image
of the human using a piece of masking

tape on the carpet to mark out.

Where the borders of
this no game zone were.

They're very clever, they show us
in all kinds of symbolic ways, um,

how, you know, ideas they've got,
and apparently it worked immediately.

Um, so I think they relapsed a bit
after a week, because you do need

to have an ongoing kind of reminder
with them, an ongoing agreement.

But, you know, ultimately we need
to ask the animal, what will support

you with whatever this situation is?

So, you know, it's really no good as just
telling them do this or don't do that.

We need to find out why from
their perspective and then

negotiate, um, and act courteous.

Anke: I think even just knowing
what's underneath it, like the stuff

that's not obvious, you know, I think
that, that would make, make sense.

Thank you.

Because then, then the human can come
up with ideas as well, you know, so

it's like, but if you don't, I think
that's always the problem when stuff's

not working, it feels it's a hint that
you're not solving the right problem yet.

You know, if you can kind of bring it
down, actually figure out what's really

going on, you know, then, then, then
I think the solution becomes a lot

more, you know, a lot easier to see.

Emma: Yes, yeah, definitely.

Definitely.

Yeah, I

Anke: think it's just fascinating.

So on like on the health front, like say,
would you be able to, you know, when you

sometimes when you might think like, not
sure he's not quite himself kind of thing.

So there you would come in and say,
well, you know, if there's like physical

discomfort, because you know, dogs are
like, I mean, animals, I guess it's,

it's their animal nature, like they
can't afford to be seen to be weak.

So they're going to hide it from
you as much as they can, right?

So that would help as well
to kind of discover issues

Emma: earlier, right?

Yeah, so I can tune into the animal and,
you know, first of all I'd ask them is

there anything about your health that
you'd like to share with me, and quite

often you'll get something straight away.

I don't particularly, um, exactly
feel the exact sensations in my

body, but I might straight away, be
drawn to the left hip, for example.

Straight away, I just think, oh,
left hip, something going on there.

Um, and they might, I might get a quick
image of a tooth or something like that.

And then, and then what we do is I do, I
invite them, I say, can I do a body scan?

Would you like me, would you like to
show me in my body how it feels in yours?

And then what I do is I methodically
go through the body area by area

and see if there's anything there.

And so I might just be drawn to,
I can just feel something, I can't

define what it is, there's something.

And so I'll ask them, you know,
what, what, what does this feel like?

What type of a sensation is it?

How would you rate it
on a scale of 0 to 10?

When did it start?

How often does it happen?

What makes it better?

What makes it worse?

And how does it make you
feel generally in yourself?

That can be physically,
emotionally, mentally.

Um, so the human then gets an idea of,
you know, which bits are a priority

to the animal, which bits are a
priority to the human, because we

don't always have the same priorities.

So things that really worry the owners,
animals just cope with and they say,

no, it's fine, that's just part of my
body, that's how it is, I accept it.

But then there might be something
that the human didn't realise.

So, um, just trying to
think of a recent example.

Um, I mean, this is just
a quite a minor one.

Again, this was an emergency call.

Again, this was from a
fellow animal communicator.

She, she thought her cat was dying.

It was, it hadn't eaten for a few
days and it seemed to be in pain.

It was very quiet and she couldn't
work out what was wrong with it.

She said, I'm on my way to the vet now.

But I thought I heard her say, I'm dying.

So I thought, oh God, right.

So I quickly tuned in and she
shared the sensation of something

kind of stuck in this kind of area
here, like down there, I suppose

esophagus, just before the stomach.

Um, and it didn't hurt that much,
but it just felt like there was a

blockage and it was annoying and
it was just above the stomach area.

And what she showed me, or she kind of
shared a sensation that whatever it was,

It was about as long as a, about that
long, like a, like a, the lid of a pyro or

something like that, something that kind
of shape, a smallish, longish, thin thing.

Everything else was fine, and no,
she wasn't dying, but she just

had this uncomfortable thing.

She went to the vet, the vet couldn't
find anything wrong with her, did all

the tests, And then she came home and
she coughed up a hairball that was

about that long and about that size.

And that's all it was.

It was just a hairball.

But this is an example of how
difficult it is to communicate with

your own animal when you're panicking.

So he was dying.

And to me, it's like, no, it's all right.

Calm down.

She's not dying.

And what, all I really did was
I helped calm the human down.

Well,

Anke: I mean, and that's a lot,
you know, that's a lot, that's a

lot, because I think that helps
the animal as well, because they

will then pick up on our panic.

So I think, you know, if we
can calm down that, you know,

Emma: goes a long

Anke: way, doesn't it?

Absolutely.

So do you, do you need to.

see the animal or like, like a
photo or like what do you need in

order to be able to communicate with

Emma: an animal?

Yeah, I mean I usually ask for a photo
just kind of as backup but I don't, I

don't really need a photo and often I
find that I prefer to do communications

without a photo and with as little
information as possible because otherwise

what happens is Your logical mind
gets hold of a piece of information

and starts making a story around it.

So if I see particular breed of dog, for
example, and I think I know a little bit

about that breed of dog, my logical mind
might try and weave that info into the

communication, which Might be helpful.

And it also might be a
complete red herring.

So, um, although I do ask for a
photo, I kind of look at it at the

end and kind of go, Oh, wouldn't
have expected them to look like that.

Anke: Oh, that's hilarious.

Emma: But often their personality
is different to, you know,

how, how you might think.

So some, I'm sure everybody knows this.

Some small dogs have very big
Personality is a great big character.

You would think they were a huge doll.

And of course it can be the
other way around as well.

Yeah,

Anke: my Leo was like that totally.

He thought he was big, but like the
physical body didn't quite catch up to it.

So, so where can people go
and find out more about you?

Can book a session or
like, oh, I don't know.

Like, does it work like that?

Emma: Yes, yes.

Um, so I have a website and
it's Sage Animal Wellness.

It's Sage Animal Wellness.

And my social media accounts
are linked on there as well.

So on my website, you can, um,
contact me via my contact form, you

know, to start discussions about
what it is you'd like help with.

Um, you can also book a free
discovery call, actually.

I do 15 minute free calls for
anybody who's kind of interested,

but not sure, and they'd like
to have a chat with me first.

Um, and also, you know, if you like,
you can sign up to my newsletter and,

um, as a thank you for that, there's
a free download of, uh, ten tips.

to help your animals.

So

Anke: that's awesome.

I love it.

Obviously the link's going
to be in the show notes.

If you're listening to the podcast and
right underneath here, or above here,

if you, if you see it in the newsletter.

So thank you so much.

This is fascinating.

I'm always intrigued by, you know,
how, how this, and anything that's

kind of beyond the rational mind,
I find endlessly fascinating.

So thank you for sharing a little
bit about what, what you do.

Emma: Oh, thank you, Anke.

No, it's been very
enjoyable, very entertaining.

And yes, I mean, animal communication,
it's, it's a huge topic, really.

You know, I've never even heard
of it until about three years ago.

And now, and here I am doing it and
kind of getting more and more into it.

I'm constantly learning and developing
and kind of adding new skills to my set.

And it's just, it's
just a passion, really.

You know, I always wanted
to work with animals.

And this is just So brilliant, uh,
being able to do this because as a

kid, you know, I think a lot of us
do, we fantasize about being able to

talk to animals and get answers back,
and as kids we probably are doing it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Anke: I mean, then we're kind of told
we're kind of making stuff up, like that's

probably where a lot of it starts as well.

So thanks so much.

And I mean, obviously anybody
listening, if you know, if you

want to know, like, try it out.

Like you're never going to, you know,
I would say like, you can't, you can

talk about chocolate all you want.

You're not going to know what
it's like until you take a bite.

So, you know, get in touch with
Amma, book a session and, um,

and see what you're, what So

Emma: thank you.

Oh, thank you so much.

Thank you.

Really appreciate it.

Thanks so much for listening.

If you enjoyed the episode, don't forget
to subscribe, and leave a review so

other dog lovers can find the show.

If you haven't already, head
over to soul touched by dogs.

com and sign up for weekly doggy cuteness
tips, recommendations, and personal

stories to warm your dog loving heart.

And if you know a pawsome human
you think I should interview,

I'd love an introduction.

Email me at Anke.

That's A N k E at Soul
touched by dogs.com.