Oftentimes when walking our woods trails with Luke, we’ll come to a junction in the trail. I’m usually thinking ahead to which way we’ll go on that day, and without giving him any direction, Luke will go the way I was thinking. Of course, hubby picks on me saying he always has a 50-50 shot of guessing right, but I came back with “Yes, but he’s right 90% of the time!”. I’m not sure what those odds add up to, but it’s fun to speculate that Luke is reading my mind.
“Hear Them Speak – A Twelve-Week Course in Telepathic Animal Communication” by Babette De Jongh
*Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for a review. Wag ‘n Woof Pets only shares about products we have tried and believe in. This post contains affiliate links, and we may receive small compensation if you order through those links.*
Therefore, when given the opportunity to review this book, I was intrigued. I don’t have a lot of time for reading books these days, and don’t often do reviews for just that reason, but I wanted to read this one. Could I learn to communicate with Luke? Could that help me to understand and deal with his fears and quirks better?
Well, it was a good thought, but the first thing the author talks about is meditating and clearing your mind. That is not something I’m good at. Trust me, I’ve tried meditating before. Add that into the fact that I don’t have much spare time these days, and I kind of knew I wouldn’t be learning to communicate with Luke (or the chickens, my other thought! “Why aren’t you laying eggs?” would be my first question!), not right away, anyway.
I still found the book quite fascinating, and I am still reading through it. I enjoy the stories of the author’s experiences. First, let me say this book is not written to convince you that she and many others can communicate with animals telepathically. It assumes that you already believe, and that you want to learn how to do it yourself. In all honesty, I’m not a 100% believer, but I want to be one! My mind is completely open to the exciting possibilities of it.
My first question would be “how do I know whether I’m really hearing the animal, and not just my own thoughts of what they might be thinking?” I’m sure many of us do that – assume we know what our pets might be thinking. She quickly and thoroughly answers that question, and each chapter of the 12 week program gives you practice exercises at the end for each week. The author is thorough and intersperses instruction with stories of her own experiences communicating with all types of animals, not just pets.
In the end, I can’t help but still wonder if Luke is reading my mind. The author writes that animals’ minds are far quieter than ours, and they live in the moment. “Animals aren’t inclined to chatter, because they don’t stay in output mode the way most people do. Their minds are quieter than ours, not whirling with thoughts and opinions and plans and worries.” Luke is certainly in tune with me when it comes to training; he is quick to understand what I’m asking of him and he learns hand signals very quickly (over the spoken word). Whether or not he could find his way into my busy and cluttered mind is definitely the question!
Maybe someday when life is less busy and I’m more relaxed, I’ll re-visit this book and give it a try. It’s such an intriguing prospect.
Do you believe some people can communicate with animals? Would you want to try to learn, and possibly help shelter animals or start a new career? She’ll teach you everything you need to know to be ready to put yourself out there, and there is also an online group for support. Whether you do, or whether you are just fascinated with the subject like I am, I think you’d find this book to be an interesting and entertaining read. Perhaps if you’re a little bit of a skeptic like me, you’ll believe more in the end! I definitely believe, as the author says, that the world could be a much better place if we could learn more from animals.
About the author: Babette De Jongh’s talents go far beyond animal communication. She is also a Reiki master, energy healer, teacher, and even an award-winning romance novelist. She lives on a small farm in Alabama with her family and many different animals. Her life story is quite interesting, and you can read more about it on her website.
Before I bought my own horse ranch and began to spend almost all my free time on it, I would have probably said that communication with animals is possible only on some primitive level. However, now I’m completely convinced and 100% sure that this is possible!
Hi, Janet! Thank you so much for your wonderful review of my book, Hear Them Speak! Your story about walking through the woods with Luke reminded me of the days when we had permission to blaze trails through the woods behind our house. (That land has since been parceled-up and sold-off, unfortunately, curtailing our walks.) My husband had created a figure-8 trail so that we could chose to walk one mile, or two. On the days when I had time to walk the full two miles, before we set out I’d tell our five off-leash dogs (and sometimes a cat or two) that we would walk the full two miles ONLY if everyone met up in the center of the converging trails, but if I had to call them, we’d only walk the first half of the trail. When we hit the trail, they’d all go rambling through the woods in multiple directions, but when I reached the center of the figure-8, all the dogs would meet there within seconds of my arrival. On the rare occasions that I’d have to call one of the dogs to come, the rest of the dogs would give the party-pooper the cold shoulder all the way back to the farm. :-/ On the subject of meditation, walking through the woods is a completely valid way to meditate, so please don’t let self-judgment over your meditation style become a communication block for you. Moving meditations like walking or swimming can be just as effective as any other method. I predict that long after you finish reading the book, you’ll continue to notice ways in which you are communicating telepathically with your animal companions—including the chickens, who definitely have something to say! 🙂
You are very welcome! I enjoyed your story about the woods walks too – that is s amazing!
Meditating while walking in the woods is definitely a good place for me to start. I’ll keep working at it, and keeping an open mind!
Sounds like a good book. I communicate with my gang but I think they give me the finger back. Lol
Hi, JoAnn,
My critters have been known to do that, too, but tiny roosters with Napoleon complexes are the worst. They’re harder to communicate with than fire ants. In fact, I’ll just tell you now for what it’s worth, don’t even try to communicate with fire ants. They just don’t listen.
love that last photo of Luke and the expression on his face. I absolutely believe that we ALL communicate with animals (that live with them). Sounds like an interesting read but I wouldn’t have the patience to do the 12 week thing.
Hi, Caren. You don’t have to do the 12-week thing. I can see how that would feel daunting, especially for busy people who can barely find time to read, much less take on an intensive-seeming course. I structured the book that way because I wished that I’d had access to a course that I could follow step by step with a significant amount of hand-holding when I was just beginning to learn animal communication. There were plenty of books out there I could read, but I didn’t want to just read about animal communication; I wanted to experience it for myself. All that being said, since the book has come out, I’ve received reviews from several people who said they first read through the book cover-to-cover to get an overview, and that while they plan to go through the book in detail at some later date, they have already experienced an increased sense of connection with their animal companions just by reading the book straight through. A lot of it is just about recognizing telepathic communication when it happens, because it does happen for all of us who love animals. I hope you’ll give it a try and make the process yours, because whatever feels right will work best for you.
How cool! Exciting possibilities, indeed!
Yes, it’s cool and exciting! I’m still often surprised by some of the things animals tell me. They have definitely increased my understanding of the workings of the universe. Some communications reveal deep wisdom, and others are downright funny! I once asked a horse if she had any physical ailments, and she replied that her eyes hurt. When I asked for more specific information about her eye pain, she said that her eyes hurt because she had to look at her stablemate all day long!
We do pretty good communication with our peeps, but they could use a tune up fur sure!
It’s definitely the humans who need the work!!
Yep, animals and humans, we all need regular tune-ups! My critters (we’re well-past double-digits around here) all keep reminding me that I spend too much time chatting with other people’s animal companions and not enough time listening to them or taking care of myself. But I’m trying to do better! Maintaining balance is a practice none of us ever achieve but we all have to keep trying.
I would love to have someone talk to my boys. I’d be intrigued to learn how to communicate with them. I’d try to get Bentley to understand that thunderstorms won’t hurt him.
Oh, wouldn’t that be so great?? You can hire Babette’s services too, if you really wanted to find out more about what is going through his mind, especially during storms.
Melissa, one of the things I teach in my book is that strong emotions–like fear–are often a block to communication, and because of that, it’s hard to convince an animal who is in active fear mode that everything is fine. Try sitting with Bentley when the skies are blue and the sun is shining, and ask him to show you why he is so afraid of thunderstorms. Often, it’s because of something that happened when he was small, such as being left outside or even alone inside the house during a storm. If you can sit with him when he is relaxed and unafraid and reimagine that event so that he feels your presence with him, you can, over time, dull the fear response to storms. Energy healing can help with that, too.
There were times I knew that our Little Bit wanted and then there were times I had no clue. I do think the more time you spend with your baby the better you will communicate.
Have a woof woof day, Luke. My best to your peeps. ♥
I agree. I think Luke and I are so much more in tune with each other now that I work less outside the home, and that he’s the only dog.
Sandee, you are absolutely right! Spending one-on-one time with our animal companions is an excellent way to increase understanding!
Like you, I’m a skeptic. But more than just a little bit. I pretty much put “animal communicators” in the same group as gypsy fortune tellers. On the other hand, I DO believe that if we observe our own animals closely on a daily basis, we can tell when they’re not feeling well, or that they’re in pain. Even if they’re stoically trying to not let on.
We definitely communicate in many different ways with our animals.
It’s good to be a skeptic! A healthy amount of skepticism is one of the ways we protect ourselves from unscrupulous people of all stripes. As I say in my book, I’m not trying to convince anyone of anything, because I understand that people aren’t convinced by words; they are convinced by personal experience. Hear Them Speak provides one pathway to deepen our connection with animals, but there are many paths to understanding. As Jan wrote, we definitely communicate in many different ways with our animals, and your way is just as valid as mine.
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It sounds like a great book! Mom needs to look for this.
We think she’d enjoy it!!
Hi, Molly,
If you think your mom would like to read Hear Them Speak, please let her know that she can find it on Amazon, and also on the publisher’s website at DogsandBooks.com.
that is interesting…to find a connection and a base to communicate and to send signals ane messages to ech other is a super cool thing.
It sure is!!
Sounds like you’re already doing it, and I think that’s super cool!