True Stories from My Animal Communication Case Files

Animal communication conversations are some of the neatest conversations you will ever have in your life. "Never a dull moment," as one of my students describes it.

Talking with animals gives us a fresh set of glasses through which to see our regular everyday world, turning the ordinary into wonder and delight - and often, laughter!

In this episode, I share true stories from my personal animal communication case files. In particular, you hear about:

🌟 The first animal I ever talked with and how it was so not what I expected.

🌟 One dog's surprising reason for being a "bad patient"

🌟 What one animal thought of my attempts to learn animal communication

🌟 The one toy this dog's mom insisted she would never ever give him!

I have so many more incredible stories like these in my case files, so if you enjoy this episode and want more stories, be sure to like, subscribe and drop a comment to let me know. 

Chapters

• 0:12 Animal Communication and Stories of Connection
• 11:22 Animal Communication Stories
• 23:52 Unleash Your Animal's Stories

Transcript

Shannon Cutts: 0:12

Hi Shannon here, animal intuitive and sensitive and Reiki master practitioner and animal communication teacher and your friendly neighborhood hostess. This channel, this show, is really about taking the woo out of an ability, a gift and a skill that every human animal also has access to. Yes, you heard me right. It means that, whether you think you're intuitive or not, whether you've ever had a vibe or an aha moment or an insight or a deep knowing in your life that you're aware of, you too come pre-equipped with all of the internal wiring what I call your intuitive anatomy that you will ever need to communicate across species boundaries. You also come equipped with software, if you will, that has been pre-installed in your human operating system to allow you to make these interspecies connections. There is so much to explore and I cannot wait to share it with you. Much to explore and I cannot wait to share it with you. But before we get too terribly far along in our exploration, I wanted to stop and share some deeply personal stories that I have been a part of.

Shannon Cutts: 1:37

I have experienced personally, stories from my professional animal communication practice, stories from my student days and, by the way, I am always a student. Saying that I am a teacher does not in any way limit or cancel out the fact that I will always view myself as a student and the animals are my primary teachers. That is one of the wonderful gifts, one of the many wonderful gifts of animal communication is that it invites us to bring our humility, our beginner's mind and our learning hearts, our eager learning hearts, along for the journey. And so some of these stories are deeply personal in that they're stories that relate to my relationships with my own personal pets, my companion animals. And, by the way, when I say pet, this is something we'll talk about more in a future episode. But when I say pet, what I really mean is partner, empathic friend and teacher. Why do I say that? Because when I ask the animals, what does the word pet mean to them? Where did we get the inspiration to use the word pet? This is what they told me it stands for. So bookmark that thought. We'll be back to explore that more in a future episode, but for now I just want you to know that these are just a handful, a selection of my many favorite stories of how animal communication can draw human animals and non-human animals living in family or relationship situations closer together. These are stories of how animal communication can break through communication barriers to promote understanding and empathy and action. They are stories of how animal communication can facilitate reconnection as well as initial connection. They're stories of wonder and miracles, and so, with that being said, let's dive in now.

Shannon Cutts: 3:36

The first story I want to share with you is actually my first formal experience of animal communication, and I have been having informal experiences certainly for many, many years. In most cases, as soon as a new human animal, such as you or me, decides to formally pursue a course of study, a practicum, in some way solidify an interest in animal communication through maybe signing up for a course or a workshop or reading a book and then sitting down to practice what is explained in the book, it isn't usually too long before we discover that we've actually been having animal communication experiences for months, maybe for years. We just didn't know what was happening. We didn't know there was a name for what was happening. We didn't have an awareness that animal communication was happening to us, through us, with us. So we might label it coincidence or getting lucky or something that's just mysterious or inexplicable. We might be tempted to be skeptical about it. But once we actually make that heart commitment to learn a little bit more about animal communication, to find out how it works, to give ourselves some exposure to and a chance to give it a try. Typically, we discover that animal communication has been happening and happening and happening, and that gives us a lovely little initial burst of confidence.

Shannon Cutts: 5:13

So we are rewinding all the way back to when I enrolled in my very first course as a student to learn with the teacher I'd chosen and here I am in this course and it's a virtual, self-paced course, so I'm not there with a group of students live. And one of the reasons I chose a virtual course is because I was so afraid I was going to be the only one in the class that wouldn't get anything, that wouldn't have anything to report when it came time to share the results of our very first communication, and so I thought, well, I'll just do it on my own, self-paced, and that way at least I won't have to share with anyone else that I didn't get anything. So in this video course the teacher is explaining about the animal that we were going to talk with, and I just kind of made the assumption. I just thought it would be a dog or a cat, because those are most of the stories that you read, it seems like most of the communicators that I had met up until that point, those were the species that they were most interested in communicating with, as well as the species that were most often available in terms of other pet parents being willing to share their animals for the purposes of practice, and so I just assumed it would be a dog or a cat.

Shannon Cutts: 6:26

So, as I'm getting quiet and I'm tuning in, I start to see these inner visual flashes of yellow skin, and there wasn't any hair on this skin, and so I'm just because I'm coming in with this preconceived idea that it must be a dog or a cat, I'm thinking, well, what kind of a dog or a cat doesn't have any hair and has yellowish skin? And so I'm thinking, well, maybe it's a Chinese hairless dog, or maybe it's a sphinx. I'm really trying to shoehorn what I'm seeing into my assumption that we were going to start off with a dog or a cat, but I could not ignore these flashes of yellow skin and the fact that, size-wise, this felt like a very small animal and a quick animal, and an animal that just had some behavior quirks that didn't fit in with dog or cat from what I knew. Well, come to find out I had been talking with a yellow iguana. I can't tell you how excited I was, first of all, that I got anything. Second of all, that I quote, unquote got it right, and that's a whole other topic we can talk about more as well as we go along in future episodes, this kind of obsession that we have with right or wrong. That really relates back to not just the left brain mind function but also the way that we've been brought up and educated and trained in our workplace training in many cases. We'll talk a little bit more about that as well, but for the purposes of this initial communication, I was just so delighted and I was walking on air and, yes, we did talk with many cats and dogs and horses and some birds, but I will never forget the beautiful yellow iguana who was my true course leader, my welcome committee and my introduction to animal communication.

Shannon Cutts: 8:27

Now the next story I want to share with you was one of the first sessions I've ever done as a professional communicator where I was going to be introduced to a future career path that I'm now very much enjoying helping pets and their parents reunite after the pet has passed away. It's what we call pet reincarnation, and there's plenty to share on that topic and I cannot wait to share with you. Of course, I've facilitated hundreds upon hundreds, upon hundreds of these sessions now. Each one is a joy, but I don't always remember the particulars of every session. Sometimes that's by design, it's protective, so that I come in with a clean slate, a clean, intuitive slate, for each new communication with an animal I've talked with before. So I don't start to come in with assumptions or preconceived ideas, just like we saw in the yellow iguana story. I don't come in with all that back history, but rather I can meet this animal where they are, right, here, right now, with a fresh, clean, open mind and heart. However, sometimes I really do remember details about certain communications very clearly. Often those communications are real teaching communications for me as a communicator, something that I need to learn, that I'm open to learning in an animal who is willing and often quite eager to teach me. And often those animals do end up joining my light team as well, and Chief the German Shepherd is one such animal.

Shannon Cutts: 10:10

Chief is in spirit and when his mom, betty, came to me she had been missing him. He had crossed a few months earlier and she had really been missing him and she wanted to reconnect and she was also really wanting another dog. But Chief had come to her, in the way of so many of her previous dogs, as a puppy. And if you've ever cared for a puppy of any dog breed, and especially a very high energy working dog breed like a German Shepherd, you know they're a lot of work. They can be. All puppies are a lot of work. All baby animals are a lot of work, all baby humans are a lot of work, but German Shepherd puppies can be a lot, a lot of work. So that's our scale right A lot of work versus a lot, a lot of work versus a lot, a lot, a lot of work, a lot, a lot, a lot of work. But she was just kind of in an age and a life stage in her life where she just didn't feel like she was really quite up to that level of challenge and so she was wondering if I could help guide her, maybe if she could hear from Chief about any insights that he had to help her, any tips maybe or guidance for choosing her next companion dog.

Shannon Cutts: 11:22

Well, when I begin a communication session, after I tune in with the human's energy and introduce myself to the animal I'll be speaking with. The first thing I always like to do is just get a sense of who is this animal. I'm not interacting with them in terms of whatever problem that their pet parent may be aware of or any kind of concern or question. I just want to get to know. Them started barking and jumping and wagging his tail and gyrating his body and I looked at him and I said what are you doing? And he said to me, how many languages do you speak? And I said, well, technically one. I mean well, two animal communication in English. And he said well, I'm teaching you German, shepherd. And he started barking again and he started gyrating his body and he started wagging his tail and it was the most magical experience and his mom, betty, was so and we still keep in touch today. His mom was so delighted when she heard what Chief was doing and she said, oh yes, he's a natural leader and a natural teacher and it was just so joyful and fun to experience his personality this way.

Shannon Cutts: 12:53

Chief also initiated me into the joys of facilitating a pet reincarnation, and that's another story for a different time, but we'll do a future episode on pet reincarnation and pet reincarnation stories. But he has joined my light team and he has been with me for so many communications. And when I talk about an animal joining my light team, what I mean is this is an animal who's on call for me, especially if I run into any kind of communication barriers or maybe I'm just not understanding, I'm not easily translating what the animal is trying to share with me. Then I can call on Chief, he can come in, he can support me. If I encounter an animal who is a little bit less verbal or not willing or not feeling safe to talk with a human, chief can come in and support me. And that is another fun topic, by the way. If you have questions, if you have specific interests along the lines of animal communication, please don't hesitate to let me know and I can do my best to add that to the lineup for a future episode.

Shannon Cutts: 14:04

Now my next story. It's quite different and really showcases the creativity and, on that note, sometimes the errors in translation that happen between human animals and non-human animals. This animal also joined my light team he's in spirit now, but he wasn't at the time that this communication took place and his name is Ori. Ori was a Chiweenie, which is a cross between a dachshund and a chihuahua. I have lived with dachshunds most of my life, so I'm quite familiar with the quirks of that breed.

Shannon Cutts: 14:42

But Ori had developed some diabetes issues and needed to have regular injections, and Ori's mom, kristen, was often at work when he needed his midday injection, and so other people would come over to give Ori his injections while she was at work. Her sister would sometimes come over, sometimes she would have a neighbor come over and occasionally, when Ori needed some veterinary care, the veterinarian or the vet techs would give Ori his injections. And Ori was always a perfect angel. When any of these other people were giving him his insulin injections, he stood still, he didn't move, he didn't wag his tail, he didn't try to lick the injection site or check out the needle, he was just the model patient. But the moment that his mom Kristen tried to give him his injections, he would go nuts and he would wobble and he would bobble and he would bark and he would wag his tail and he would wriggle his cute little sausage body and she was at her wit's end. And she finally came to me and she said I need help because I can't get the injection in, and if I can't get the medicine into Ori, he's not going to live very long. And I am really worried and I just don't understand why he is such a perfect model patient for everyone else and he's horrible with me.

Shannon Cutts: 17:24

And so when I tuned in with Ori, the very first thing that I received was that Ori's his true size, was much larger than his physical size. He definitely was not aware that he was technically such a small breed dog. And the second thing that came through was that Ori was very aware of his mom's emotions. Most of our companion animals, to be quite honest, are often more aware of our emotions than we are, and this was no exception with Ori and Kristen. The way that Kristen was feeling when she would approach Ori to give him his injections, she was often very anxious. She was often feeling somewhat sad that he had to go through this twice a day. She was often feeling anxious about whether the medicine would help him enough, worried that she would hurt him when she tried to do the subcutaneous the under the skin injection.

Shannon Cutts: 18:24

And Ori was picking up on all of this, and so when I asked him why he would wriggle and wiggle and wag and bark, I got something back that I never would have. Never. You just can't make this stuff up. He said I'm trying to make it fun for my mom. She's so upset when she comes to do this and I just want to make it fun for her. And this is one of the beautiful examples of how we can so wildly misinterpret our animals' behavior, thinking, oh, they're misbehaving or we're hurting them, or they don't want this or something else. And really Ori was just being his beautiful, empathic, loving self. He was just trying to make something that he perceived was very upsetting to his mom to try to make it into a game. And luckily animal communication gave me the opportunity to clear up the confusion, so I could let Ori know that, as a matter of fact, what would calm his mom the most, what would make her the happiest, was if he would just stand perfectly still for a split second so she could get his medicine into him, and we were able to resolve the problem very quickly. So that has always remained in my memory as it's just one of my favorite memories of a communication that just shows the beautiful hearts that our animals have for us and the beautiful awareness that they have, especially for those of us sometimes when we think I don't know if my pet understands what's going on and it's like they do. But they don't. But they do. Worry said it wasn't painful for him, it didn't bother him. What bothered him was his mom seemed upset and he was trying to help her. How beautiful.

Shannon Cutts: 20:27

Here is another story that I absolutely love. This was from a later class that I enrolled in to kind of get some continuing education. I'm always enrolling in classes to get continuing education. It's hard for me to pass up a good class on animal communication, but this particular class it was a little bit more on what we would call the softer side, more of the emotional side, the shamanic side, which was more of the spirit, soul aspect of animal communication. And when our teacher opened up our class, our very first class, she told a story about a session she had done for a pet parent who had a yellow Labrador. And I often share this story with my incoming animal communication students for my animal communication adventure programs because it so clearly illustrates how animals have to find a way to share information with us that will in some sense fit in with our worldview, what we're familiar with or what will make sense to us.

Shannon Cutts: 21:38

One question I love to ask animals that is also really reassuring for pet parents to make sure they understand that I am talking with their animal and not some different animal is what is your favorite toy, or what are some of your favorite toys or activities? Well, or what are some of your favorite toys or activities? Well, this teacher of mine. She said she was talking with this yellow Labrador and she asked what is your favorite toy? And the dog answered a yellow bird. Well, the pet parent was horrified and she absolutely insisted. She said I do not give my Labrador retriever yellow birds to play with. Well, it comes to find out. And it took this pet parent a little while to really kind of think about it and consider what on earth could he have meant?

Shannon Cutts: 22:25

What I love about this story is that the pet parent didn't just throw it out and say well, that doesn't make any sense, you're not talking to my animal. That would be one of those areas where it would be so easy to drop into skepticism or doubt. Then one day she was throwing the Labrador's favorite toy, a yellow tennis ball, through the air for him to go run and catch it, and all of a sudden it hit her oh, my goodness, this is the yellow bird. Of course it is. I mean our animals. They get to know our language. They get to know the words that we use that reference certain things. The most obvious example of this is their name. But in her Labrador's world, this small yellow object that was quick and flew through the air, what else could it be but a yellow bird? So that's another wonderful example of animal communication just can open us up to so many new ways of seeing and interacting with our world.

Shannon Cutts: 23:28

So I hope you have enjoyed these four stories. I have many, many, many, many more like them. So if you would like to hear more stories from my animal communication files, please do let me know and I'd be delighted to share them. If you'd like to experience your own story, especially if you've never experienced animal communication before, let me be the first to encourage you.

Shannon Cutts: 23:53

Your animal has a story to share. Be the first to encourage you. Your animal has a story to share. Your animal has so many delights and wonders that they cannot wait to share with you. And in fact, animal communication is best experienced through our own companion animal's eyes, and it's something that has truly been a teaching tool for me in my life, in my soul, growth. It's why I call animal communication hands down the best self-help, the best self-development, the best self-evolution program I have ever found, because my motivation for tuning in, for opening up, for being open to the opportunity to receive messages from my animal and to send messages to my animal, and the opportunity to practice and learn this skill has been a deepening of the unconditional love that we share, and there is no stronger motivation in life than unconditional love. So thank you for tuning in for this episode. Please drop me a note, let me know which story was your favorite and if you have a story of your own to share, I'd love to hear it. Okay, all my love. Bye for now.