A skill for anyone in the communication business is to get all the information possible. This means asking probing questions and looking at the big picture.
When I was just learning how to communicate with animals, before my began, my friend was letting me practice on her dog. All she told me was that her dog was sad and she wanted me to figure out why. I connected with Dixie and asked her why she was sad. I asked all kinds of probing questions. Are you hurt? No. Are you safe? Yes. Did this happen in the house? No. Did it happen outside? Yes. She then showed me the woods. I saw her hunting rabbits. I then asked if the rabbit got away and she said yes, from her it did. I then saw the rabbit being torn to pieces by something else, but I couldn't make out what did it.
I told my information to my friend. The real story was she did take her out hunting and Dixie was on the trail of a rabbit. But then, Dixie ran into a bee's nest and got stung over 20 times. Needless to say, the rabbit got away unharmed, and my friend had to carry Dixie out of the woods and rushed her to the vet. She was in rough shape for a little while, but then came around.
Now, I talked to Dixie 6 days after this happened. (Of course, my friend did not tell me that before I talked to her.) At that point, her bee stings did not hurt anymore and she was feeling much, much better. When I asked her if she was hurt, she answered truthfully and said no. I thought about the rabbit being torn to shreds and my friend laughed and said that's because Dixie WANTS to do that. It made sense. She was sad and a little angry at the time I talked to her because all she could think about was the rabbit getting away. She wasn't even concerned about the bees! It was a good lesson to try to dig a little deeper when finding something out.
