Jan over at the Poodle (and dog) Blog posted a link to a story about a couple who consulted a Pet Psychic when their chihuahua was blown away by high winds. If, in fact, the story is true, I'm impressed. When I was working as an animal communicator, I never took lost pet cases. I had two major issues with doing work like this. I was paranoid that I would send people off looking in the wrong place and a chance at actually finding the animal may be lost. (nothing like a little self doubt, no?) and that if I was able to find their energy, the messages I would get would be of no use. I worked by sending out "feelers" I guess would be the best way to put it, to find the animal's energy and tune in. This was why most of my work was done either on the phone or via email. Personally, I found the physical presence of the animal distracting. I would get impressions or images from the animal I was talking to and then "translate". Here is the thing. A frightened lost animal makes their energy very small and hard to find. They pull it all in very close and try to hide. Then because they are so frightened the images I would get would often be full of fear and panic and.. well.. it's kind of like talking to a hysterical child.. rambling nonsensical stuff. I broke my rule once.. Once. Because it was a dog I knew and her Mum was desperate. It was um.. interesting. The good news is that little Nutmeg was found... the not so great news is that although the impressions I got made sense, they were in no was shape or form helpful. Here is what happened. I'm at work and I get a panicked call from Nutmeg's Mum's friend. Elaine says to me "Nutmeg got out! She's lost... and we can't find her and I know you never take lost pet cases but I was hoping you would make an exception". Okay fine. But I warned Elaine. I said to her that I would call Nutmeg's mom with what I get but I can't make any promises. I took a break, went to my car and took a moment to tune in.. I found Nutmeg's energy and as I had expected.. she was freaking out... She was screaming "The GREEN! the GREEN! It's HUGE! It's going to EAT ME!".. uh.. okay. Did I mention that Nutmeg is a little rat terrier? Poor little thing. So I sent her lots of light and calming energy and I asked her again to please look around.. what do you see. "GREEN! it's all GREEN ... oh my gawd the Green ... it's everywhere". oy. So, I called Nutmeg's Mum and said "Linda.. I don't know how much help this will be.. but she's telling me she's surrounded by green and it's very frightening... from what I can see around her everything is bright green... it doesn't feel like grass but I can't imagine what else it could be... maybe there is a big green field around you? " Linda had no idea. I told her I would ask Nutmeg to try and stay calm and stay in one place. Two hours later, I get a call from Elaine. They found Nutmeg. She got locked in the neighbors garage. I'm thinking, well damn I was WAY off.. not much green in a garage. Come to find out, the neighbor collected ceramic green lawn frogs. The garage was storing a TON of green frogs... and Nutmeg had broken one and was surrounded by broken shards of GREEN! So.. accurate.. mostly. Helpful? Not at all.