Bridging the Animal-Human Communication Gap
By Joan Allen

Three animal communicators from the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area, Sherry B. True, Karen Wrigley, and Terri Diener, have made believers out of non-believer dog owners.
 
“I saw it with my own eyes,” says Susan Darrell of Forest Hill. “No one could have known what Sherry True told us about our Beagle, Katie, but Katie.”
Sherry B. True is an animal communicator. She, like Wrigley and Deiner, has a gift for receiving images from animals and translating them into words. The images she received from Katie meant the difference between life and death for the dog and brought peace of mind to Katie’s human family.

“The first time Sherry was out here to see Katie,” says Darrell, “[She told us that] Katie was complaining that something in her belly wasn’t right. It turns out that when we took Katie in for an ultrasound, there were nodules in her spleen.”
Darrell originally adopted Katie from the Humane Society when the Beagle was about five years old. Her older dog, Major, took Katie under his wing and she became self-confident. Then Major died and Katie wouldn’t go outdoors without trembling.

“I had never used an animal communicator before,” says Darrell, “but I had gotten desperate when she wouldn’t go out in her own backyard or go for a walk with us. I asked our vet if there was anything I could do. He suggested putting her on medication and taking her out more often. I was already doing that. Finally I called Stacy Martin-Duffy, the owner of Baron’s K9 Country Store in Bel Air. She gave me Sherry True’s name and number.”


True started out giving Darrell assignments that would help Katie’s self-esteem. “Sherry told me to assign her a job every day, something Katie could do and be successful at; like today your job is to come when I call. Then brag on her.”

At first, Darrell was skeptical, but she says she was amazed at what True communicated to her from Katie. “I didn’t tell Sherry about our other dog, Major. Katie told her. I was concerned that Katie didn’t like to drink water, so I gave her Icy Pops. She told Sherry she had been a puppy mill mother and didn’t drink water because she learned to live without it. Sherry told her to drink water and now she drinks like a normal dog.”
Darrell says it’s been an amazing experience working with True. “Sherry will always be a part of our lives.”

True, owner of Spirit Paws, an alternative animal wellness service in Elkridge, gave up a lucrative career in the direct mail advertising business to follow her burning passion; working with animals.
She first studied animal communication while living in New York State. True, who says it took her a good year to train and learn her craft, began taking workshops at Spring Farm Cares in Clinton, N.Y. “The place is magical. The animals are the master teachers there. They’re the ones we communicate with.”

For True, an animal communicator and energy healer, the process of animal communication begins with asking the dog for permission to talk with her. If the dog is willing, True says she will “get pictures, feelings, and video clips.”

True says, “I was doing a reading for a dog and he showed me a goldfish swimming by. I told his owner and she said that Pepperidge Farms Goldfish were his favorite treat. He wasn’t going to talk until he got them.”

True has been working professionally with animals for the past six years and has no regrets about giving up corporate life. “In connecting with animals, we connect with ourselves because they are the teachers. I’ve had the privilege of meeting awesome animals and their people. That to me is the biggest gift. These guys are our gift.”

Animal communicator, intuitive, and author Karen Wrigley of Hardy, Va., has had a gift for communicating with animals since she was five years old. Wrigley remembers a family coming to visit with their kids and a new bunny rabbit. “While the other kids went out to play, I stayed with the rabbit in the kitchen. My mother was playing cards and I told her, ‘Mom, the rabbit is thirsty.’ I found an old Mason jar lid and gave it water. My mother’s friend said, ‘How did she know the rabbit is thirsty?’”

Many years later, while in business with her husband selling health and environmental products, Wrigley knew something in her professional life needed to change. “With a supportive husband and with trusting and believing it will come, two weeks later I get a call to set up an appointment for animal communications. I had only given two that year.”

The turning point in Wrigley’s career came in 1998 when a story appeared in USA Today about her work as an animal communicator, and new clients appeared. “At that moment I got my business and my purpose.”

As Wrigley’s skills evolved, she realized that there is tremendous wisdom to be found in animals. “Animals want to support their people in who they are, where they are in life, and bring them to a happier level of well-being.”

She adds, “Many people call me because of what’s happening with their animal, but it turns out it’s the person who has the problem a lot of the time.”

Wrigley, who had been working with client Carol Rosen’s Jack Russell Terrier, Xena, for about four years, came to the rescue after hearing Xena had run away. Xena communicated with Wrigley that, “Her people had been arguing and fighting and unless they learned how to get along, she didn’t want to go home.” Xena’s behavior was a reflection of the discord in the family.

Rosen says that whenever she and her husband or the kids argued, Xena would slip outside, climb their four-foot fence, and run off. The family continued to fight, and run off she did.

“On the first day of her disappearance, Xena led us on a false trail, showing Karen where she had been earlier, but refusing to show where she was at present,” says Rosen. Then Xena’s communication to Wrigley stopped. “On the third day, we received a call that Xena was living happily with a family less than a mile from our home. We brought her back to a home that was slowly becoming aware of the strength of emotion in our words and actions.”

To create even more harmony between pets and their people, Wrigley decided to expand her business to include group presentations.

Wrigley says, “I kept seeing John Edward, a psychic on TV, and asked myself why. I realized changing my format to speak to a larger audience was the answer. I could support the well being of animals and people in a large way by reaching more people and helping them if they wished.” The new format allows Wrigley to speak with animals that have passed over, as well.


She brings her neighbors’ Golden Retriever, Franklin, to these group appearances and they work as a team. “He will go to somebody and let them pet him. The person’s deceased pet will come through. Then he’ll take me to another person. If he leans into them, it means he cares about them or has a message for them.”

“Many times people who have passed over are brought in with the deceased animal, and you get a bonus. They get information from their animal and their mom, dad, or son [may] come [through] too.”

Like Wrigley and True, Terri Diener says she fell into working with animals and alternative healing after feeling unfulfilled in her career.

Born and raised in Pikesville, Diener left a government job to become a corporate training consultant. Dissatisfied with that job as well and having problems with her cat, Diener consulted Marlene Sandler, an animal communicator near Philadelphia, to find out why her litterbox-trained 15-year-old cat was not using the box for all her deposits.
It turns out that the cat was allergic to Diener’s hair dye and shampoo and had developed chronic headaches and low-level depression.

Diener, founder of an animal communication practice called Petspeak and author of Pets Speak says, “I called this lady and said, ‘I don’t know what you did, but I want to do it too.’”

She took a workshop from Sandler in the Baltimore area a few weeks later. “I was getting information from animals; then I practiced when I got home.” Sandler returned to the Baltimore area to conduct another workshop; Diener attended and refined her ability. “Marlene started to send me lost animal cases. That’s how I started. The more I practiced the more validation I got.”

Diener starts with a request by phone or e-mail from a client, and receives a photo of the animal. At an appointed time she gets the people on the phone while holding the pet’s picture.

 “I want to know the situation and get the animal’s perspective about what’s going on. Usually thoughts come into my head and I know they’re not mine. Sometimes the dog is relieved because they finally get to be heard. Once they know they’ve been heard, they go to sleep. Sometimes all they want is to be heard and their behavior changes.”

Take the case of Yofe, a 10-year-old dog who got attention by relieving herself on her owner’s down comforter. After repeatedly taking the blanket to the cleaner’s, the owner got irritated with the dog. As it turns out, the family had recently adopted a kitten named Tiger. I asked the dog what the problem was and I heard, “Tiger’s mean and no one is stopping him. When my person takes me for a walk, Tiger jumps out of the bushes and scares me and taunts me.”

Diener knew the next step was to talk to Tiger. When she asked him if he liked living there, he told her it was a great place. When she asked him why he was taunting the dog, he said it was because it was fun.

“I told him this was not fun for Yofe and the only thing allowed in the house was harmony. He knew his family got mad at him.”

Then Tiger ran away. “When Tiger finally came home, we had another talk. I told him everyone missed him and he had no idea how important he was to the family. I sent him the feelings of the family when he was there and [also those for] when he was not there. He got it. Yofe listened in on all of our conversations and, satisfied, stopped using the bed as a bathroom.”

Diener says her work communicating with animals keeps her humble. “Every time I think I know all the answers, an animal comes up with another. A lot of my work is bridging the communication gap between people and their pets and seeing results. The animal stops their inappropriate behavior and their people are happy. That just touches my heart.”