Animal Communication Expert Annie Bourke Shares Fascinating Stories From Animal Perspectives

Doggy Dan (00:01):

I've noticed that with the dogs as well that the number of dogs who have been labeled a slightly derogatory term based on their personality, and it's just exacerbated the situation because in your mind, you're calling your dog chaos. And you're always saying, “Oh, he's always chaos, he's chaos,” and you're programming. I mean you're expecting him to be like that.

Annie Bourke (00:23):

Yeah, just don't know the effect, that repetitive impact of the words you're saying. I spoke to some crocodiles in a zoo and one of the females said to me, “We've got feelings too. We think we're beautiful.” So, you can just imagine what they've been hearing from people walking past to upset them. They do have feelings and that's part of my mission in raising global awareness about the importance of animals, is that people do understand that they have souls. They're not just up head. They don't just understand stop and no and walk. They have feelings, they feel love, they feel grief, they feel pain. And what they really want is to be in a home where they're getting love and secure and knowing that it's their forever home.

Voiceover (01:07):

Welcome to the Doggy Dan Podcast show, helping you unleash the greatness within your dog.

Doggy Dan (01:16):

Hello and welcome everybody to another Doggy Dan Podcast and as always, I'm super excited today. I have Annie Bourke with me. She lives in the north of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. She's an animal communicator and an animal medium for over 10 years now. She supports animal parents to better understand their animals through having an animal conversation and finding out what is going on in their world, particularly with behavior or health issues. She helps bereaved animal parents, navigate through the grief process to reach peace of mind through connecting with her animal's souls and spirit, and asking questions that the parents want answered. She also provides distant healing for animals and humans.

Doggy Dan (02:02):

She's an international bestselling author and has published two books in 2001. She commenced her podcast show, What Animals Tell Me. Annie welcome to the show.

Annie Bourke (02:15):

Thank you so much for inviting me. I'm looking forward to sharing some of my experiences.

Doggy Dan (02:20):

Yep. No, good to have you on the show. I particularly love having animal communicators on the show. I think 20 years ago, nobody would've even dreamt of talking about this sort of thing like we do now, but… well maybe you would've, but it wasn't so mainstream, but now, more and more people are realizing there's something going on. So, let's just get into it. How did you get into talking to animals?

Annie Bourke (02:49):

Okay.

Doggy Dan (02:51):

Let's start at the very beginning.

Annie Bourke (02:53):

Interesting story. For as long as I can remember, I've always thought that my animals could understand what I was saying, and I really wanted to know what they were saying. It was very frustrating that I couldn't, and I had a little ginger girl cat, who suddenly passed away very quickly after a short illness. And I just felt as though I'd missed an opportunity trying to find out how to communicate with her and what she wanted to tell me. I did a search online to try and find animal communication classes, because I've never looked before and I found one. And the cat that was on the front of the page, the webpage for the program looked exactly like my cat.

Doggy Dan (03:34):

Oh.

Annie Bourke (03:34):

And I thought here's the universe giving me a great big sign that this is what I'm supposed to be doing. I enrolled in the course, and I had two cats with me at the time. They became my very patient teachers, because I had to do a number of exercises with them sending images, sending words, colors, all sorts of things, and then asking them to send things back to me. Animal community occasion's like telepathy. You're not actually saying anything out loud. You're connecting into the energy of the animal like tuning into a radio frequency. It just takes a little bit of practice to connect in, and then listen to what they're saying. I hear voices in my head or different, just like human voices, male and female.

Annie Bourke (04:23):

And if I don't understand what they're trying to say to me, I ask them if they can show me. Somehow they've got the technology to put a little video snippet in my head. I think it's like thought transference for the telepathy, and somehow similar kind of technology the video snippets. One way or the other, they can get their message through. Fortunately, every animal I've spoken with understands English, and some of them have extremely sophisticated understanding of English. I spoke to an emu at one stage, and he came up to the fence in the animal park I was visiting. And he started going, “Wuf, wuf, wuf, wuf,” like emus do. And I thought, “Oh dear, I don't speak Emu.” I just said to him, “Look, I don't speak Emu. Are you able to speak English, or can you show me what you're trying to tell me?”

Annie Bourke (05:12):

And then he was able to speak English and tell me. So, that was all more than 10 years ago that I started that now, and I've just been learning ever since. Every conversation I have with an animal, whether it's living or in spirit, you just learn more things and you understand more concepts about what happens with our animals, while they're with us and what happens when they pass over.

Doggy Dan (05:37):

Cool. I'm sure a lot of people are listening to this who may know what you're talking about, and other people are thinking, “What on earth?” Can you give us a summary? You're communicating sometimes with an animal who's alive. Let's start with the animals who are alive.

Annie Bourke (05:55):

Yes.

Doggy Dan (05:77):

Can you give us some examples of when you've had very positive feedback or confirmation that you're not just imagining it? I mean this is probably the main thing that people want to know. Can you tell us some stories or an example of… yeah, because it really helps people go, “Okay, maybe there is something going on.”

Annie Bourke (06:13):

Yep, the animals confirm a lot of what's going on and then the humans know that it's definitely their animal that I'm speaking with. Some of them use a code word which makes absolutely no sense to me, but it does make sense to the humans, and there's no way I could get that word in my head. I connect in with animals through a photograph. I don't actually have the animal live in front of me and I don't have the human parent in front of me. People email me a photo of their animal and they email me their questions. There's no energy that I can read off the parent, and all I've got is a photograph. Sometimes, it might be a behavior issue and one of the very profound cases I had was a dog who I was asked to talk to, because he was normally very happy and bouncy and very happy with his mom.

Annie Bourke (07:13):

And suddenly, he'd become very snappy and morose, and just wasn't himself at all. They'd taken him to the vet and he'd been given a dog form of Valium for depression. And when I asked him about it, he didn't like the medication and he said the problem wasn't with him, it was with his mum.

Doggy Dan (07:32):

Ah.

Annie Bourke (07:33):

And he said that she'd lost three friends in close succession. She was grieving for all of them. And because she was dealing with that grief compounded with three in close succession, her whole interaction with her dog had changed and her whole behavior had changed. And when that was discussed with mom, she acknowledged that yes, that was exactly right. And when she started getting help, the dog's behavior changed within 24 hours, and then he could get weaned off his medication. And now they're both back to being their normal happy selves and normal behavior.

Doggy Dan (08:11):

Wow.

Annie Bourke (08:11):

And there's no way I could have known that the mom had gone through that, but he was able to give specific details about one of the people as well which she confirmed. They know exactly what's going on. They're very intuitive and very intelligent, and I've had one of my clients tell me that her cat knows her better than she knows herself, because he's just so observant and really understands what's going on.

Doggy Dan (08:36):

Yes, yeah. And you mentioned before about the words. Sometimes, the dogs all use words, or the animals will use the words.

Annie Bourke (08:43):

The code words, yes. Particularly with the animals in spirit, because I think that's where the animal parents really want to know that I'm talking to the soul of their animal and not someone else.

Doggy Dan (08:56):

Yes.

Annie Bourke (08:77):

One of the profound conversations I had was with a cat who was blind, and he'd passed over in tragic circumstances. And his mum wasn't there at the time. So, she had lots of questions for him which he answered. And while we were having a conversation, he said to me, “Rumpleteaser,” and I thought did I hear that properly, or is he trying to say Rumplestiltskin? And I've just not heard it properly. And then if it is Rumplestiltskin, how is that relevant to the conversation? And I thought about it and then I just doubted myself and thought I must have heard the wrong words. We continued on with our conversation and then he said it again really clearly “Rumpleteaser”, and I thought okay, he's trying to get a message across here.

Annie Bourke (09:42):

I've got no idea what it means, and I was chatting to his mum on messenger. We were just typing backwards and forward. I'd never met her, but I was just typing the answers as I got them from her cat. I typed, “Was he ever called Rumpleteaser?” And there was just silence for a while and I thought, “Oh, she's going to think I'm absolutely crazy,” and then she typed back, “Oh yes, I'd forgotten that.” And when she rescued him, he was actually living with a dog called Rumple and he used to get in trouble for teasing the dog. So he got called “Rumpleteaser,” but he couldn't even see the dog. He wasn't teasing the dog-

Doggy Dan (10:18):

Wow.

Annie Bourke (10:18):

… but that word let his mum know for absolute certainty that I was definitely talking to her cat. There was no way I could have got that word from her or anywhere. It came into my head extremely clearly. There's no rational explanation for it, and that's just what I've become used to now, that I just get told things and I have to pass the message on…

Doggy Dan (10:42):

Yes.

Annie Bourke (10:43):

… as I receive it, so that was very confirming for her, but it also was profound for me that I just have to trust that what I'm hearing is actually correct and the humans can confirm it. And then recently, I was talking to a cat who's passed over who's got a very close soul connection to her human mom. And she wants to come back as a dog. That's something that I've been finding out more and more with my conversations as well that some of our animals, it is their destiny to come back to us. And sometimes, they come back as the same and sometimes, they have to come back as a different animal, depending on what body is available for their soul to come back into. This cat had her mindset that she was coming back as a dog.

Annie Bourke (11:28):

She's coming back as a boy dog, and that's the body that's available. Sometimes, they're not very keen on swapping gender, but because it's their opportunity to come back to their human parents, they put up with it. And she told me what color she was coming back. So, I got all that information down and then I said, “Is there anything else you want to tell mom?” And she said, “Tomatoes,” and I thought, “What's she saying tomatoes for?” I said, “Can you tell me what that is please? Can you explain it?” And she said, “No, it's a test.” And I thought hmm, okay. Sometimes, they do have a lot of attitude which is quite hilarious as well.

Annie Bourke (12:07):

I looked up on Google just to see is it safe for dogs to eat tomatoes in case she was trying to say that she wants to eat tomatoes when she comes back, and the page said yes, they can as long as they're red and ripe, and only a small quantity and no flowers or leaves or stems because apparently they can be toxic. On this page… oh she said she wanted to come back as a Spotty dog.

Doggy Dan (12:29):

Ah.

Annie Bourke (12:30):

And on the page is a picture of a Spotty dog with a bowl of tomatoes.

Doggy Dan (12:34):

Oh wow.

Annie Bourke (12:36):

And this kind of stuff just happens all the time and again, there's no rational explanation for it, but I was just getting confirmation that yes, her coming back as a Spotty dog is definitely what's going to happen. Anyway, I copied the link to the page to mum, so that she could see what I'd seen. And when I told her that the cat had said tomato she said, “Oh Annie, they're my favorite thing. I eat them every day and my cat knows that.” So, that was the code word from the cat telling mom that I was definitely talking to her. The tomato's code word and the image on the page of the Spotty dog with the bowl of tomatoes, just overwhelming proof of these messages coming through.

Annie Bourke (13:17):

Before I started communicating, I knew nothing about this and I would've been skeptical as a lot of other people are. But because I've just experienced this now time and time again, it's now my normal that unbelievably inexplicable, the totally irrational things that happen just happen. And that's what you learn once you start to tune into the animals that they are very intelligent, and they're all here for a purpose in our life. Some of them come here to help protect us. They're like a guardian. Some come to teach us and a few of my cats with me are here to teach me once we know how to talk to them, then they can teach us. Some of them are very powerful healers, and they can help heal us as well.

Annie Bourke (14:06):

From everything I've learned, our animals come into our lives for a reason. They're a soul that's in animal form come to earth to learn their soul lessons and wear a soul in human form, that's come to earth to learn our soul lessons. Sometimes, our animals have come to us to help us learn our lessons and sometimes, they've come to us so that we can help them with their lessons. People sometimes think they're rescuing animals, but actually often, the animals are actually rescuing us. And it's destiny that they come into our lives when they do.

Doggy Dan (14:43):

Mm-hmm, and I guess sometimes we're helping the animals and the animals are helping us, and we're both helping each other, eh.

Annie Bourke (14:51):

Mm-hmm. The same thing happens with health issues, and some of your listeners will probably know that when they start to get sick, suddenly the animals are super affectionate and super attentive.

Doggy Dan (15:02):

Yes.

Annie Bourke (15:02):

We all vibrate at a certain frequency, and animals are very sensitive to frequency changes. Once we start to get sick, our vibrational frequency drops and our animals can detect that. Sometimes, they actually know before we do that we're starting to get sick. They will be extra attentive and because they want to help us to get better as soon as we can.

Doggy Dan (15:25):

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Annie Bourke (15:26):

And the other thing they can do is actually take on some of our health symptoms for us, even though we don't ask them to. It's a way of them being of service for us. Often if I'm talking to an animal that the parents are concerned about health issues, I find out that they're actually taking it on for the human and I say, “Who else in the house has got these symptoms?” And the humans go, “Oh, I do.” And then it's working out that the animal is trying to help in that way too.

Doggy Dan (15:55):

Wow. Yeah, I had that with one of my dogs who she's a very cuddly little dog and one day, I was sick in bed. And my dogs aren't allowed on the bed. They know that and they never try and get on the bed, but this one time, I was sick lying in bed and my little dog just walk put into the bedroom, and just jumped straight up on the bed and curled up next to me. And it was exactly what I needed. I just needed some connection, and I just held her and she curled up, and both curled up in the fetal position. And she laid there for an hour or two and I thought, “Gosh, I hope I'm not setting a bad standard or example here,” but she never did it again. Just that one time, just that one time, that was it, so they know.

Annie Bourke (16:39):

Yeah, and again they're just very instinctive, very intuitive. They just know what we need. I'm going buzzy listening to your story. She was obviously very tuned into you to come in and do that.

Doggy Dan (16:49):

She was tuned in into me. All right, yeah. What would you say to somebody who's listening to this and thinking, “Oh, I wonder if you could tune into my animal”? Do you do mainly behavioral stuff, or is it medical stuff, or is it own… I know you've mentioned a little bit of everything, but if somebody's thinking well could you help them, what can you help with? Is it all sorts of stuff or…

Annie Bourke (17:12):

Yeah, it's basically anything that the human wants to have answers to. I had one lady with a horse, and she wanted to know about some funny behavior she'd seen with the horse that turned out to be related to a health issue. I could tell mom about that and then that got fixed up. She wanted to know about equipment for the horse, so whether the horse was happy with the weight of her blanket or whether she wanted a lighter weight, whether she liked the exercises that she was doing in dressage or other trainings, whether she wanted to go and compete, whether she wanted to jump whether she liked her food, whether she liked the other animals that were in the yards near her, lots of different questions.

Annie Bourke (17:56):

Some people want to know about diet, and is there something that's upsetting them? Are they happy with the other animals in the house? Are they happy with your new partner? How do they feel about a baby coming into the house? Lots of different things that I get asked questions about for living animals. For the animals in spirit, it's more, was it really their time to go? A lot of people hold onto a lot of regret and remorse if they have to help them pass over, and then wonder if they've done the right thing. They want to know have they transition safely? Are they with other family members on the other side? Are they with other animal family members on the other side?

Annie Bourke (18:36):

And it's really interesting because once from what I've seen and what I've been told with animals and humans in spirit, that when we pass over, our soul goes through a healing process. Animals that have physical limitations before they pass over it seems that those get fixed first. They can put on a temporary body while they're over there, and they can run around and chase each other and do all sorts of things where they may have been quite immobile and debilitated before they passed over. And once they do enough energy from that healing, they're able to come back and visit us on an energetic level. And it's something that they really like doing because they can see that we are grieving for them.

Annie Bourke (19:21):

And they can't come and comfort us physically, and they also feel grief and the separation. So, being able to come back and visit us helps us and it helps them. Sometimes, they put on a temporary body so that we can actually recognize them if we see them in the house and sometimes, we hear them. When one of my girl cats used to come back and visit, I could hear her meowing and sometimes, people can feel animals on the bed. They'll feel the weight on the bed when they arrive, or snuggle into to them, or even come up and pat them on the face. They might move some of their toys around the house, so you know something's changed from when you went to bed to when you wake up in the morning.

Annie Bourke (20:01):

Normally, it's early in the morning that they come and visit, but it's very reassuring to know that yes, they've transitioned over properly and yes they can come back and visit and yes, they have come back and visit. Some of the questions are about what signs will I get to know that they've come back and visited me. And then with the reincarnation, as I said, I didn't know anything about that until one of my girls did that for me. And she just had a heart attack one morning. Nothing wrong with her heart, wasn't sick at all and just suddenly, passed away. A huge shock and I didn't know how long I'd have to wait before I could talk to her when she passed over to know what was going on.

Annie Bourke (20:39):

Anyway, she was able to talk to me very quickly. I said, “What did you do that for?” And she said, “Oh, I needed a new body,” you know like, “Doesn't everybody do that? And I thought oh, so she described what she was going to look like. And she said, “Don't be so sentimental. I'm coming back.” And my boy cats weren't moping or upset at all. They knew she'd told them what she was doing, so they just said to me, “It's a temporary reprieve before she's back to boss us around again.”

Doggy Dan (21:04):

Oh, right.

Annie Bourke (21:05):

They weren't worried in the least. I rang up the breeder where I'd got her from and said, “This is going to sound really weird, but you're going to have a kitten that's born like this, and it's very important that she comes back to me.” And lo and behold, she came back. Sometimes, they look exactly the same as they did last time. Sometimes, they're very different. Sometimes, they have the own mannerisms and you'll recognize something about them on a soul level. They're not exactly the same because when they come back again, they're a higher evolved version of themselves. They've been here, they've learnt their lessons last time, they've passed over and now they're coming back again with a different lot of soul lessons to learn, but you definitely know it's them.

Annie Bourke (21:49):

And it's just beautiful when they can come back, because it just changes the whole grief process. You're mourning the loss of the animal who has passed over, but then there's this huge sense of anticipation and excitement about them coming back again. And as I said, they seem to know just before they pass over, or when they have passed over that there is this opportunity for them to come back. And that just really helps the animal parents with the grief process. Also, the other animals in the household because they grieve too. And it's hard for them because they know that the humans are grieving, and they're wanting to comfort the humans, but then they want some comforting as well, because they're grieving.

Annie Bourke (22:28):

The whole process is very tricky to navigate, which is why having a mediumship session can be so helpful in finding out what exactly is going on.

Doggy Dan (22:38):

Mmmm. When my dearest dog named… I say dearest because I did love her the most. She was my first dog, and she was so special. When she passed away, I had a dog called Jack who was always very aware. He's like a spirit dog. He's always interested in serious matters should we say, life and death matters. When one of our chickens died, for example, he lay where she was buried for three or four hours, five hours and didn't move. And I knew something was going to happen when Peanut died. When Peanut, the dog died, Jack refused to come in the house. He knew already that she died from… he was in the car outside, just hanging around with the other dogs in the back of the car. He wouldn't come in.

Doggy Dan (23:26):

He knew, and then he lay almost… he went to a place where Peanut used to lie, but he'd never really been and he'd lay there for four or so hours. It was most extraordinary. It's almost like he's holding space, whilst Peanut's spirit passes over if that makes sense.

Annie Bourke (23:46):

I was just going to say the same thing. I'm just going buzzy all over. It's a real honoring yeah of their transition like with your chicken and with the dog. Yes. And that's what I said, they're just so intuitive. They just know things that are going on.

Doggy Dan (24:01):

The place where he went to lie was in the back of the car, and it was not the boot of the car, but the backseat. And the backseat was an area that peanut used to lie when I only had one dog. So, no one had really been there for 10 years because we had kids and they said, “But he climbed in the back and lay there.” And I never forget, it's one of the few times where he looked at me and I told him to move. And he looked at me and said, “I'm not moving. I need to be here.” And I thought about grabbing his collar and he looked at me. I don't think he was going to bite me because he's a good boy, but he was almost like, “Don't touch me. I got to be here.”

Doggy Dan (24:35):

And then I went, “Oh, oh, oh-oh, I see, this is connected to the incident. Peanut's just… oh, you've got to be here, have you? All right, I'll leave you here.” And he looked at me and went, “That's right.” Almost like I read him, I felt him.

Annie Bourke (24:48):

Yes.

Doggy Dan (24:48):

And I went, “You've got to be here, haven't you?” He said, “That's right. You leave me alone.”

Annie Bourke (24:52):

Yep.

Doggy Dan (24:53):

And I left him alone and three or four hours later, he came out and he said, “My work is done,” and he is never really gone there again. That was it. It was so interesting.

Annie Bourke (25:01):

Yep, and I think they do try and communicate with us all the time. They use body language like we do, and they've got all their different vocalizations that they make. And a lot of times with their eyes, they're just pleading with us to try and understand what we're trying to say, until we work out that we can actually communicate with them. And it's absolutely fascinating because as young children, we can actually communicate with animal. And if you look at little kids, they'll go and squat right down next to the dog, or the duck, or whatever the animal is. And they'll tell their parents what the animal said and the parents go, “Oh yes, very nice dear,” as though it's just a joke, but they're actually truthfully connecting.

Annie Bourke (25:40):

And then something happens as we age, and that channel gets switched off, but we can reactivate it again, which is what I've done and other people have done as well. And then once we know how to communicate with them and can hear them, it just totally changes the relationship. Because particularly if they're here to teach us, then they can start. My girl cat first one who reincarnated, when I worked out that she was here to teach me, I said, “Oh, you're here to teach me. What do you want to tell me?” And she just said, “About time!” According to her, she'd been waiting too long for me to switch on the fact that I needed to talk to her and get her teaching me. She's continued to teach me since.

Annie Bourke (26:27):

Even though on the other side in her former aspect of her soul, I talk to her all the time there. But now that she's come back in the new version of herself, I can talk to that aspect of her soul as well. So, that's been another concept I've had to get my head around as well that I'm talking to two aspects of the same soul, but again these are things that they're just letting me experience, so that I can write about it. And then I can explain it to human parents, so that they understand more about what's going on with their animals.

Doggy Dan (27:02):

Yeah, yeah. I think you're right that the dogs… I mean I work with dogs all day long, and I think you're right. The dogs at least I know that they're communicating the whole time, but very often, we are not listening, or we're not very good at listening, or we don't know how to. One little thing I found myself changing which helped me immensely, because I always doubted my ability to speak with the dogs believe it or not in this sense. And that was rather than me saying it's almost like the dogs, it feels… people would say this, it feels like the dog's saying this and if you remove the bit that says “it feels like” and just if the dog's saying, that's what the dog's saying.

Annie Bourke (27:43):

Mm-hmm.

Doggy Dan (27:44):

And then you're pretty much on the money the whole time. People say, “I think he's this. It feels like he's this.” Yeah, he is, that's what he is doing. It's just removing almost the doubt that we have.

Annie Bourke (27:53):

Yes, and it's using different senses. If you're feeling something or sensing something or seeing it in their eyes, they're all ways of getting in into us to process

Doggy Dan (28:06):

Yes.

Annie Bourke (28:07):

So, actually communicating. You're getting the voice in your head, so you can actually hear their voice and know exactly what they're saying, but they are trying to get that message across to us in as many ways as possible. And it's once they know that we know they understand everything we say, that can change their behavior as well.

Doggy Dan (28:30):

Yes.

Annie Bourke (28:32):

And it changes how we communicate because when we know that they understand everything, you can just have a normal conversation with them. And although you may not be able to hear their responses, they love it because it shows to them that you get it, and you know they understand. And they can be a lot more affectionate and attentive and really change their behavior around you, because they know that you are trying to make an effort to improve your communication. And I've had a couple of people recently that aren't even clients, and I've just said casually to them, “Your dog understands everything that you are saying. Just have a conversation as though you can hear the other half of the conversation, and see what happens.”

Annie Bourke (29:12):

And they've just reported back how different the interactions have been since taking that on. So, it really does make a difference.

Doggy Dan (29:20):

Mmmm, wow.

Annie Bourke (29:23):

They're my key things for animal parents to first that they do understand everything that you're saying. Because they have free will, they choose whether they want to listen to what you are saying or not? If you tell them don't jump up on the table or don't hop on the bed, they have a choice whether they want to do that or not, but they certainly hear everything that you're saying. The other thing is that they're very sensitive to the energy of the words we speak, because they all carry an energy as well. If we say something negative about them, or we're talking about a lot of negative stuff in the house, that energy can affect them as well. Even to the point of if they've got a name that they perceive as derogatory, that really affects them psychologically or emotionally or mentally.

Annie Bourke (30:08):

I spoke to a cat called Mitey and it was spelled M-I-T-E-Y. And the first thing she said to me was, “I don't have an infestation.” She thought she'd been named for mites, and she was so offended and she really wanted to have another old-worldy name like Penelope or Prenela or something that was much more ladylike, and not Mitey. So, that was her story. And then I spoke to a male cat who was obviously in a family of star wars fans, and they called him Phantom Menace.

Doggy Dan (30:39):

Oh God.

Annie Bourke (30:40):

He got called Menace, and he'd didn't like being called Menace. He wanted to be called Harry. And as soon as they started calling him Harry, he responded straight away. The animals who don't like their names have had lots of time to think about what they'd much prefer to be called, and they respond to it straight away. And I've had that happen so many times now. They just want to be called something different, and that can really then change their behavior as well when they feel more proud of their name and comfortable with their name.

Doggy Dan (31:09):

Yeah, I've noticed that with the dogs as well that so often, we call our dogs or the number of dogs who have been labeled a slightly derogatory term based on their personality. And it's just exacerbated the situation-

Annie Bourke (31:28):

Yes.

Doggy Dan (31:28):

… because in your mind, you're calling your dog Chaos, because he's chaos and he's always chaos. And you're always saying, “Oh, he'd always chaos, he's chaos.” And you're programming him and you're expecting him to be like that. Whereas if you all them Peace or Chill…

Annie Bourke (31:47):

Yeah, you just don't know the effect that repetitive-

Doggy Dan (31:49):

It's huge, yep.

Annie Bourke (31:51):

… impact of the words you're saying. I spoke to some crocodiles in a zoo and one of the females said to me, “We've got feelings too. We think we're beautiful.” You can just imagine what they've been hearing from people walking past to upset them, but they do have feelings, and that's part of my mission in raising global awareness about the importance of animals, is that people do understand that they have souls. They're not just up head. They don't just understand stop and no and walk. They have feelings, they feel love, they feel grief, they feel pain. And what they really want is to be in a home, where they're getting love and security and knowing that it's their forever home.

Annie Bourke (32:32):

I have spoken with a lot of rescue animals, and that's the same picture for them that some of them unfortunately have been bounced from foster home to foster home. But when they finally get somewhere where they can actually relax and just accept the love that's there and know that they don't have to move again, that's really makes a huge difference for them. And I did speak with a dog who was in his forever home and he had gone on through a number of foster homes. And his mum was quite upset because he was being very naughty and trying to lead his new fur dog sisters astray.

Annie Bourke (33:07):

When I spoke to him and asked what was going on, he said that when he was in all the foster homes, he'd learnt that if he was naughty, he'd get some interaction from the humans, and for him getting any action from them was better than getting no attention at all. He was just in this learned pattern of behavior now that, he was naughty, he'd get attention, then he'd get passed on to the next time. He'd be naughty, he'd get some attention, then he'd go on to the next time. He just thought that was just going to be an ongoing pattern. When I said, “No, this is your forever home there. They're your new fur dog sisters. You've got cat sisters as well, and your mom just really wants you to feel loved and be part of the family.”

Annie Bourke (33:47):

And he just said, “Oh, I'm overwhelmed.” And he just had to take a while to process that that he didn't have to keep on being naughty, and to feel that he could finally relax and know that this was where he was going to be staying, and this was his forever family.

Doggy Dan (34:04):

Wow.

Annie Bourke (34:06):

Yeah, they do take on a lot, and sometimes people don't even know that their animals been abused before. And sometimes they'll disclose it to me and sometimes, they won't, but I had a dog recently who was brave enough to disclose that to me. And her mum said, “I had no idea,” and then that explained a whole lot of what was happening, because the dog actually needed to get through and deal with all of her trauma before she was in a position to be able to give a lot of love to her mom. She needed to take a lot of love first to support her recovery and then be able to do what she wanted to.

Doggy Dan (34:41):

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Doggy Dan (35:14):

And something I'm interested in because it's happened to me a couple of times, once in particular is where an owner has reported the spirit of an animal who's passed over returning to the house.

Doggy Dan (35:28):

One in particular comes to mind, it was absolutely freaky because the lady didn't even realize that's what it was, but I knew because…

Annie Bourke (35:37):

I'm going all buzzy with you telling me as confirmation of that.

Doggy Dan (35:42):

It was full on, it was a full on one. Yeah. The lady was so obsessed with her dog that had passed away that when we were talking in the consult, I had to keep checking and saying, “Are you talking about this dog?” And she keeps kept saying, “No, this was…” I forget his name. “This is Felix who passed away seven years ago,” and I went, “Gosh, are we still talking about Felix?” And this went on and on and on. I kept saying, “Is this the dog you've got now?” “No, this was Felix.” I said, “Well, let's chat about the one you've got now, the reason I'm here.” Anyway, I remember thinking after a short period of time, this lady is obsessed with this dog that passed away seven years ago. She's not even bothered about the one she's got now, but that's why I was there.

Doggy Dan (36:22):

Anyway, to cut a long story short, it turned out that the reason the dog I'm sure was running away, which is what was happening, the dog was trying to escape was because the spirit of the animal that it died was pretty much haunting the property, if that makes sense.

Annie Bourke (36:42):

Yeah, I'm getting confirmation of that now while you're talking.

Doggy Dan (36:45):

It didn't want anybody else in that property. It didn't want another dog in that property, and I didn't even realize when I was chatting, this is how full on it was. When I was chatting on the phone, I said, “Have you got another dog? It feels like your dog who's running away is just being harassed by another dog.” She said, “No, I've only got one,” and then she said it. She said, “But I had this amazing dog remember Felix who passed.” I was like, “Oh my gosh,” and that's when I realized.

Annie Bourke (37:14):

So, you were sensing the energy of Felix?

Doggy Dan (37:17):

I could feel it was another dog there who was hounding this poor dog out.

Annie Bourke (37:20):

Yeah.

Doggy Dan (37:21):

I guess my question is have you experienced animal spirits coming to visit their owners and coming back, or the owners saying, “Why is my dog back? It feels like he's back”? And what do you share? Why are the dogs coming back?

Annie Bourke (37:34):

As I said earlier, they do come back to reassure us that the soul endures. For me, it's wonderful confirmation of a life after life, it's not death after life. There's this soul that endures-

Doggy Dan (37:45):

Yes.

Annie Bourke (37:47):

… and that they can come back. So, not all of them do, but yes, they certainly do come back, and people are aware of that energy. And some of them actually can bring back quite strong energy. One of my friends posted one day that her dog had just passed, and I looked at this dog, the photo on the Facebook post. And he just said to me, “Tell mom I'm coming back tonight.”

Doggy Dan (38:09):

Oh.

Annie Bourke (38:09):

And that was the day he'd passed away and I thought, “Wow, he must be a really evolved soul to be able to go over and come back simultaneously.” Anyway, I passed on the message to mom and I saw her online a couple of days later. I said, “Oh, what happened with your dog?” And she laughed and she said, “He came back about 2:00 in the morning, and he jumped on the bed with such force that he knocked two pillows off. And she just put her hand out expecting him to be there because of course, it was only the day that he'd passed, and she'd temporarily forgotten that he wasn't there.

Annie Bourke (38:41):

So, they can generate a lot of energy to let us know that they're definitely there, but it's interesting if that dog Felix must be very protective of the mom, and perhaps not understanding that she needs to have another dog with her just to help support her. And that's a thing a lot of animals have said to me. They know that as soon as they've passed over, whenever the family get another animal, that's in no way disrespecting their life. They're not replacing them and yes, it can be a way of helping them heal, but it's not actually replace them, or dishonoring them by getting another animal because a lot of people worry, “Is it too soon? Would Felix get upset if I get another dog now?”

Annie Bourke (39:23):

And it's just whenever they feel ready and they've got the capacity to open up their heart again to love another animal, because it does take a while for the heart to heal. You've always got that animal in your heart. You always remember them, but there will come a point when you are ready to take on another animal, but I'd say listening to your story that Felix doesn't get that his mum needs another animal. And obviously, he hasn't been able to come back in another body to be with her. If I was having a conversation with him, I was saying, “What would make you happy? And do you realize that mom needs to have a physical animal with her to help support her? And if you were chasing it away all the time, that's not really helping mum.”

Annie Bourke (40:10):

And sometimes when you explain what's going on like that, they then get it and then their behavior can change. He could just come into the house and be supportive of the other dog, but just reassure his mom that he's there, and not be chasing the dog away all the time.

Doggy Dan (40:27):

Wow.

Annie Bourke (40:28):

Yeah, animals are very sensitive to energetic presences in the house. Sometimes, and I've had a few clients recently all talking about this that their animals can sense that there's something there, and they just suddenly stand up and stare at something that you can't see, or they want to try and go and hide away from it if it's something very scary. Sometimes, there is some negative energy in the house. Sometimes, I've had to do an energetic house cleansing to encourage at negativity to move on and get out of the house, so that everything goes back to normal. And interestingly, dogs are very sensitive to it and I've had some cats that are as well.

Doggy Dan (41:08):

Wow, yeah. Wow, fascinating. And now you've written a couple of books. Could you tell us for people who are listening who want to be what's in the books? What would you recommend which one should they go for and…

Annie Bourke (41:23):

Okay. My first book is called The Bridge To Animal Consciousness, and this fulfilled part of my life purpose in trying to get key messages out to people about animals. I've talked about why animals are here, their soul journeys. I've talked about how to welcome a new animal into your household, particularly if you've got other animals. I've talked about what happens when we have to say goodbye. I've talked about the fits of animal communication. It's not a book on how to be an animal communicator, but just to have a greater awareness of how having an animal conversation could help you and your animal. I've also talked about conversations with animals in zoos, because some people don't like zoos at all.

Annie Bourke (42:11):

I think it's an artificial environment for them. They're not running around in their normal size habitat, but there are what I call conscious zoos where they are making a huge effort to enrich the animals, and try and simulate their lives, natural lives as much as possible.

Doggy Dan (42:25):

Yes.

Annie Bourke (42:26):

And it also helps with ongoing breeding programs when we're at risk of losing so many species at the moment. And then I also interviewed a number of animals in the wild just to get their perspectives on what's happening, because a lot of people don't know the implications of some of the things like poaching and hunting that happen, and how it impacts the animals, and how it impacts the young when the parents are being killed. Although it's not a very pleasant topic, unit unfortunately is a reality that our animals are facing. I wanted to be able to honor them, and to let them talk and tell their stories in their words which is what I've done.

Annie Bourke (43:05):

And then at the end of the book, I've written what I think is a very positive chapter which I called Return To Eden, where I've described some of the things that we can do for positively to make a difference for animals. There's things contributing to animal conservation organizations. trying to preserve habitat. looking at places where they're trying to set up eco tours. where they can benefit from people who want to see the animals. And the local communities actually have a sustainable income from that as well. So, that book went number one in America and Australia when I released it, which was very exciting. My second book is very different. It's called Evolving Hearts and Souls: The Guide To Spiritual Awakening.

Annie Bourke (43:50):

I didn't know anything about a spiritual awakening and when I had mine, I didn't know that's what it was. I suddenly had clairvoyant visions switch on, and I could be having a conversation with someone like you and suddenly, I'd get images of your past and images into your future.

Doggy Dan (44:04):

Wow.

Annie Bourke (44:05):

Thinking what is this? and what am I supposed to do with it? And new age, things weren't really in at the time and I spoke to a few people about what I'd been experiencing. And they just said, “Oh no, don't dabble in that.” I listened to them and I stopped. And then years later, someone found a flyer about spiritual development classes and they said, “Hmm, I thought you might be interested in this.” I went along and of course, my clairvoyant switched on healing, switched on a whole lot of other gifts. Since then, I've just been on this amazing journey learning all about the spiritual world, metaphysics, different healing modalities. I particularly like using crystals and essential oils and Reiki, because they're all natural forms of energy. I do that to support animals and humans.

Annie Bourke (44:52):

In the book, I've just written lots of different things, like a dummies guide to what happens when you wake up. I've talked about the importance of meditation, the energetic body, chakras healing, your spirit guides, why you are here on your soul journey, lots of different things. It's a book that can be read in any order, but it's interesting because I've had feedback from people reading both of the books that it's activated things for them. Some of the people have read my animal book, and it's helped reactivate their animal communication channel. And they can start hearing their animals' voice in their head which is absolutely fabulous. Both books are available on Amazon as paperbacks or as ebooks. They just need to look at my name which is Annie, A double N-I-E and Bourke, B-O-U-R-K-E.

Doggy Dan (45:42):

Wonderful. And the best way for people to get hold of you, your website or is that the best thing?

Annie Bourke (45:48):

Yes. My website is www.cosmicheartintuitive.com.au, so you can message me through there. I'm also on Facebook as Annie Bourke, and I'm on LinkedIn as Annie Bourke. So, any of those ways you can get a message through to me. I've got a few different services that I offer parents. I've just started group recently where I'm doing some little training sessions free for members, and I've also got an animal mediumship program where I work with bereaved animal parents for up to 12 weeks navigating through the grief process, and helping them to achieve some peace of mind and heart healing as well. I'm happy to talk and are happy to have a Zoom conversation with listeners and just talk about what they're interested in and what I do. just to see how I can help support them and their animals.

Doggy Dan (46:42):

Wonderful. And all of the links that Annie's mentioned will be putting on the show notes page, so the URLs to the links to the books and to Annie's website, how you can get hold of, all that and a transcription of this entire podcast. And you can find that on the show notes, which will be theonlinedogtrainer.com/talkingtoanimals. So, theonlinedogtrainer.com/talkingtoanimals. If you go there, we'll make sure all the links are on there. If you get something wrong or forget what you've got to… if you're driving listening to this and you think I can't remember it, just go to my website and go to /talkingtoanimals. It has been fascinating chatting to you Annie, always love talking about this sort of thing. Is there anything else you would like to share? What's one last thing you'd to leave our listeners with?

Annie Bourke (47:37):

I think I said before it's understanding that animals understand everything that we say, and to be careful with the types of words that you are using around them, and just reassuring them that you love them and that you are grateful that they're in your life. They love hearing that. They love routines. If you change your routine, that can affect their behavior as well and they'll let you know and know on certain terms that they're not happy with whatever you've done that's different what you normally do. I've just been talking to someone yesterday whose dog started doing something they've never done before and I said, “What's changed in their routine?” And then they realized that because it's been raining, they haven't been taking the dog for a walk for three days, and the dog's been letting its displeasure be known.

Annie Bourke (48:25):

And now that's been able to be taken out and walked again, it has stopped the naughty behaviors. They really do try and tell you if there's something that they're not happy with, but it's just even just communicating with them and having that normal conversation, you'll just see a change in how they interact with you. And that's just beautiful because that's what I really want to do, is help enrich the animal-human relationship through having conversations.

Doggy Dan (48:53):

Brilliant. Annie, it has been wonderful chatting to you. I'm sure our listeners are going to be way more informed, and a lot of them are going to be rushing off to say some nice things about their dogs to their dogs. They've got a lot to thank you for, and I'm sure the animals will be grateful for your words of wisdom that you've shared with us today.

Annie Bourke (49:13):

Thank you. I've actually had animals listening to my sessions as well, which is quite funny-

Doggy Dan (49:17):

Oh, brilliant.

Annie Bourke (49:18):

… because they understand what I'm saying. One of my cat fans when I was doing a… must have been a podcast, and he just kept wanting to see the screen of mum's phone all the time. She ended up having to prop her phone on the floor, so he could watch me and listen to me. And then she recorded him sitting there watching and listening to me, and it was just absolutely beautiful. They absolutely get it. So, don't be surprised if you're listening to this and your animal comes to join in because they'll know what I'm saying.

Doggy Dan (49:47):

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Annie, thank you so much for spending this time with us. The animals are grateful. We're all grateful, and I'm sure the people listening are very grateful too.

Annie Bourke (49:56):

Thank you. I've loved having a chat with you.

Doggy Dan (49:59):

Yeah, you too. Take care of everybody. Have a great day and as always, love your dog.

Voiceover (50:04):

You've been listening to another episode of the Doggy Dan Podcast show, bringing you one step closer to creating harm with your dog.