When Animals Talk
Desires to communicate with four-legged friends has sparked a trend of pet owners contacting psychics to gain animal insights
As animals gain status in the household, owners spend upwards of \$100 per session to find out what they are thinking and feeling
Doug Sealfon couldn't stop thinking about AJ, Vegas and Max. His beloved cocker spaniels and tabby cat had died within a year of one another, and ever since he had been worried.
"I couldn't shake the thought that they hadn't crossed over," he says.
So Sealfon contacted Joyce Leake.
"She told me things (no one) could have known about them. Then, she talked with them and told me they loved me, they missed me and they were all right," says Sealfon, an advertising exec who lives in Peekskill, N.Y.
Sealfon had located Leake by searching the Internet for an animal communicator. "There were a lot of them. I contacted a few, but I didn't feel a connection."
With Leake, he found that connection, and also peace from what she told him.
Across the country, Kitty Smith, who raises horses in Rogue River, Ore., also located Leake on the Internet. She was searching for help with her German Shorthair that was suffering unusual symptoms.
"The vet had told me to put her down, that there was nothing we could do," Smith says. "I wasn't ready for that, so I contacted Joyce. I hadn't told her anything about my dog, but she knew things (about the symptoms) that only a vet would know."
On Leake's advice, Smith sought alternative treatment and the dog lived four more years.
Both pet owners are convinced Leake talks to animals and the animals talk back.
Pet psychics have proliferated in recent years, the result of animals' elevated stature, people's increasing desire to understand them and also the easy-outreach capability that comes with the Internet. Thousands of pet psychics can be found, most providing telephone consultations, and most charge $50 to $100 an hour.
Leake is considered among the best credentialed. She started building a client base in 1994 and rapidly became known through word of mouth and then through the Internet. By 2004 her ability was so well known that producers for Nippon TV, a Japanese TV network wanted her to audition for the popular "Genius: Mr. Shimura's Animal Land," a variety show dedicated to animals.
But first, they wanted proof of her psychic abilities.
They arrived at her house with a little dog and a series of tests. Leake aced the tests, and appeared for two seasons.
Still, although many swear by psychics' abilities, there are many skeptics.
"My concern about animal communication is that it is not a science," says Bonnie Beaver, professor of veterinary medicine at Texas A&M, College Station, and past president of the American Veterinary Medical Association (www.avma.org), "There's no proven validity. Most pet communicators rely on impressions from the owner. They read body language and make a lot of general statements."
She has special concern about psychics recommending protocols for animal care, because knowing what a pet's behavior means is the job of a veterinarian.
Beaver understands why people turn to animal communicators. "They want to solve a problem and they look for sources to do it," she says, "but the vet should be their first source."
Now back in the U.S., Leake lives near tiny Elizabeth, Colo., about an hour from Denver, with her husband, Roy; her dog, a Welsh Corgi named Lucy; cats named Hubble and Betty; and a few horses.
Her company, Animal University, (www.animaluniversity.com) now attracts dozens of clients every month. Clients want to know what the cat is saying when she refuses to use the litter box, what to do with an incessant barker and, most often, if Leake can help locate a lot pet. She listens carefully and provides answers.
Even as a child, Leake felt a deep attachment to animals. "It was a classic story," she says. "When I was growing up, I fit in better with animals – pets – than with people. Animals and I were always great together."
But her life followed a traditional route. She raised her children and worked as a bank executive. Then, in the 90s, she suddenly had a blinding insight. "It was one of those moments you have, when a memory surfaces," Leake says.
She remembered how she had connected on a deep level with animals. "I decided to pursue it," Leake says. "I began studying and taught myself how to communicate with animals."
Her skills, she says, can be learned. "If you love animals, you will relate to their piercing stares, their soft nudges and their persistent attempts to get the message across to you anyway they know how. You have to learn how to listen and connect."
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