My "Angel Annie" and Pet Guardian Angels by Sharae Taylor
She chose me and came bounding into my life and heart 10 years ago. Annie was an active hunt basset hound and her world consisted of being a member of a pack of 26 basset hounds bred for hunting, field trials and life in a kennel. She was very well taken care of by her owner. I was introduced to the owner by a good friend, Brent Atwater. She knew my love for animals and that I was looking for a place to live. She knew the owner was looking for someone to take care of the kennel and caretake on a daily basis (including living in a wonderful restored farmhouse). The situation was ideal for all concerned.
The first day I walked into the 26 basset hound kennel, my heart was lost to that breed. They absolutely speak to my heart more than any other breed of dog I have owned in my lifetime. Not to say the others were not truly loved beyond reason, there was just something different about these basset hounds. Their eyes project their soul piercing your soul each and every time they gaze into your eyes. I thought at the time … how in the world am I going to learn their different names ?! I found like being in a school class room eventually it all works out and you get to know each and everyone’s name, what they look like, their personalities … etc..
The first day as I was cleaning and washing down Annie’s kennel I felt this nose jab me in the back of the knee … once and then several more times. I turned around and looked down and there stood Annie … as if to say … Here I Am … take notice. This went on for several days. Within a week the owner made the comment that she didn’t think Annie wanted to hunt anymore. She was going to try a few things just to make sure, and if that was the case she was going to have to retire Annie and either find a home for her or take her to the vet and have her euthanized. To me that was totally unacceptable. I told her I wanted Annie. The rest is history.
I took her home and the first thing we did was have a bath in an old fashioned claw bath tub. It became a priority with her, as she decided she loved bubble baths and wanted them once a week! She would go immediately to the tub to let you know that is what she wanted. Next I gave her a "cloud nine" soft bed … the softest I could make it. She had spent her first four years on hard cement. Next I gave her the softest micro-fleece“Wubbie” blanket I could find. She adored her blanket and would wrap herself in it and snuggle herself so emerged in it that at times I only saw her nose. In fact, I would have to put her in another room or outside to be able to take it away to wash.
Annie's personality exploded into full bloom and she became the biggest love hound you could imagine. She made you laugh (which was quite often) by watching her explore the new things. She never got the hang of playing with toys. So her world became her blanket, bed, myself and Amos my cat.
Amos decided he was to take care of her and stand century over her even when she went outside and to give her baths and kisses. The three of us were always together. Annie brought such a presence of love and joy into our reality … we were the end all be all for her and we felt the same about her.
Our threesome went on for many years until 6 months ago when Annie’s body began to give out. My heart saddened as I realized her time was drawing near. I wondered … What will we do without her? The times she had to spend the night with the vet, Amos and I were traumatized without her being in the house. The day came when she crossed the Rainbow Bridge. I was devastated. Amos was devastated. The house felt so empty … like a 200 pound presence had left as Annie’s energy was so huge with the love she presented and was so tangible. I went into deep mourning. Amos went into deep mourning. I thought I was going to lose him as well because of his pining for Annie. The only peace I could find was to keep her “Wubbie” with me.
I became Linus on “Charlie Brown” carrying the blanket she loved with me. It was the only time I could feel her love and her presence. I retreated from the world. I couldn’t even talk about her much less look at a picture of her as those soulful eyes looking back at me was more than my breaking heart could stand (even with my belief system that she isn’t gone -she’s just in another form).
My grief went on for months. Friends and family tried to help, but there was no consoling as this was my “Angel Annie”. I failed to mention that on her back, there in white on a black background (she was a tri-colored basset) was an abstract Angel with wings spread and a BIG white heart … There was no denying this is what the shapes looked like and really were the symbol of the essence of “Angel Annie.” The pain would not go away. It was unbearable.
I had several friends suggest the idea of doing Guardian Angels for pets, but I would not hear of it. Too … Too painful and not even sure I could do it, and not even wanting to try. I was not ready to go there. Finally, I started getting bombarded with things about pets … in many forms, emails, images, pictures, friends kept suggesting the Guardian Angels for pets … and it just kept progressing to the point where I finally got adamant with the Angels and stated "you are going to have to do better than that for symbols if this is what I am supposed to do. This is just way too painful and I need to get past this pain." Another symbol would show up. I again, would state … "you have to do better than that" … another symbol would show up … I again, would state … "you have to do better than that" … another symbol would show up.
This was a first I questioned something given to me from the Angels as part of my path. Normally, I would just go with the flow. This was not the case! The Angels had enough of my denial and decided we will be "in her face" literally -until she gets this message. On Sunday, January 6, 2008 as I sat in my living room wanting to take a break and watch an old movie on TV ,a high vibrational pitch started in my ears … (which I am used to), but not at this crescendo. Shapes started taking form with glowing auras that I have seen before (as I have painted them), but NOT as a large group in my living room! Commercials started appearing every few minutes during the movie and each and every time it was the images of the Animal rescue shelters over and over again … you know the ones … the ones with the dogs with the soulful eyes that wrench the heart.
I finally said I Get It! I Give up! I Can’t take this anymore. I will go into the studio and put a canvas up and see what comes through for Annie as a Guardian Angel, but I really don’t want this to be painful and I do not want to cry. I am trying to move forward and get past this horrendous pain. So that is what I did.
I said my prayer and asked for the connection to be made as I always do. I was then given the colors to use and began the painting. I would have to stop and walk into the other room for awhile and would state …" I don’t feel Annie … Where is she?" This went on until the painting was finished, I still was not feeling Annie and went on to bed.
The next morning I awoke and the painting was fresh on my mind so I went to check it to see if I felt Annie … still nothing. I walked away and went into my bedroom. As I walked back into the studio I felt Annie’s spirit walk in beside me. Amos felt her presence too! He came running into the studio.
So what do we do next? Through the quiet stillness I heard “Now create apage to publish on your website offering Pet Guardian Angel paintings.” I proceeded to do just that with Annie’s spirit present and Amos sitting at my feet. When all was completed and ready to publish … I had a light bulb moment. I knew without a doubt that this is something Annie and I were to do together … her work was not finished on this earth.
Annie is going to work through my, now "our" website continuing to project her strong essence of love to all that can be helped, soothed or just to celebrate their own relationship and love of their beloved living animal companion.
At that point I felt a great peacefulness settle over me and my heart for the first time since Annie had crossed the Rainbow Bridge. I knew she was still with me and we had important work to do. I was able to look at the web page that has her image and feel her love, warmth and the great healing begin within me. The horrible pain had lifted.
I then said a prayer to encompass "our intent" and hit the publish button. I felt a gush of energy project out and in my mind’s eye I saw Annie’s spirit soar out and wrap earth in the essence of love. I knew she would be bringing those that needed or knew of someone that needed a personalized Pet Guardian Angel painting in their lives, so they too could be comforted or healed or celebrate their beloved companions.
Annie's and my work and love continues together , forever and always........
website: www.angelsbysharae.com
Dream Crossing
I had a dog who suffered from bone cancer, and eventually the day came when it was time to put her to sleep. Overcome with grief, I could barely sleep that night, but eventually I drifted off. Then I had an amazingly vivid dream. In the dream, my dog appeared next to me in bed and let me hold her for one last time. I was so happy to see her again, so full of life. Then I heard a loving voice calling her name outside my window. An incredibly bright light appeared just beyond my window shade. I couldn't see the full brilliance of the light because it was partially shaded. And my dog ran towards the light and disappeared. Just as I thought she was gone, all of a sudden she came bounding back to me from the light and allowed me to pet her once again. She also wanted me to look closely at her face. The cancer had deformed her face before death, and she made a point of showing me that she was completely restored back to her old appearance. Then she "showed" me a vision of holding a little puppy, as if to say that other dogs would come into my life and not to despair (soon thereafter I did get a puppy). My dog rolled over on her back to let me pet her once again. When I looked at her paws, I saw a vision of little spring flowers sprouting from her feet, as if to symbolize her rebirth. And I knew deep in my heart that she was fully restored, free from pain, and would live on. The voice lovingly called her name once again. My dog gave me one last look of love and then ran into the light and was gone. I never dreamt of her again, although I have known other people who feel their departed pets often visit them in their dreams. My dream was so vivid that I knew without a doubt that my beloved dog was still alive in spirit, waiting for me to greet her some day on the other side.
Susan D.
Lolli
I am one of the "old timers" here in the Animal Communication Class. When I first joined, my soulmate, companion, best friend and my heart, my Springer Lolli, had returned to spirit at the age of 15. We had been to a holistic vet and animal communicator for the last year of her life. I was 6,000 miles away when the time came to make the decision to allow her to go. Lolli and I were in communication through Michelle the whole time. Since that time, I became more and more interested in the process of animal communication and joined Trish's class. I had some success at first, then began to get more and more in tune with my subjects. Trish helped me through the rough spots by phone. All this time, I wanted to communicate with Lolli. Others were able to link with her and I became discouraged. I talked with Trish and with encouragement and suggestions, I became more and more in tune. She taught me to meditate until I reached my higher self and to concentrate on that result first. As I began to do this more and more, I felt more confident in what I was trying to do. One night as I was grounding myself and reaching out, I mentally called out to Lolli. Her spirit came to me and enveloped my body with the most overwhelming experience. She was there !!! We never spoke, she was just there and we went to sleep. I woke up with more confidence in myself and what I was able to do. I began to look around me at a whole new world of communication. I feel that without that experience, I would have become more and more discouraged. Lolli wanted me to know it was ok to let her go, but that her spirit could and would return. Lolli has since sent me Charlie.
Charlie
Michelle, my friend and animal communicator, was grounded with both Lolli and me when the time came for her to go. Lolli shared with Michelle that she loved me so much and asked that I not be sad, that she had held on until she felt I could let go. Michelle told me Lolli would be unavailable to communicate for a while, that she was in transition and we would know when the time was right. She mentioned "three months". My heart was so broken and empty without her. In August, Michelle called me and told me her friend had a friend who knew a kennel in South Carolina that was a Springer breeder. I went to the website, saw all the puppies and their parents and all were beautiful and lovely. Each parent had their own story. I watched for a couple of weeks and each day a puppy was sold. None of the puppies' picture reached out and grabbed me. On into the autumn, I contacted Clarissa at the kennel, asked about the puppies and reluctantly shared the story of Lolli. She was very understanding although she had had no personal experience with animal communication. Another litter was born and they were sold also (most before they were even born). My husband had adamantly refused to get another dog. Every time I mentioned, sometimes when I didn't, he was vehemently opposed. In November, Clarissa called me and said she had a puppy that had been born in September. They had planned on keeping her to breed as one of the older dogs was retiring. I asked Bill and he said "NO, no more dogs. " When I saw Charlie's picture, my heart stopped and I was almost unable to breathe. There was this "aura" about her that Lolli had sent her, was part of her and wanted to communicate with me. I begged and begged for Bill to let me have her, the answer was always the same. I took Charlie's picture and Lolli's picture at three months and showed them to him. The resemblance was uncanny, but he still refused. I called Clarissa and told her Bill refused to let me have Charlie and that was ok with her. About three weeks later, I asked Bill one day if he thought Lolli had sent Charlie, that I believed she had. He said "how do you know that she did"? I said "how do you know she didn't?" We sat there for a while very quietly. Then he said "I definitely do not want another dog............., but if you want her, we will go look at her"...... I immediately went and called Clarissa and Charlie had been sold. The lady came and bought her on Friday, but wanted to leave her until Monday as she was going out of town. I was devastated. I couldn't bear Lolli leaving me again. Monday morning, Clarissa called me and said the lady came back to get Charlie, but decided to get a six week old male puppy instead and if I wanted Charlie to come get her. Another sign that it was meant to be, was that the price tag of the Springers was $1000.00. I didn't have $1000.00. I had not even asked the price before that time (DUH). She asked if I wanted to make payments, which I was reluctant to do. Then she told me that she felt very strongly that I should have her and if I would bring Charlie back when she was two years old to be bred and let her have one of the puppies, that I could take her home. I told her she could have ALL the puppies. So Charlie is here. Some of the things she does are so uncanny. They are secret things that only Lolli and I knew, like little games we played, certain ways we rested together, certain things she would do when I sang to her. I love to share this story. It is quite long, but I feel all needs to be said in order for the whole story to be shared. Not only was this a life changing experience for me, Clarissa now uses Michelle for her animal communication.
Judy Ricker
The Circle of Life as Taught by Little Deer and Shakti
It was an unusually cold November in 1975 when a young stray dog showed up in the neighborhood. My girlfriend Tony and I were living in a little cottage at the edge of a large forest. I noticed that this rather ugly young dog had been hanging around for a few days. I mentioned it to Tony and I asked her not to feed the dog because then it wouldn’t go away. Tony told me that it was too late because she had already been putting food out for it.
Then the weather turned extremely cold and a huge snow storm blew in. I had never seen it so cold and snowy in November. We began trying to take care of the stray dog. But she was wild. She wouldn’t let us get anywhere near her; but neither would she actually run far away. There was a little shed out back so I propped the door open and I started putting food inside for her hoping that she would use the shed for shelter. But I noticed that she would never go in it and she wouldn’t touch the food in there. So I just started putting the food outside and then she would eat it. She would sleep outside curled up on the snow.
As time passed I noticed that she was a very odd dog. We named her “Little Deer” because she was wild like a deer and very much the same color. After a couple of weeks or so she started becoming friendly with us and soon she started coming into the house. As I said, she was quite odd. She didn’t want to learn much of anything. But finally after a long time she did learn to “come”, “lay down” and “NO”. That was it. But she was sweet and gentle and had a loveable quality that was indescribable.
One detail to remember as this story goes on is that Little Deer had a bizarre way in which she laid down and got up. It’s hard to describe but she would use her front legs to lower her back end down and she also seemed to struggle when she wanted to get up. She would sort of pull her body and back end up with her front legs. Of course, I thought that she had bad hips and had her x-rayed and examined by vets on more than one occasion; but no one could ever find anything wrong with her.
Eventually, my girlfriend Tony left; but Little Deer stayed on with me. Little Deer and I were great friends and even though she seemed worthless and ugly our bond with one another grew. I don’t know why. She didn’t like to play fetch like other dogs. She didn’t like to ride in the car. When I would light a fire in the fire place or wood stove she would become extremely frightened and run away to another part of the house. She didn’t seem to be a good watch dog. But she was never any trouble and everyone who got to know her loved her.
Some years passed and I got married. My wife and I bought some land in the countryside among the farms and began to design a home. We bought a male rottweiler pup to keep Little Deer company and to help guard the new house. We named the new dog Barron. He was a wonderful dog. In due time the house was done and away we all went. It was a nice place to live and the dogs loved it. There was a creek and a couple of ponds and there were fields and woods that the dogs loved to roam. And it was peaceful and quiet. They both had their favorite areas of the property and Little Deer and Barron each had a different favorite spot outside where they liked to lay around.
A few years went by and one night I was lying in bed awake waiting for my wife to come home from work. All at once I heard Little Deer and Barron barking their heads off and running across the front yard toward the bedroom where I was lying. That was not a good sign. And suddenly, only a few feet outside of by bedroom window, two gunshots rang out.
In those days I was armed to the teeth. (Now days I don’t keep any weapons at all.) I felt that I needed to be armed because emergency law enforcement was practically non-existent in that county and everyone was more or less on their own. I grabbed my assault rifle from under the bed and was prepared for whatever. When no one burst into the house right away, I began turning on the outside floodlights. My wife would be coming home soon and I had to make sure that it was safe for her to drive up. I went into the garage in order to sneak outside to see if anyone was still around. In the garage Little Deer was lying on the floor. At first I didn’t know that she was hurt; but then I realized that she wouldn’t get up.
Apparently whoever had been outside my house was gone. My wife pulled up and we turned our attention to Little Deer. She had been shot in the hind legs with a shotgun. But it had been at far enough range that she wasn’t in bad shape. In the morning I took her to the veterinarian. He x-rayed her and confirmed that she had been shot. She was sore; but in a couple of days she was feeling better.
Little Deer and Barron had perhaps saved my life. I don’t know who had been out there or why, and I don’t know what would have happened if the dogs hadn’t taken action. Perhaps I would have been shot in my bed.
By the time that this incident had taken place Little Deer had been with me for about 12 years. I had always guessed that she was about a year old when we met and so she was fairly old in dog years. And after this unfortunate incident Little Deer’s health started to decline. I knew that I was losing her and I just had to face the facts. The veterinarian diagnosed her with a heart condition and they gave me medicine that she had to have twice a day. It was very expensive; but nothing was too good for Little Deer. After a couple of months the vet took pity on me and gave me a discount on the medicine and we managed to keep Little Deer going for about six months. But finally the medication became toxic to her. She had lost a lot of weight and was mostly skin and bones. She could barely stand or walk and I couldn’t bear it anymore. I knew that her time had come.
I was working the night shift in those days and after work on a Tuesday morning I called the veterinarian to tell him that I would be taking Little Deer into the office the next day after work to bring her suffering to an end. He agreed that it was time.
It was winter, and at that time of year Little Deer and Barron liked to stay in the garage. I would leave the door up a little bit for them so that they could come and go as they wished. I had made a nice bed of straw in there for Little Deer and right before I left for work on Tuesday night I gave her an extra portion of her favorite food. She jumped right up and ate it in front of me and then I left knowing what I was going to have to do when I came home the next morning. No matter how aloof and detached I thought I was, I was very upset about the whole thing.
But when I arrived home, Little Deer was nowhere to be found. Years earlier I had figured that Little Deer was probably half coyote and half coon hound. And that wild half of her wanted to go out to die in the same natural surroundings in which she had probably been born. Many wild animals and even some native peoples are that way. But I got Barron and we went out to try to find her. He must have known where she had gone. But he wasn’t saying. I walked the fields and the woods with him calling and calling for Little Deer; but I never found her.
What a wonderful girl. She also knew that it was time and she had spared me the horrible task of putting her away. I will always be grateful to her for that.
Well Little Deer was sorely missed. I tried to take Barron with me in the truck as much as possible. He loved to ride. And winter turned to spring and spring to summer and, you guessed it, summer to fall. I began to think that I should get another female dog to keep Barron company. I can’t remember now if it was so much for me or Barron; but at any rate, I began to plan for that. I always liked to get new puppies in the spring. The weather was good enough then that they could stay outside most of the time so that I wouldn’t have to worry about immediate “poddy” training. And so I began to look.
A friend of mine named Tony had a rottweiler bitch that he planned to breed. I used to spend a lot of time at Tony’s house and I really loved his dog. Her name was Jessica and she was a huge dog and a real sweetheart. She and I had been great friends for years. Tony bred Jessica to a famous local rottweiler named Turbo, and late in the winter Jessica had her litter.
The man who owned Turbo was supposed to get the pick of the litter as his breeder’s fee and I was to get second pick. I went to Tony’s house nearly every day to watch the pups. A large female was the first pup to open its eyes and she was the first to find her way out of the whelping box. She was the lead pup of the litter and she was beautiful, energetic and irrepressible. She was the pup that I wanted; but I had to wait to see which one the breeder would pick.
Finally, after about six weeks, the breeder made his choice. He also wanted the pup that I wanted; but at the last moment he chose a male pup because the female that I wanted had a tiny white spot on her chest. Even though the white spot only consisted of about five white hairs it was an undesirable trait in the rottweiler breed. I was thrilled at my good luck and I named the new pup “Shakti”.
The next day I grabbed a cardboard box to put Shakti in during transport and went to Tony’s house. As I was leaving Tony and I paused in the living room to visit. Jessica was there and Shakti was in the box; but true to her nature she was trying to escape. Jessica was watching her and every time Shakti nearly got out of the box, Jessica would knock her back in. It was pretty cute.
Shakti and I went home and I introduced her to Barron. He seemed happy and they hit it right off. I was very busy in those days and didn’t spend a lot of time at home. It was the perfect time of year, the weather was good and I left Shakti outside with Barron knowing that he would take care of her, and he did.
The weeks passed quickly. Shakti was doing well and growing fast. As I mentioned earlier, I wasn’t spending a lot of time at home then; but when I was there I spent my time playing with Shakti and Barron. At some point I began to notice some curious things about Shakti. The first thing was that she had a peculiar way of lying down and getting up. In fact she would lie down and get up in the very same bizarre way that Little Deer did. Hmmmmm, I thought! What’s up with that? The rottweiler breed is known to have a lot of hip problems and I was afraid that maybe her hips were the problem. As it turned out it wasn’t though. Her hips were fine. I also noticed that Shakti like to lie in the very same favorite place that Little Deer liked. And as time went on, I realized that Shakti wasn’t really trainable. Eventually, just like Little Deer, she learned how to “come”, “lay down” and “NO”. That’s was it. She didn’t want to play fetch and she was slightly averse to riding in the truck.
All this began to sink in. Shakti was just like Little Deer. I could even see that their faces and heads were very much alike. Shakti didn’t have a typical rottweiler head. Her nose was rather long and thin like Little Deer and it seemed that Little Deer’s black and brown facial markings were there in Shakti; but now they were more refined. Little Deer’s brown markings above her eyes were there in Shakti; but Shakti’s were smaller. If you have the photo supplement you can see that Little Deer had brown markings on the side of her face and at the front of her shoulders. Shakti also had them. Most rottweilers do. You can see them in Barron’s photo. And Little Deer’s white chest was slightly there in Shakti and in fact those few white hairs were the reason that I ended up with her. (I couldn’t find a photo of Shakti. I’ve emailed my now ex-wife to see if she can send me one. She’s saved everything, except for me. heh, heh, heh We’ll see what happens). As I was writing this it even occurred to me for the very first time that there were two different Tonys who were instrumental in bringing these dogs into my life.
Well, we’ve all heard stories about dogs and cats finding their way back to their families over long, long distances. But could a dog find its way back from the grave? I had been immersed in yoga, meditation and the Vedanta for many years and as we all know reincarnation is an integral part of those teachings. But I’m the kind of person who only believes what I know to be true. That doesn’t mean that I disbelieve things; but who needs the mental baggage? You know – so and so believes this and that; but doesn’t believe something else; but they don’t really know…and so who cares? One person believes that Guruji is an avatar and another person doesn’t, etc., etc., etc. Believing this or that doesn’t make it true and usually doesn’t even help. In fact I feel that most of these beliefs are nothing more than a cloud over true awareness. So I didn’t believe in reincarnation and neither did I disbelieve. I just didn’t know. But I did know that I was experiencing a very strange situation and as time passed I couldn’t get it out of my mind. In fact, it started to consume me.
One day I was in the kitchen doing something and I heard one of the dogs knocking at the kitchen door that went out into the garage. My dogs would knock on the door if they wanted in or out. So I opened the door and there was Shakti. She was standing there wiggling around all happy acting and she had a dog’s skull in her mouth.
Shakti seemed radiant. She put the skull down in the garage and came into the kitchen. You can imagine what was going on in my mind. Was this Little Deer’s skull that she had? Had she found her own bones? I was thrilled yet perplexed and my mind was racing. I am a total skeptic about everything and I didn’t know what to think; but I quickly decided that I had to do something to draw a conclusion about all of this. Perhaps there was a huge lesson here to be experienced and therefore learned; but how could I decide what to believe or think? In an instant I decided what to do. I would put Shakti to an impossible test. That way she would fail, and I would know that I was just fantasizing and in that way I could put the whole matter out of my mind.
So Shakti was still sitting there in the kitchen. Really and truly she seemed to be beaming. She was so happy. She was only six or seven months old, just big enough to even be able to get a dog’s skull in her mouth. And as I’ve said, she didn’t know anything and wasn’t trained. So I put her to the test, I told her, “If you’re Little Deer, you get up right now and kiss me on the lips.” I was bending down only a little and fast as lightning she sprang up and planted a huge kiss right on my lips and was licking me and licking me. I was amazed and overjoyed. I nearly swooned. I had to go sit down. I had asked her to do something that I knew she wouldn’t do, couldn’t do. How did she even know what I said? I chose a test that she would fail. But she didn’t.
Somehow Little Deer had really come back to me. My intellect tried to grasp the mechanics of the situation; but it couldn’t. Had she reincarnated? Do people reincarnate? If so, how could that happen? Or was it just my thoughts or my individual cosmic dream that had created the situation? I couldn’t figure it out then and I can’t figure it out now; but here is what I have c | 
