Sometimes the Message Doesn't Make Sense

My livestock guardian dog, Milly, started asking me for something I never expected.

A puppy.

Not once.

Not twice.

Repeatedly.

At first, I laughed.

"Milly," I thought, "we live on a farm with sheep, alpacas, chickens, and more animals than most people can imagine. I don't have time for a puppy."

Besides, she was an eleven-year-old livestock guardian dog.

Why would she suddenly want a puppy?

But she wouldn't let it go.

Every time I walked out into the pasture, I could feel her excitement.

"Where's the puppy?"

Day after day.

Week after week.

I tried to negotiate.

I looked into getting a guard donkey.

I considered a guard llama.

Each time, her answer was exactly the same.

"Not a donkey."

"Not a llama."

"A puppy."

I have to be honest...

Part of me wondered if I was making the whole thing up.

Even as an animal communicator, I still ask myself difficult questions.

Is this really what I'm receiving?

Am I interpreting this correctly?

Could I be wrong?

Those questions don't weaken my work.

They keep me honest.

Eventually, after months of resisting, I brought home a puppy.

Milly immediately went to work.

She patiently taught him the rhythms of the farm.

She corrected him when he needed it.

She showed him how to care for the sheep, alpacas, and chickens.

She was preparing him.

Only later did I understand why.

Within two months, Milly was gone.

We discovered she had lung cancer.

Looking back, everything suddenly made sense.

She wasn't asking for a puppy because she wanted one.

She was making sure the farm—and all of us—would be cared for after she was gone.

I couldn't have understood that while it was happening.

And maybe that's one of the hardest parts of living in relationship with animals.

Sometimes their messages don't make sense until much later.

What Milly Taught Me

One of the biggest misconceptions about animal communication is that every message arrives with instant clarity.

That hasn't been my experience.

Sometimes I understand immediately.

Sometimes I don't understand until months—or even years—later.

Milly taught me that I don't have to force meaning.

I don't have to pretend I always know exactly what an animal is trying to communicate.

I simply have to stay open.

To listen.

To ask questions.

To remain curious.

Trust doesn't always mean having certainty.

Sometimes trust simply means taking the next step, even when you don't yet understand where it's leading.

Looking back now, I realize Milly wasn't asking me to solve a puzzle.

She was asking me to trust her.

What looked confusing in the moment became perfectly clear with time.

You May Be Wondering...

What if I don't understand my animal companion's message right away?

You don't have to.

Some messages unfold over time.

Looking back, we often see a meaning that wasn't visible in the moment.

Give yourself permission to remain curious.

Resist the urge to force an explanation or make every communication fit neatly into a story.

Sometimes understanding arrives immediately.

Sometimes it comes quietly months later.

Neither makes the message more or less real.

I've learned that some of the most meaningful communications in my life were the ones I only understood after I had lived through them.

Perhaps that's because trust isn't about knowing the ending.

It's about being willing to keep walking until the meaning reveals itself.

May you see the world through the eyes of love, remembering that we are all part of one living, sacred whole.