Pinky the Dog's Story: Let the Maestro Do His Work

As pet parents, it is so easy for us to treat pet death as negligence on our part. What did I do wrong? What warning signs did I miss? After all, our whole modern society treats death like a problem to be solved rather than a natural part of living. Here is where animal communication can really shine by giving pets in spirit the chance to answer their grieving human's questions, ease their concerns and share their insights, as Pinky the dog's story shows.

Some animals I speak with need a little time to build trust with me and open up. But not Pinky. From my opening greeting, it seemed like Pinky was born ready to discuss anything and everything, including that most difficult of topics - pet death.

And Pinky really, really, REALLY wanted to make sure I got every detail right when I conveyed his messages to his human, Stefanie.

Stefanie was struggling to comprehend why her beloved boy had transitioned so soon. While eight years old might not be considered so young in some dog breeds, she had always carried within her the sense that her Pinky would live a long, long, LONG time. 

What had she missed? 

"Nothing." Pinky reassured her that all went exactly according to plan....and then he went on to explain to me that "Pinky" was his "fun, goofy" name. His real name - his serious name - his large and in charge name - is Maestro. 

The Maestro Is Coming Back

Maestro Pinky wanted Stefanie to know that she had him pegged correctly in terms of his longevity.

She just wasn't making the connection that this longevity she sensed wasn't tied to his physical body. She was sensing Pinky's soul. He was - is - an old soul - and even more adept at planning and orchestrating events from the spirit side than he had been in his physical form.

He also wanted to highlight that he and Stefanie made/make a great match, as she is a fellow "old soul."

Then the Maestro explained that he knew Stefanie was grieving, but not to worry because it wouldn't be for long. He was heading right back into a new body to reunite with her through pet reincarnation.

Hannah

Then Pinky gave me a name: "Hannah."  

Often when an animal in spirit shares a name with me, it is because that name is a match (or at least close to a match) with someone that animal knew well during their physical life.

Sometimes the name can also reference a loved one who met the animal on the spirit side.

And sometimes, when an animal tells me they are planning to reincarnate back to Earth in a new physical body, the name may be a reference to the new name they will have or the name they want to have when they are back in their new body.

In Maestro Pinky's case, at first it seemed like none of these explanations applied.

Even worse, the name itself drew a total blank for his mom, Stefanie. The only Hannah she could remember had moved away years prior and had had very little interaction with Pinky.

This quite simply mystified us both. So I tuned in with Pinky again to ask for additional information.

A Big Aha for Us Both!

I just have to say this - one of the (many) reasons I love animal communication so much is because it keeps me in perpetual student mode. I am always learning because my animal clients are always teaching me new things about the work I do! 

When I tuned in with Pinky again to ask him what else he could share about his mysterious "Hannah" reference, he proceeded to blow my socks off.

"Hannah," he said, is a part of my own inner vocabulary as an animal intuitive. Its symbol is the figure-8 infinity symbol.

In the future, he told me, when I hear this name, "Hannah," in context with an animal communication session, I will know it is a reference to the unity and continuity that exists beneath the ever-changing landscape of daily life.

And for Stefanie specifically, Pinky wanted his mom to know that this name, a palindrome, is the same spelled backwards and forwards, and it means "favor" or "grace." 

In this way, the name "Hannah" is symbolic of their ever-enduring connection. Pinky and Stefanie have such a deep soul contract that they have been together in the past, are together now, will be together again and will ALWAYS be together.

What a beautiful and inspirational lesson for us both!

One Big Heart

As a Reiki Master practitioner, I always incorporate Reiki into any intuitive work I do. I became Reiki-attuned at the same time I was beginning my animal communication studies, so it has always felt very natural to combine the two together.

Often, my Reiki guides will assist in a communication session, sharing additional information, clarifying areas of confusion, building bridges of mutual trust between myself, the pet and their person.

In Pinky's case, the Reiki energy kept delivering the color pink to my inner intuitive visual landscape. And it didn't feel like it was a reference to Pinky's name (especially after he quickly renamed himself "Maestro!"). 

So I asked Pinky what this pink color wanted me to know about him. He explained it was in reference to where his greatest source of life force, power, stems from. 

In many beings (regardless of species), the source of power stems from the root chakra, symbolized by the color red. This is where all of us start, in fact, when we first incarnate into a physical body here on the Earth side. Some of us stay there forever and some of us who are on a transformational path begin to ascend. As we ascend, we move up into the higher chakras, which gives us a different energy or vibration and a different way of being in the world.

In Pinky's case, he wanted his mom to know he had quickly moved from his root (birth) chakra up into his heart chakra. While the heart chakra color is traditionally a bright green, in some traditions it also shows a pink center, and PInky wanted Stefanie to know his source of power has always been in his heart. That is why he had such a powerhouse impact in her life as Pinky and why he is the being that he is (whether embodied or in spirit).

As with so many "old soul" pets, Pinky also has an excellent sense of humor. He said to Stefanie, "I may have been all black on the outside, but on the inside I was (and am) all pink and light and love."

A Mysterious Icy Blue

But Pinky still wasn't done teaching us. 

Any time I speak with a pet in spirit, I always ask them to share about their death process. What was it like for them? What do they want their person to know? 

And since most humans are worried that they didn't time their pet's assisted departure right (too early, too late?) or that their pet suffered too much, this part of the animal communication session becomes extra important as an aid to the natural grieving process.

However, what Pinky showed me was crystal clear. 

As usual, I was sitting with my hands open, palms up, transmitting Reiki energy as I talked with him. Then all of a sudden both of my palms just snapped shut on their own. 

At that same moment, Pinky said to me, "it was time." He didn't want Stefanie to worry for a moment - he had to transitioned to spirit at the exact right time.

I also always ask if the animal can tell me what prompted their transition - what was going on with their physical body that caused it to become uninhabitable. 

Pinky showed me a visual of concentrated heat in his abdomen and hips and all the way down to his tail. Then a cool icy blue color began to pour down over his head and spread all the way down his body. 

Although I didn't know what this meant - and I often don't when an animal shares something with me that is meant for their person - I described this exact "fire and ice" visual with Stefanie, who then wrote back to explain what it meant to her:

So, the blue light. Of course I'm not sure 100% sure whether he was explaining what euthanasia feels like or his illness. But that's what I immediately had in mind. I hope the medical components translate well, and I want to keep it as simple as possible.

He had a form of lymph gland cancer, and one of the many symptoms and major problems that it causes is that the blood platelets are destroyed or are not formed again and so the blood becomes thinner and thinner, so to speak, and as a result less and less oxygen gets into the body. It's like you're getting slower, or like you're getting more and more tired and colder and colder. Then later on, the entire internal organs were actually full of metastases (the heat?) I hope that makes sense? Again, thanks a million, love, steff

We Will Always Be Together

Pinky had a lot more to share with Stefanie about her life, her importance in his life, and how deep their soul bond truly runs.

He made it clear their temporary outer separation served many purposes, one of which was to help her deepen her awareness of their inner unbroken connection. 

He closed out our conversation by giving Stefanie several very specific things she could do to deepen their connection and decrease the amount of time it would take for him to reincarnate and return to her.

Do you feel alone in the weight of grief from losing your soul pet? Animal communication truly can help.