Communication across time and space between humans and animals
The dreams
and visions began over a year ago. I would be
in the midst of a conversation and suddenly I
would find myself walking in the meadow with a
giant black longhaired dog at my side. Always
we would be headed toward the log house, ambling
alongside the rushing river, taking in the fragrance
of the sage as we crushed it under our feet with
each step that we took. The sun shone gently and
the smell of spring was in the air. The vision
was never so intrusive that it interrupted the
conversation; it simply lingered on the edges
of my mind. At night, I would frequently have
the same dream.
As I thought about the dog of my visions, it
occurred to me that it was the reincarnation
of Hans. Hans was the German Shepherd puppy
that was born to my dog, Gretchen. Gretchen
was bred to a champion German Shepherd male
both as a small adventure and for a little money
making. All of the other puppies sold early
on, but Hans stayed with us until he was four
months old. During that time he and I became
very attached to one another. I would carry
him everywhere, much like a Teddy Bear. He clung
to my neck as we walked about the house and
the back yard. I was devastated when someone
finally bought him. Life went on. A couple of
years later, I took Gretchen to obedience training
at a park in the middle of town, far from our
house. On the first day as I got out of the
car, a giant German Shepherd came bounding across
the field, put his paws on my shoulders and
nearly knocked me down as he tried to leap into
my arms. It was Hans! The embarrassed owner
came running over to us, apologizing for Han’s
odd behavior. I laughed amongst my tears and
explained how it wasn’t odd behavior at
all for the two of us. It was an old habit—he
had simply gained 100 lbs since we saw each
other last. I never saw Hans after that day,
but his memory has been with me ever since.
It seemed natural to me that he would have reincarnated
as this giant black dog that was haunting my
dreams and my waking life.
In June when my husband bought me a paint horse,
we thought perhaps the visions would go away,
but they simply became more intense. Clearly,
it was not the paint horse walking by my side
in my visions. It was Hans! I had many trips
scheduled for the fall and no way to care for
a dog, so I didn’t go looking for the
dog in my vision. I figured that if he wanted
me he would need to find me. As fall approached
and the air began to hint of winter, the visions
of Hans and the dreams became even more intense.
I found myself telling him to wait until after
Christmas when my trips were over. I would look
for him then. The dreams only seemed to intensify.
When I returned from the First International
Tai Chi for Health conference in Seoul, Korea
on December 8, I looked forward to after the
holidays and meeting Hans in person. I had a
busy two weeks ahead of me with a couple of
NDE talks and a visit from most of the family
for a week. After I completed the first talk
on December 12, I picked up the local liberal
newspaper. I did that occasionally, maybe once
or twice a year. As I flipped through the paper,
there was Hans face looking back at me! He was
featured as the “dog of the week”
at the local Humane Society. When I saw his
face, I knew immediately that it was him. I
had a Grand Rounds presentation at the hospital
the next day, so I went home to prepare for
it, but a good portion of my mind was centered
on Hans.
After the talk the next morning, I was scheduled
to visit with a friend. Directly after visiting
with her, I went to the Humane Society to visit
Hans. It was love at first sight—all over
again! This time he was the exact giant black
dog that I had envisioned in my dreams. He did
stand waist high and weighed 130 lbs when they
brought him into the Humane Society as a stray
dog in October. No wonder I had been dreaming
about him so intensely the last six weeks! We
spent 30 minutes together that first day. He
lay down on his side and just relaxed while
I stroked him and talked to him. It was as if
to say, “Well, you finally got here. Finally,
I can relax.” As I sat with him, I realized
that I would need to have Mark meet him before
I just arrived home with a 130 lb. dog. When
he got up and walked down the hall away from
me, I could tell that he had a significant gait
problem. The girls who cared for him said that
his gait and size did make him a little clumsy
making him a poor choice for a family with small
children. They referred to him as a “gentle
giant” and I couldn’t agree more.
Because I my 3 and 6 year old grandsons were
coming to visit in 3 days, I said that I couldn’t
pick him up until after they left at Christmas,
but that I would get him the day after Christmas
with my husband’s okay.
I left the Humane Society that day walking
on air. Hans and I had found each other again
over space and time! I couldn’t refrain
from gushing about Hans at a Christmas party
that evening. As I glowingly talked about him
with our neighbor who is also a vet, he asked
me to let him examine Hans before I took him.
He explained that sometimes those very large
dogs had back problems with nerve degeneration
that caused enormous pain, incontinence, and
finally the inability to get up. He would not
be in his office for four days, but asked me
to get an appointment so that he could see Hans
before I adopted him. Those were sobering thoughts,
but I pushed them aside that evening.
The next morning Mark and I were at the Humane
Society when they opened at 10 a.m. He had his
first surgical case scheduled for 11 a.m. but
took the time for a quick visit before he went
to work. As an orthopedic surgeon, he did a
quick exam on Hans and determined that he did
not have hip or knee problems. He doesn’t
do backs in either humans or in animals, so
he didn’t do a back exam. We talked with
the head of the Humane Society and he agreed
to take Hans to the vet on Tuesday when the
vet returned from a long weekend. It was standard
practice for them to pay for a vet visit if
the dog had a questionable health problem. I
agreed to pay for any X-rays since that was
not a standard part of the visit.
We left as Mark needed to go to work. The next
evening, my daughter arrived for a week from
Chicago followed by my son, his wife, and the
two grandsons the following day. We spent the
weekend in Durango before heading out to our
ranch in Pagosa Springs for a little “Christmas
at the ranch” vacation, especially for
the boys. On the way out on Monday, Joany and
I stopped at the Humane Society to meet Hans.
He was incontinent in his pen while we were
there and I was impressed with the amount of
waste products a huge dog produces. I asked
the girls again if he was house broken and they
said that he only had occasional accidents if
he had to wait too long or if he was excited.
Well, we were there at 10 a.m. sharp again and
I just assumed that they hadn’t had time
to take him outdoors yet after being in his
cage overnight.
We went on to the ranch, but his looming vet
visit was very much on my mind. As my medical
knowledge, the incontinence episode, and the
gait problems began to combine with my intuition,
I came to be fairly certain that the news would
not be good when Hans was examined by the vet.
It was good that I had time to prepare myself
because, indeed, the vet visit confirmed my
worst fears. He had very significant spinal
degeneration with wasting of some muscles and
poor rectal tone. The vet’s prediction
was that he would die naturally in the next
few months, but that he was in significant pain
at this time and the compassionate thing to
do was to euthanize him now. I agreed with him
and so the following day Hans left this world
in this incarnation.
Since he died, I have not been having dreams
of him nearly as often. I have felt his presence
on occasion and have definitely invited him
to reincarnate in the near future so that we
can spend a whole dog’s lifetime together.
I feel certain that he will return to me in
the next two to three years, perhaps as a large
black dog, but perhaps in another form. I have
confidence if we could call to each other across
space and time for me to be instrumental in
his release from pain, we can call to each other
across space and time to have fun together.
I have heard so many people tell me their stories
of seeing beloved pets as they were dying or
meeting a pet in a pet store or animal shelter
that they already “knew.” Now that
I have had my own experience of being called
by an old friend, I believe those stories at
an even deeper level.
Telling stories like this reminds me of some
words from Jean Shinoda Bolen that I just love.
In Crossing to Avalon,
she says, “to bring about a paradigm shift
in the culture that will change assumptions
and attitudes, a critical number of us have
to tell the stories of our personal revelations
and transformations.” I believe that stories
like this remind us that the human species does
not have dominion over the animals but was meant
to live in cooperation and union with the other
species on this planet. That is one of the attitudes
that I think must be changed as we move to a
new culture that honors all of the species on
this planet. Another assumption that it challenges
is that we can’t contact each other across
space and time whether that contact is between
humans or between humans and another species.
I invite you to remember and share your own
stories of profound human and animal interconnections.
It is one more way to move toward a paradigm
shift!
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