Hounds, Horses and Hearts: Working Animals Tell Their Stories

By Shari E. Koval

Animal communicator Shari Koval shares the true stories of several dogs and horses who are part of the working world. These therapy animals, service dogs, athletes, police dogs, protectors, and healing animals tell their side of the story as animals with jobs. Their heartwarming tales and advice offer entertainment to readers of all ages

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Aug 25, 2017
• ISBN: 9781504386838

Shari E. Koval

Shari Koval is a retired Sr. Research Scientist, an Animal Communicator and owner of SKEnergy Healing LLC. She is a Reiki Master/Teacher, a Tuning Fork Therapy® Practitioner and is certified in Natural Healthcare for Pets. Shari specializes in Distance Healing and Communications. Her clientele are an even mix of humans and animals. Shari’s work as an Animal Communicator helps her clients to understand just what their animal friends need to live happier, better balanced lives. She enjoys motorcycling, kayaking, hiking and spending time with her husband, Mike and their dog, Corazon at their home in the heart of New York State’s Fingerlakes Region.

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Copyright © 2017 Shari E. Koval.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Balboa Press

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-5043-8682-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-8683-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017913184

Balboa Press rev. date: 08/25/2017

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgments:

Dedication

Preface

Chapter 1

Chapter 2 – The Questions

Chapter 3 – Benson

Chapter 4 – Rtf Country Dreamer

Chapter 5 – The Horses At Palomino Acres Llc

Chapter 6 – Charlie

Chapter 7 – Ava And Alden

Chapter 8 – Slick

Chapter 9 – Kurzon

Chapter 10 – Riesling

Chapter 11 – Rex

Chapter 12 – Ace

Chapter 13 – Will

Chapter 14 – Kane

Chapter 15 – Therapy Dogs

Chapter 16 – Frosty Grey Sox Bella

Chapter 17 – Piper

Chapter 18 – Floozie And Magpie

Chapter 19 – Bert

Chapter 20 – Riley

Chapter 21 – Some Final Thoughts…And Surprises

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:

S o many people to acknowledge and thank!

Jen Zitkov (www.jenergetics.com) who re-minded me how to communicate with animals.

Tammy Marsh (www.palominoacres.com) who, while working together on her book Talk to Me… Round Pen Work from the Horse’s Point of View, sparked the idea for this book. She’s a great friend and cheerleader!

All the wonderful people and animals who were gracious enough to allow me to share their stories and photos. Thank you for the tireless work you do to help others.

Thank you to my sweet rescue 5-year-old German Shepherd / American Dingo mix dog (we call her a Shingo), Corazon, for sitting with me in our woods as I wrote this book. Your job as our companion, official greeter and healer-in-training is greatly appreciated.

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Corazon at 3 months old

25% of the proceeds from this book will be donated to America’s VetDogs. (vetdogs.org)

Thank you to all those who serve in all capacities to protect us all at home and abroad…past, present and future.

25% of the proceeds from this book will be donated to Best Friends Animal Society. (bestfriends.org)

Thank you for the work you all do for all the animals.

DEDICATION:

T his book is dedicated to my family – two-legged and four.

My Mom and Pop, Beverly and Kent Kiehl who taught me about compassion for animals. They were always patient and loving to the menagerie of animals in the house as I was growing up. Dogs, bunnies, chameleons and even a fish tank in my 2nd floor bedroom that leaked into the kitchen below. I love you more than you will ever know. Thank you for a lifetime of love and support. My only regret is that my Pop didn’t see this book in print before his passing.

My sister, Kim Kiehl – the bravest woman I know. Teacher, Writer, Photographer, builder of dreams, shaper of young minds, editor and proof - reader extraordinaire, mother and Grammy – the best friend a girl can have. She taught me that nothing is impossible. Thanks for the book title, sis!

To all my nieces, nephews and greats…Thanks for letting me be That crazy Aunt who talks to animals.

To all the dogs I have shared my life with – Hoss, Dooley, Fred, Kelly, Riley and Corazon and all my animal clients too numerous to name. Each of you has taught me valuable lessons. I’m blessed to be able to talk with all of you – no matter where you are.

Finally, and most importantly, to my husband Mike. Thank you for all the years and years of unwavering support, patience, love and friendship. My other half, my sounding board, my traveling partner on this journey called life.

LOVE YOU ALL TO THE MOON AND BACK!

PREFACE

I never imagined myself writing a book. My sister, Kim is the writer of the family. The only writing I had done since college was emails, scientific reports or patent applications during my 30+ years as a Research Scientist for a Fortune 500 company in New York State. Then, in 2009, I became a Reiki Master. Achieving this quieted my frantic mind enough to allow me to communicate with animals. What a great way to balance that logical left brain that I used in my day job with that creative right brain that I needed for my calling job. EXCITED does not even come close to describing the feelings I had after my first successful animal communication…I mean…this is BUCKET LIST stuff for me.

I started my healing business, SKEnergy Healing LLC, to primarily focus on working with animals. I found that combining Animal Communication with the energy healing work made each part more complete and meaningful. I could tell the animals’ owners exactly how they were feeling, their likes and dislikes, and what they really needed to make their lives happier and healthier. Being able to join up (asking to feel what their bodies experience) allows me to physically feel, see, and hear what they are experiencing at that moment in time. What a gift this has been for me. My business has expanded to include a variety of healing modalities including Tuning Fork Therapy® (which horses love), singing bowl healing, color and crystal therapy, Natural Healthcare for Pets (which encompasses TTouch®, massage, Flower Essence blends, Aromatherapy, and Tradition Chinese Medicine based healing) and Animal Communication. My clientele is about evenly split between two-legged and four-legged…. humans and animals of all ages, shapes and sizes.

So, enough about me…how did this book idea come to fruition? My dear friend Tammy Marsh invited me to be a presenter at her 2011 Whole Horse Whole Human Holistic Expo at her Palomino Acres farm. I was to demonstrate animal Reiki, Tuning Fork Therapy and Animal Communication. The hands-on demonstration sparked Tammy’s interest enough to choose to become one of my Reiki students. Tammy is now a powerful Reiki Master in her own right and is doing wonderful work with clients of all kinds, especially horses. This demonstration also brought me several new horse clients and students. From this interaction, Tammy and I worked together to develop an experiment to actually ask horses how they felt about different training techniques which led to the publication of a book by Tammy Marsh. I was honored to be asked to be the Animal Communicator for the book Talk to Me… Round Pen Work from the Horse’s Point of View. After going through the writing process for Tammy’s book, it made me think…what about all those working animals out there? What do they think about the jobs they do? What is hard for them, what is easy? Do they like their work?

The more I thought about it, the more I was compelled to get their side of the story. Animals are very sentient beings…they share so many things biologically with humans…they feel what we feel – joy, sorrow, fear, pain, worry, loss and so on. In fact, in my years of working with many animals, I have found that the connection they have with their person is often so strong, they will share the same ailments and concerns as their person. Animals can teach us so many ways to live our lives more completely and joyfully…. if only we would listen to them. One of my favorite quotes is by A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh’s author— Some people talk to animals…not many listen though…That’s the problem. That sums it up quite nicely.

I would have loved to include an animal from every job in this book, but as you can imagine, there are a lot of privacy and safety issues concerning some jobs. You can’t just get a list of people to contact who have Seeing Eye animals, Hearing Ear animals, detection or military animals off the internet or even by contacting the groups that train these dogs. Believe me, I tried. You never want to impose on a person’s privacy. Perhaps after others read this book, they will want to learn what their special animal partner wants to say. I’m always ready to listen!

Although this book only shares stories about dogs and horses, all animals have their own jobs and their own way of making our lives better. I will be forever grateful to all the animals who have been a part of my life. They have made me a better person. Thank you is too small a sentiment for the gratitude I have for those folks and their animals who were willing to talk with me and share their stories and personal photos for this book. All the photos without credits are taken by me…a very unprofessional photographer.

CHAPTER 1

I have a problem…I feel the need to personally meet every animal I see. Apart from spiders or the blasted midges we once encountered on a motorcycle tour of Scotland with our dear friends from England, Victoria and Chris, I really do want to interact with all creatures great or small. I have always loved animals…we just seem to understand each other on a profound level. Even to this day, if I am in a room full of people I really enjoy, I will gravitate to whatever animal is present and be happy as a clam. This raises the question…are clams truly happy? I’ll have to ask one some time. ☺ Maybe it’s the introvert in me, but animals seem to ground me and make me feel more at home no matter where I am.

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A much younger me with our first dog,Hoss

People ask me all the time just how this Animal Communication thing works.

I believe that everyone is born with the gift of Inter-Species Communication. Once the knowledge of the world we live in starts to build in the brain, this gift of connection is sometimes set aside. You need a quiet mind and an open heart to allow yourself to make a bond at this level. Animal Communication is not an exact science…the communicator can only pick up what the animal is willing to share and different folks might get completely different answers to the same questions. It’s all a matter of interpretation. When I teach Communication classes, often the class members will get different answers but all seem to become a part of the big complete answer. We all just sense and pick up things differently.

When I was first practicing talking to animals, I would get single words, pictures or feelings as the answers to my questions. Now, as my communication muscles have been strengthened through years of practice, I can better describe and articulate what the animal is trying to tell or show me.

I find that some of the hardest conversations are with animals who have suffered some sort of trauma, be it emotional or physical. As hard as it is for me to see, hear and feel what they have been through, it does seem to help the animal tremendously. They often are finally able to let it go once they share it with someone.

Some of the most heartwarming chats are the times when I am brought in to see what an animal’s wishes are as it nears the end of its life on earth. There is a certain sense of peace that goes along with helping a distraught owner make that most difficult decision whether it is time to release their animal friend from pain or sickness. It is truly an honor and privilege to be the animal’s mouthpiece.

Sometimes the most meaningful conversations happen with animals that have passed. Being able to provide final messages to grieving owners provides that sense of peace and resolution. They know their beloved animal friends are happy and have moved on to the next part of their journey.

As I began the process of planning this book, my scientific left brain kicked in. Let’s come up with two lists of questions – one for the humans and one for the animals. From there I can just report their answers…and I’m done! Then the creative right brain took over and said, These wonderful animal beings and their people are bigger than just a set of answers to questions, they deserve more. So, I decided to tell the story of each animal so you, the reader, can really get to know them and hopefully grow to love them as much as I have.

CHAPTER 2 – THE QUESTIONS

W hile my creative brain took over when writing this, I did still decide to have question lists just to cover the main information I wanted and to help me get to know the animals and their people a bit more. My interpretation of each of the animals in general came from talking with them by using a photo or by meeting some in person. It’s a gut feeling of their energy and intent. Some of the animals in the book are Reiki or Communication clients of mine that have specific jobs…others I have never met.

To communicate, I have created a ritual for myself that allows me to make a strong connection with the animal. I first make a deep heart to heart joining and then just start to ask the questions telepathically. I then just free-write my interpretation of the answers, be it sentences, feelings, concerns or physical sensations. Some of the answers can seem a bit bizarre so it takes a while to have the confidence to know that what you are picking up is really coming from the animal and not your own brain. For example, I was once talking with a dog and his owner wanted me to ask him about his favorite toy. The dog kept showing me a picture of a rubber chicken. Now, how many dogs do you know that play with a rubber chicken? Once I reported the entire conversation to the dog’s owner and she read about the rubber chicken, she became a believer! Ahh…sweet validation!

Inter-species Communications can be done in person or by using a photo. It is easier and more exact