Angie Morin, Animal Communicator
Animal Intuitive
Some souls are just more sensitive than others.
These are the ones that are more reactive and more anxious.
They are also the ones that love deeper.
If you have one of these souls you are blessed. They chose you to protect them and understand them. It’s a gift to be chosen by a soul that is so sensitive. They are trusting you with their safety, their heart, and their soul.
If your animal’s behavior suddenly changes, take a moment to look at what’s happening in your environment — not just theirs.
Animals are incredibly sensitive to emotional and energetic shifts. They often respond to things like stress, routine changes, or unspoken tension before we even consciously recognize it ourselves.
What can look like anxiety, restlessness, or “acting out” is often their way of processing or reflecting something deeper.
Before correcting the behavior, try this:
Pause and ask yourself —
“What has changed recently, even in a subtle way?”
Then observe your pet without reacting. You may start to notice patterns that weren’t obvious before.
When animals feel understood, their behavior often begins to shift naturally.
If you’re unsure what your pet may be responding to, this is something I help uncover in animal communication sessions — identifying what they’re experiencing and what they’re trying to express.
Understanding is often the first step toward change
What does stress in animals look like?
* Bad Behavior
What causes stress?
* Physical Illness (Animal or You)
* Changes in environment, routine, home, etc..
* Over crowding
* Lack of basic needs
* Lack of desired affection
* Transportation (for some)
* Forced interactions (with animals or humans)
* isolation
* Inconsistent cues or expectations
* Bullying (from animals or humans)
* Noise Pollution
These are just a few of the things things can cause stress.
So when you see bad behavior, you don’t need to correct the behavior, you need to address the stressor.
When animals are reactive (dogs, cats, horses, goats), correction is not going to yield the fastest results. Exposure is not going to lead the fastest results.
What do these animals need? They are reacting out of emotion.
When you are emotional and someone tells you to “calm down”, does that work? Nope.
If someone were to discipline you would that work? Nope, you’d get more angry.
If someone were to correct you, tell you youre wrong, tell you youre over reacting, would that work? Nope. You are reacting because you truly feel the emotions causing that reaction.
If youre reacting and someone else fires back with high emotion, will that work? Nope, youll both keep escalating.
If you were emotionally triggered or felt unsafe by something and your parent kept making you see that thing, would that work? Nope you would stay in a heightened emotional place and continue to feel unsafe. In fact, you may even feel betrayed.
Teaching emotional regulation (which is what reactivity is in animals) is not done through correction, discipline, exposure, or training. It’s taught over time by starting with limiting exposure to triggers.
You have to recondition and rewire the brain. The brain has been conditioned to react. “Neurons that fire together, wire together”. Most people have heard this. It applies to animals too.
It takes time for the brain to rewire. How does it rewire? By taking preventative measures to keep your pet calm and feeling safe. Love means acknowledging, to your animal, their fear, their anxiety, their level of discomfort is REAL to them. Aggression is also a form of all of those emotions.
By limiting exposure you allow your animals brain to literally rewire. You take them out of living in stress to living in calm and in peace. Once this happens you can start to gradually introduce triggers at a VERY far distance for VERY few seconds. Without ever crossing the threshold of allowing your pet to feel stressed.
This process takes SO long. But if are truly committed to it, you can take an animal that lives in stress to an animal that lives in safety and peace. Do you know how good that feels to them? It changes their entire life. And it will change yours too.
You two will develop the deepest bond and true trust.
And if you can’t commit to what it takes to help a reactive animal leave in peace, at least don’t get upset with them when they do react. I understand now everyone has the time for this. You can still love your pet for who they are, understand their emotions and fears are real to them, and most importantly, keep your emotions calm and neutral when they do react so they feel safe with you.
Play with your pets because it’s good for them and its good for YOU!
Playing with your pets increases the emotional bond the two of you share.
It keeps your pets mentally and physically active… and it does the same for you!! Double bonus!
This is especially important if you have adopted an animal later in their life and missed their early developmental and socialization years. The best news is… age doesn’t matter! Playing with your animal as an adult or senior will still develop the same trust and deep emotional bond that it doesn’t with a baby animal!
The most important part is finding play that is enjoyable and fun for your pet (taking into consideration any fears, anxieties, or trust issues). Animals without anything holding them back tend to like, hide & seek, peek a boo, chasing each other, etc… As long as you observe your pets behavior to make sure your pet feels safe this is fun for BOTH of you!
* Quick reminder, animals DO NOT like jokes. Jokes are not play. Jokes break trust *
You don’t have to play for long, even just a little bit every day will create benefits and rewards for both of you.
Be creative. Don’t just mindlessly through a ball or use a laser. Play WITH your pet. Engage WITH your pet. Put your phone away and be present. Let them play back with you!
Play is a beautiful, fun way to develop trust, deepen emotional bonds, and build new relationships with new pets.
Let’s talk about “Yes” And “ No”. We can teach our animals these words just like we teach “sit”, “stay”, Etc.
Most humans use “No” very assertively, loudly, aggressively, with a deep (mean) voice, etc… This is unnecessary and just scares your pet. Your pet doesn’t learn what the word “No” means, they just know in that moment you are upset, angry, frustrated, etc. and they don’t know why!
Instead teach them what “No” actually means. It means to stop doing whatever they are doing. This is done with a REGULAR, calm voice. It becomes a request, not an emotional trigger for your pet. When you teach them use the word “No”, calmly, quietly and in a regular voice and tone. Move them away from whatever they are doing that you disapprove of, and reward them for discontinuing the disapproved behavior. The reward should be fun, happy and upbeat!
You can say “No”, and when your pet stops whatever it’s doing or you move your pet away, then say “Good!” Or “Yes!”, excited, happily and fun! Your pet will soon learn when you say No, a reward /happiness/ APPROVAL comes when they stop!
Then guess what? It’s not an emotional trigger for them. It’s not a reason for them to feel like they let you down. It’s a reason for them to SUCCEED, to get your approval, to FEEL GOOD!
See how that changes the energy? Then, when you catch your pet doing something you don’t want them to do, you can say it calmly, quietly, and regularly, and they will stop and wait for your approval. Just make sure you give it to them if you wan this to keep working.
This is a TOTALLY different spin on the word “No”, compared to what most humans do and use with animals. I promise it will change EVERYTHING. This is what I mean by learning to show up better for your pets and communicate in THEIR way, not yours. Communicate with respect.
Now the word “Yes”. You can teach your animals if they are unsure (because once they truly know the meaning of “No”, they will look at you for approval), you can teach them “ Yes” means they may proceed with their request. They are allowed to ask for things too!
You can teach your animals the MEANING of “Yes” and “No”, and when you do communication starts to go BOTH ways. They will ask you for permission before engaging in activities that are foreign or unknown (with eye contact). And you can tell them, “ Yes” or “No”.
It’s really cool and it really will deepen your relationship and improve communication. Like everything else though it takes time and consistency to teach them what those words mean. But it is worth the time and effort.
And again, when teaching animals EVERYONE that engages with that animal has to be consistent with their requests and method of requests and use of words for animals to learn without confusion.
Animals AMAZE me because they are so smart. Think about how much they are asked to adapt to a human world. And they do. But let me tell you a few things they dont understand, and never will.
* Jokes. Playing jokes on pets causes distrust and confusion. This applies to every pet in every situation. Social media tries to make us believe otherwise. Their reactions, that humans find funny, are baed in fear, confusion, and anxiety. Animals have a sense of human, just not like we do! They’d rather make YOU laugh with their silly behaviors.
* Yelling. Yelling at animals is not discipline, it’s fear provoking. They don’t understand yelling the way humans do. They don’t understand you can yell one minute and then be happy the next. Animals avoid confrontation, ALWAYS. It’s a last resort. Yelling carries a very scary energy for animals, even if they act ok. These animals that act ok are internalizing it.
By yelling I mean, at the animal or at each other! If you yell out of anger or frustration at a human, but the animal hears it, they panic.
* Delayed discipline. If you come home to a mess, it’s too late. You can not discipline your animal. They don’t live in the same “time” we do. All they know is they are happy to see you when you walk through the door. If that happiness turns to anger or frustration, you will literally break their heart. And they will have NO IDEA why you are mad, even if you think you are being clear. You aren’t.
It’s only human of us to humanize our animals. But when we do it to the degree that we lose sight of what they actually can and do understand, humanizing them becomes a burden for them instead of a more blessed life.
If you could truly see into an animals heart the way I do, and the way some others in my life of work do, you would never, and I mean never, ever, EVER get frustrated, angry, or impatient with them no matter WHAT they do. I sincerely mean that.
My dogs could rip my cough apart (they wouldn’t, LOL, but could because they are dogs!), and if I came home to that I would be discouraged, but I would greet them with love, smiles, and hugs like I always do. I would ignore the couch. I would be upset with myself for missing a cue, that led them to that behavior. I would NOT be upset with them. Not even upset with them. Not even 1%. Why? Because I know how they think, I know what timeline they live in, and I know what their hearts are made of.
Now if I caught them doing it, I would take them away from the couch, tell them NO, softly and quietly, ask them to sit while I pick it up. Not let them be involved in picking it up (because I don’t want them to thinking its a fun activity WITH me!). LOL. And then move on with my day never to mention it again.
I wasn’t always that way. I used to get frustrated with animals at times, just like everyone else. I made plenty of mistakes, like everyone does. But when I started developing this gift years ago, I changed. And if you need to, you can change too. We can only change when we learn. But you are all here to learn, and through this, you will change and show up more fairly for your animals too.
My current pets have the best version of me and yours can too. We can’t change the mistakes we have made in the past because we didn’t know any better, or we let emotion get the best of us, but we can choose to learn as much as we can so we can show up for our pets in a way they understand and in a way that is fair.
And remember our pets from the past knew exactly what they were choosing and they still chose us, even if we were not our best. They helped us get to where we are NOW for our current pets. How much more does that make you love them now?
Tomorrow I want to talk about the word “No” and the word “Yes”. A very important part of our communication with animals.
If you want to know how to show up better for your animals, I promise a reading will help you do just that. 1.207.849.0096 Text. AngieAngieMorin.com
The foundation of a well behaved animal is not obedience. It’s not even training. It’s your relationship with that animal.
If your pet (any species) thinks good things happen WITH YOU, they will be super eager to do what you ask.
What does it mean when I say good things happen WITH you?
Rewards – Lots and lots of rewards
Praise – always telling your animal how wonderful they are, how smart they are, how proud you are of them. They understand ALL our words because words carry energy!
FUN – If what you are doing is FUN, they will want to do it over and over and over. Training is SO easy, when it is FUN
Feel Good Energy – If your pet feels GOOD when around you, guess what? They want to be around you. They want to do the things you want them to do because they feel GOOD!
If you are disappointed in your pet, always criticizing your pet, always pointing out what your pet does wrong and rarely rewarding what is correct, your pet will not feel good.
Your pet should feel that everything wonderful in their life happens around YOU, because of YOU, and with YOU. And if you choose to create that energy, your pet will do anything you ask, happily, willingly, and without resistance.
It is a choice. You choose how to teach (train) your pet. You can make it fun. You can focus only on the good and ignore the bad, or you can be authoritative, demanding, and rigid. I promise you the first approach works better and quicker. The first approach creates happier and more relaxed and adaptable animals. The first approach is what they deserve.
Animals have free will, like we do. Their free will should be honored. They should never be forced into anything (unless it is truly for their safety). Make it fun, make them feel good about themselves, and they will thrive. I promise!
When you bring a new pet into your home or barn they will be living in a state of stress for the first week or more.
To them, its like being dropped into a foreign country without notice. A place where you don’t know anyone and no one speaks your language. A place where you don’t understand the language.
Their cortisol is going to be HIGH from this stress even when you have “saved” them. They are too stressed to know they’ve been saved.
They are going to be overwhelmed, make mistakes, and have accidents.
They are going to lack sleep, be confused, and try to protect themselves.
They are going to be living in survival mode.
If more people understood this and had the patience these animals deserve during this stressful time, more animals would stay in their homes (and not be returned). And more animals will settle in SOONER because instead of adding to their stress, your understanding and patience can minimize their stress.
Trying to be too friendly too quick, causes stress. Smothering them or introducing them to lots of new people, new animals or new places can cause stress.
Any animal moving to a new home (or barn) is going to feel ENORMOUS stress no matter how “good” the home is.
You won’t see the animal you truly have in your family for weeks. What they show you will be cortisol driven, survival driven.
Let them settle at their own pace without any expectations at all.
Allow them grace during their mistakes. Ignore the mistakes. I can promise you they are already worried. Knowing they “messed up” makes everything even harder for them.
Most importantly put yourself in their shoes, see the word from their perspective.
If you had no idea you were moving, but suddenly got dropped off in a foreign country where no one speaks your language and where you can’t understand the language. How would YOU feel?
Then imagine feeling the energy of those around you being impatient, knowing you made mistakes, but you don’t understand what those mistakes where. How would YOU feel?
Imagine trying to communicate and no one understanding. How would YOU feel?
Imagine living under expectations that you have never heard of? Not being taught with patience and kindness, just expected to know. How would YOU feel?
That’s how our animals feel.
But you can make their “move” safe and comfortable just by giving them time, patience and love. Releasing ALL expectations. And letting them show you when they are ready to open up, meet others, and go new places.
Angie Morin:
Our pets follow us blindly. They are the most loyal being you will EVER have in your life. Their love and their loyalty is a GIFT that should be protected, treasured, and honored.
Unfortunately when animals are rehomed, these “rides” aren’t what they had hoped.
We owe it to them to keep them safe, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.
What does this mean?
They will follow you loyally, blindly, every single day of their life. Even when you make a mistake. Even the undeserving humans that neglect or hurt their animals intentionally, even those humans have animals that will follow the blindly and be loyally devoted for their entire life.
They give you their whole heart, they trust you with their life, wrap your head around how deep that loyalty and love is. Wrap your head around how valuable that gift is. When you really think about how valuable and precious that gift is, do you see why you carry such a big responsibility now? The responsibility to protect them, love them and care for them equally as much as they do you, every single day, for the rest of that animals life.
Angie Morin:
Our pets follow us blindly. They are the most loyal being you will EVER have in your life. Their love and their loyalty is a GIFT that should be protected, treasured, and honored.
Unfortunately when animals are rehomed, these “rides” aren’t what they had hoped.
We owe it to them to keep them safe, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.
What does this mean?
They will follow you loyally, blindly, every single day of their life. Even when you make a mistake. Even the undeserving humans that neglect or hurt their animals intentionally, even those humans have animals that will follow the blindly and be loyally devoted for their entire life.
They give you their whole heart, they trust you with their life, wrap your head around how deep that loyalty and love is. Wrap your head around how valuable that gift is. When you really think about how valuable and precious that gift is, do you see why you carry such a big responsibility now? The responsibility to protect them, love them and care for them equally as much as they do you, every single day, for the rest of that animals life.
