Soulmate Dog
Once in a lifetime, we experience love with an animal unlike any other kind of love. Michelle Slater tells the true story of her soulmate dog, Brady, and how profound their connection was at every level. Anyone who met them could feel it and would say, “He’s your soulmate.”
When Brady faced a life-threatening illness leading to kidney failure, Michelle worked with an animal communicator, to guide her through every step of the harrowing medical journey. Michelle always consulted with her dog, Brady, to understand what he wanted and how he felt about continuing treatment. His observations, opinions and desires were clearly communicated, and Brady was a full-partner in the medical decisions and directions Michelle took. He recovered for a year, and when it was time, he fully orchestrated every detail of his passing. This inspiring story shows us how communicating with animals changes our relationship to embrace our Soul Equality.
Listen to Episode #47 Now:
BIO:
Dr. Michelle B. Slater is a scholar of comparative literature and president of the Mayapple Center for the Arts and Humanities, an educational nonprofit where artists and scholars come to teach and collaborate. Michelle holds a Ph.D. in French Literature from Johns Hopkins. She is the author of Starving to Heal in Siberia: My Radical Recovery from Late-Stage Lyme Disease and How it Could Help Others, Soulmate Dog, and the forthcoming novel The Lunatic. She has also published articles on animal studies.
Transcript:
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Announcer: This is Pet Life Radio.
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Announcer: Let's talk pets.
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Announcer: Welcome to The Human-Animal Connection Show, where we believe we can communicate with all animals.
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Announcer: Join us as we explore the 33 principles and healing methods of The Human-Animal Connection.
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Announcer: As animal lovers, we know that you share our commitment to making the world a kinder place for all creatures.
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Announcer: Together, let's embrace the transformative healing power of The Human-Animal Connection.
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Genie Joseph: Hi, everyone.
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Genie Joseph: Welcome to The Human-Animal Connection podcast.
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Genie Joseph: So glad you're with us again today.
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Genie Joseph: I have a really delightful guest.
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Genie Joseph: Her name is Michelle Slater, PhD, and she's gonna tell the true story of her soulmate relationship with a dog named Brady.
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Genie Joseph: So Michelle, welcome to the show.
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Michelle Slater: Thank you, Genie.
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Michelle Slater: Thank you for having me.
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Michelle Slater: I'm delighted to be here.
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Genie Joseph: Yeah.
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Genie Joseph: Now I know you've had many dogs in your life or several dogs in your life, and you've loved them all, but there was something different about Brady.
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Genie Joseph: Can you explain what you mean by a soul dog?
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Michelle Slater: Yes, I absolutely can.
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Michelle Slater: And I think that a lot of your listeners will relate to the notion of a soulmate dog or a soulmate animal.
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Michelle Slater: I think that the Oxford English Dictionary refers to a soulmate as a human, specifically ideally suited to another.
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Michelle Slater: And I extend that definition to be inter-species, because what I experienced with Brady from the very first time that I met him when he was an eight-week-old German shepherd was what people experience as love at first sight.
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Michelle Slater: And I had experienced that with a human before, but I most certainly did with him.
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Michelle Slater: And so I made this unofficial contract.
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Michelle Slater: I promised him that I would do my utmost best to protect him, to take care of him, to honor him.
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Michelle Slater: And our relationship deepened through many tools that I discuss in Soulmate Dogs, such as animal communication.
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Michelle Slater: And I discovered the full-fledged meaning of what it meant to really love an animal like that or a non-human animal.
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Genie Joseph: Yeah.
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Genie Joseph: Well, that's wonderful.
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Genie Joseph: We're definitely going to get into how animal communication helped you throughout your relationship.
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Genie Joseph: But I want to ask you, just want to drill down for one second about this love at first sight.
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Genie Joseph: Now, did you feel, I just really, like, did you know it?
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Genie Joseph: Did you hear it?
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Genie Joseph: Did you feel it in your bones?
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Genie Joseph: Did you smell it?
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Genie Joseph: Like, can you just, like, for one moment drill down into that, just that moment of knowing?
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Michelle Slater: I can, because I know what I was wearing.
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Michelle Slater: I know what his eyes looked like.
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Michelle Slater: It was this moment of you are the one dog and I am all in.
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Michelle Slater: And it was, we made eye contact.
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Michelle Slater: And once we made eye contact and I actually, I picked him up.
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Michelle Slater: I was, I was, I was lost, Jeannie.
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Michelle Slater: I knew from that moment that I was going to be his person.
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Michelle Slater: And, and we just looked at each other.
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Michelle Slater: It was just this knowing of instant love that deepened so profoundly into unconditional love.
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Michelle Slater: And he, he really showed me what it meant to love unconditionally.
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Michelle Slater: And I think it is, it's so beautiful in the, in the animal-human connection and relationship.
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Michelle Slater: I think that our soulmate animals teach us what it really means to love unconditionally because they do it so effortlessly.
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Michelle Slater: And easily, in a way that humans have a hard time doing, whether it's childhood wounds or, or the messiness of the psychology of being human.
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Michelle Slater: I think with animals, it's just very pure.
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Michelle Slater: And so that deepened into this unconditional love.
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Michelle Slater: And I, and I encountered many people who saw us together and said, oh, they are soulmates.
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Genie Joseph: Oh, wow.
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Genie Joseph: Yeah.
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Genie Joseph: So people could feel it in your presence.
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Genie Joseph: They could.
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Genie Joseph: Yeah.
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Genie Joseph: Yeah.
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Genie Joseph: Yeah.
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Genie Joseph: We see that sometimes with our therapy dogs that we take to visit different high school students, you can kind of feel what it's a soulmate connection.
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Genie Joseph: When it's just love, I mean, there's nothing wrong with love.
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Michelle Slater: There's nothing wrong with loving.
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Michelle Slater: So, you know, I told him from the time that he was a small puppy, I said, I go to the moon for you.
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Michelle Slater: I'll do whatever it takes.
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Michelle Slater: If you ever need me, I am there.
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Michelle Slater: And then as Soulmate Dog shows in our story, I had every opportunity to prove my words.
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Michelle Slater: And I did.
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Genie Joseph: Yes.
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Michelle Slater: I went to every length for him out of that that we share.
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Genie Joseph: That's wonderful.
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Genie Joseph: So can you tell us one story?
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Genie Joseph: But we'll get to the next phase of Brady's life.
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Genie Joseph: I know he became ill, but what is one story of that, you know, little later on, the first initial you knew he was a soulmate, but what was life like in the soulmate zone?
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Michelle Slater: That is an excellent question.
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Michelle Slater: And I do go into that.
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Michelle Slater: It's on Lengthen Soulmate Dog.
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Michelle Slater: I talk about our quotidian life together.
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Michelle Slater: And one episode would be that we just loved both of us, a day where we could both stay home, and I had gardens outside and outdoor spaces so that we could both be outside.
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Michelle Slater: And he loved to just even commune with me through a meal.
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Michelle Slater: He didn't like to eat unless I was sitting down next to him having something, even if it was just a cup of coffee or some berries.
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Michelle Slater: So we would be together, we would commune together in the most simple terms, and spend a day together on our property without having to leave, and we would make eye contact.
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Michelle Slater: I might be gardening, and he would just look at me and be playing with his ball outside nearby, and we would snuggle, have a nap maybe, and I would be invited out to see a concert or something, and I would decline.
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Michelle Slater: I would say that I had plans, and my plans were Brady.
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Michelle Slater: Wow.
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Michelle Slater: So I referred to his company, and we had these moments that we employed, even before the animal communication, nonverbal gestures and gazes, and just the feeling of knowing that you were with a profound being that I respected, I admired, I valued.
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Genie Joseph: Wow.
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Genie Joseph: Sometimes I think as humans, we have this ache and we try to get another human to fill it, and sometimes it doesn't work.
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Genie Joseph: Sometimes what we need is this other quality of love, this unconditional love, this absolute love, this love without judgment, love without words, love without conditions.
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Genie Joseph: It's so wonderful when we can experience that with any being, but it's lovely to experience with an animal.
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Genie Joseph: So I want to talk a little bit about your journey, learning animal communication, what it was like for you.
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Genie Joseph: Do you communicate with other animals other than Brady or other than your own dogs?
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Genie Joseph: Tell us about becoming an animal communicator yourself.
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Genie Joseph: I know you worked with an animal communicator, but what about your journey?
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Michelle Slater: Yes, I like talking about this because it was so unexpected for me myself as a trained philosopher in skepticism to embrace the notion of telepathic animal communication.
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Michelle Slater: And it involves really almost a subtle meditative technique of quieting the mind from distractions and being able to tune in to a specific animal and requesting permission to speak with them in a non-verbal way, almost like sending a non-verbal voicemail to them.
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Michelle Slater: And then you quiet your mind and you listen in, and you could receive the taste of something, a visual image of something or even words that could form complete sentences.
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Michelle Slater: Every animal is different in their form of communicating.
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Michelle Slater: So at first, I had appointments and consultations with animal communicator, Debbie McGillivray, who was able to tune in to Brady on such a high level and respond to such intricate questions with information that provided just irrefutable truths that I knew that it was a legitimate form of communication.
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Michelle Slater: And once I knew that, I learned myself with Debbie's home study course, and she then gave me animals to practice with, where there were her own cats, dogs, horses.
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Michelle Slater: I attended her workshops where we would practice with each other's animals, and that was very interesting.
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Michelle Slater: I had one experience that I write about in Soulmate Dog, Jeannie, in which my practice partner and I were working together, and I had connected with her dog, and she had asked me the question, how can I show my partner, my husband, that this animal communication is really true?
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Michelle Slater: And so I asked that to her dog, and her dog, I have this visual picture of these metals, like war metals in a drawer under some t-shirts or something.
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Michelle Slater: And I thought, okay, I wonder if I'm getting this right.
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Michelle Slater: This doesn't make sense.
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Michelle Slater: But I said it out loud to her.
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Michelle Slater: And she guessed because she said, but those are my husband's relative's metals.
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Michelle Slater: And she knew exactly where they were in the drawer.
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Michelle Slater: And so her dog was showing her this to try to prove that it was actually true and real.
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Michelle Slater: So I had these interesting experiences that kept confirming for me that animal communication is a viable way to develop our relationship with animals.
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Michelle Slater: And then it became a very important tool, which I employed, I called myself, and I still do an intermediate level animal communicator.
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Michelle Slater: And I do communicate with Genji, my wonderful Swiss white shepherd who's here with me.
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Michelle Slater: And of course, I did very much so with Brady.
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Michelle Slater: But when it came time for us to employ animal communication in his medical journey, I did need the help of Debbie for more higher level questions.
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Michelle Slater: But it was very important to me because he could advocate for himself as a patient through this tool.
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Michelle Slater: And I could check in with him when he was ill and verify that he wanted to continue his treatments that I wasn't imposing anything on him.
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Michelle Slater: And so it became very important in his medical journey as well.
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Genie Joseph: Yeah.
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Genie Joseph: And we really want to talk about that because we'd like to see animals be more partners in their medical healing journeys.
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Genie Joseph: You know, we're not for, we're not against, we have no position.
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Genie Joseph: But we really want to see animals communicate what their needs and wants are.
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Genie Joseph: And I think so many people would like that.
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Genie Joseph: And it'd be wonderful if that was the routine, the norm, you know, that there were animal communicators on staff with vets or whatever it is, however it could work, where people could get access to a two-way conversation.
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Genie Joseph: Now, I know you've been in both worlds.
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Genie Joseph: You've been in the science world, the philosophy world, the left brain world, the logical world.
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Genie Joseph: Have you found that they are accepting of some of these ideas, or is it still too far out for them?
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Genie Joseph: How do you deal with people who don't believe?
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Genie Joseph: Let's put it that way.
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Michelle Slater: That is an excellent question.
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Michelle Slater: And whereas I do feel that traditional allopathic veterinary medicine is far more open to holistic veterinary treatments, I did find myself almost embarrassed to mention to his veterinary surgeons, his kidney specialists, that I was employing the techniques of animal communication.
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Michelle Slater: At this point, clearly, I wouldn't be, and the book is out there.
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Michelle Slater: But what I did discuss is with his holistic vet, with Brady's holistic vet, and they were open.
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Michelle Slater: And I do think that the realm of animal communication is becoming more mainstream.
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Michelle Slater: It's more well-known, it's becoming more practiced, there are more animal communicators out there.
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Michelle Slater: And I think that, I think we could be getting close to the possibility of having an animal communicator on staff, or on call, or available for consultations.
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Michelle Slater: Unfortunately, it can be done at distance, so it doesn't need to be someone in the office.
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Michelle Slater: I would absolutely like to see that happen because, as you said, I think it's so important for animals to be able to advocate for themselves.
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Michelle Slater: And that is a primary way that they would be able to do so.
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Michelle Slater: So I'm all in favor for it.
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Genie Joseph: Yes.
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Michelle Slater: I promote it any way I can.
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Genie Joseph: Yes.
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Genie Joseph: I'll have to connect you up.
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Genie Joseph: There's another animal communicator in Switzerland, and we had her on our show, Paloma Bercci.
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Genie Joseph: And she has a rabbit who will do veterinary visits at a distance, and get in and diagnose very specific thing.
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Genie Joseph: Now, the rabbit is not a veterinarian, but the rabbit will say, go look at this thing here.
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Genie Joseph: You know, it will give very accurate information that she's been able to use with the veterinarian.
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Genie Joseph: So it's just amazing when you...
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Genie Joseph: And there are some animals that are particularly...
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Genie Joseph: I'm not good at it at all.
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Genie Joseph: I do animal communication, but I would never approach diagnostic conversations because I don't have that training.
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Genie Joseph: But when you find an animal that can do that or help humans do that, it's just a very exciting new arena.
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Genie Joseph: You know, it's like a revolution in animal-human partnership when we open those communication doors.
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Michelle Slater: It absolutely is.
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Michelle Slater: I would like to be connected with Paloma very much so.
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Michelle Slater: I was not aware of the concept of a rabbit being able to do that.
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Michelle Slater: But it's not unfamiliar to me because Debbie McGillivray employs diagnostic scans in her practice, communicating with animals.
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Michelle Slater: And that is actually what first rendered it credible for me.
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Michelle Slater: Because in my very first appointment with her, when I still had all of my skeptical questions on the side, she conducted a body scan of Brady.
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Michelle Slater: And I didn't even know that this was possible.
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Michelle Slater: This came up at the end and I was surprised by it.
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Michelle Slater: But she said, oh, so in his spine, his lower lumbar is out, L4, something that's not affected.
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Michelle Slater: She said, you should really take him to an animal chiropractor.
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Michelle Slater: So I did that right away without mentioning the animal communicator's input whatsoever.
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Michelle Slater: And almost immediately after scanning his spine, she said, okay, so I'm going to walk on his lower lumbar L4, which is out of alignment.
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Michelle Slater: And I found that to be the legitimation that I needed.
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Michelle Slater: And so I think that it also showed me what could be done.
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Michelle Slater: And along the way, with Brady and Debbie, she kept being able to check in and diagnose various things and be able to communicate with him about the degrees of pain he had when he was ill, et cetera.
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Michelle Slater: So I think it's a very powerful tool that could be used on a practical level to help animals.
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Genie Joseph: Great.
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Genie Joseph: Well, we're going to take a short little break.
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Genie Joseph: But when we come back, I want to hear in much more detail.
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Genie Joseph: I know it was kind of a sad and rough turn as Brady's health took a downturn, but how you and Brady stayed in communication through the entire process.
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Genie Joseph: So we'll talk about that when we get back.
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Announcer: Hey friends, if you like what you're hearing and want to learn more, check out Dr.
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Announcer: Joseph's book, The Human-Animal Connection, Deepening Relationships with Animals and Ourselves.
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Announcer: Or visit the website, thehumananimalconnection.org to book an online consultation.
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Announcer: Thank you for loving animals.
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Announcer: Now back to the show.
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Announcer: Let's Talk Pets on petliferadio.com.
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Genie Joseph: Welcome back to The Human-Animal Connection Show.
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Genie Joseph: We are speaking with Michelle Slater, PhD.
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Genie Joseph: She's the author of Soulmate Dog that tells the true story of her very profound relationship with a dog named Brady.
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Genie Joseph: So Michelle, tell us the story of, we don't want to get too graphic or too horrible and sad, but just briefly tell us what was happening with Brady's health and how you used animal communication to navigate.
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Michelle Slater: Yes, I'm happy to do that, to encourage anyone out there who might be interested in animal communication to employ that in conjunction with medical treatments.
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Michelle Slater: For it to by means, by no means take the place of medical treatments, but the way to accompany it.
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Michelle Slater: And so when Brady did become ill, to my shock is he was a very healthy five-year-old athletic German shepherd.
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Michelle Slater: As I described in my book, Soulmate Dog, he contracted leptospirosis, even though he had been vaccinated for leptospirosis.
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Michelle Slater: And the symptom that he had from this spirocheteal disease was acute renal failure.
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Michelle Slater: And I first knew that he was ill, because he started to collapse to have an absence of appetite.
00:18:32.858 --> 00:18:38.178
Michelle Slater: And he became polyureic, which means that he was drinking water excessively.
00:18:38.178 --> 00:18:40.078
Michelle Slater: He had excessive thirst.
00:18:42.038 --> 00:18:48.298
Michelle Slater: And all of his behavior showed me that he was very ill and needed my help.
00:18:48.298 --> 00:19:12.038
Michelle Slater: And so when we arrived at the emergency hospital, and it became clear that he was going to have to stay overnight, and he had an extended stay, a several-week stay at the emergency hospital, I started to have regular consultations with Debbie McGillivray, the animal communicator that Brady and I employed.
00:19:12.038 --> 00:19:31.738
Michelle Slater: And she was able to check in with Brady, not only about how the treatments were working, how he was responding to them, but something that was important to me on a moral level from a philosophical perspective.
00:19:31.738 --> 00:19:50.638
Michelle Slater: And that was to make sure that Brady wanted to continue the treatments, that I wasn't imposing something on him that he didn't want, that he felt that he had a chance for recovery through these treatments.
00:19:50.638 --> 00:20:00.698
Michelle Slater: I wanted to make sure that he felt supported and check in to how he was really doing as a patient beyond what the numbers were telling us.
00:20:00.698 --> 00:20:18.738
Michelle Slater: And so what he kept communicating was that he felt very supported by me and that he very much wanted to continue his treatments and that my love and support was like a cord of light pulling him up out of the weeds.
00:20:19.718 --> 00:20:28.878
Michelle Slater: And in fact, he even used a line from a song that I kept singing for him in the hospital.
00:20:28.878 --> 00:20:33.838
Michelle Slater: So he was in tune with all of that and it was very supportive for him.
00:20:33.838 --> 00:20:48.638
Michelle Slater: But there were times after he came out of the hospital, after he came through that ordeal, when we then relied heavily on holistic treatments, that Debbie would see things before the vet did or before I had even taken him to the vet.
00:20:48.798 --> 00:20:56.158
Michelle Slater: Like his red blood cell count would be down and she would say, Me, she really need to address his red blood cell count.
00:20:56.158 --> 00:21:04.618
Michelle Slater: Or you should try this homeopathic remedy for this particular element of his wellness.
00:21:04.618 --> 00:21:09.018
Michelle Slater: And so when I would take him to the vet, that would always be confirmed.
00:21:09.018 --> 00:21:24.838
Michelle Slater: So I learned that this was a powerful and accurate tool to add to our holistic tools, our allopathic tools, and we employed it to the fullest extent.
00:21:24.838 --> 00:21:25.838
Genie Joseph: That's great.
00:21:25.838 --> 00:21:35.578
Genie Joseph: Now, I think it's wonderful that you were consulting with him and making sure that, because I know that some of these treatments were very rigorous and somewhat invasive and not easy for either of you.
00:21:35.578 --> 00:21:41.318
Genie Joseph: Did you ever ask him how he felt about being ill?
00:21:41.598 --> 00:21:43.138
Genie Joseph: Like, I know I'm a terrible patient.
00:21:43.138 --> 00:21:47.518
Genie Joseph: When I'm sick, I'm grumpy, I'm unhappy, I'm mad at the world, you know.
00:21:47.518 --> 00:21:55.278
Genie Joseph: What was it like in Dogworld to be that ill, to be, you know, knowing that he was really facing a life and death battle?
00:21:55.278 --> 00:21:58.558
Michelle Slater: Yes, it was something that is an excellent question.
00:21:58.558 --> 00:22:02.658
Michelle Slater: And at times, he did feel grumpy.
00:22:02.658 --> 00:22:05.458
Michelle Slater: He did feel like he had been poked and prodded.
00:22:05.458 --> 00:22:17.278
Michelle Slater: I mean, they had, there were so many different needle pokes in him from having to change the IV port and at other times, so he would communicate that.
00:22:17.278 --> 00:22:24.658
Michelle Slater: And at other times, he just said that my love was pulling him through and that he felt confident.
00:22:24.658 --> 00:22:29.758
Michelle Slater: Sometimes he felt like he was losing hope in his own recovery.
00:22:29.758 --> 00:22:35.538
Michelle Slater: And when he felt that, I would sleep over at the emergency hospital.
00:22:36.098 --> 00:22:49.318
Michelle Slater: The only human to have done that up until that point, I would ask if I could bring my sleeping bag, and we were on this concrete floor that smelled like bleach and would have this noisy IV machine at the background.
00:22:49.318 --> 00:22:55.358
Michelle Slater: But when he said he was losing hope, I went and I slept with him at the emergency hospital.
00:22:55.358 --> 00:22:57.158
Michelle Slater: It meant the world to him.
00:22:57.158 --> 00:23:06.798
Michelle Slater: And he would curl up to me and put his head on my chest, and the technician would have to come in through the night and keep changing his port or his IV bags, rather.
00:23:06.798 --> 00:23:10.978
Michelle Slater: And so I would support him in those moments.
00:23:10.978 --> 00:23:11.918
Genie Joseph: Wow.
00:23:11.918 --> 00:23:15.138
Genie Joseph: And did he ever talk to you about death?
00:23:15.698 --> 00:23:19.538
Genie Joseph: I've heard some animal communicators say that animals don't talk about death.
00:23:20.478 --> 00:23:22.938
Genie Joseph: They don't even use the word.
00:23:22.938 --> 00:23:29.178
Genie Joseph: They will talk about transitioning or, yeah, what did Brady have to say about dying?
00:23:29.178 --> 00:23:31.338
Michelle Slater: We talked about death a lot.
00:23:31.878 --> 00:23:39.218
Michelle Slater: It was very important to me because of the way that my childhood German Shepherd Joy died when I was away at boarding school.
00:23:39.218 --> 00:23:42.738
Michelle Slater: I wasn't there to help her, to support her, to be there for her.
00:23:42.738 --> 00:23:52.798
Michelle Slater: And after what Brady had endured at the emergency hospital and in veterinary offices, I wanted to guarantee that I was going to be there for him.
00:23:52.798 --> 00:23:58.498
Michelle Slater: And I wanted, I did not want to abandon him in that moment.
00:23:58.918 --> 00:24:05.998
Michelle Slater: And we talked about it a lot because I was very sad when I noticed that he was on the decline.
00:24:06.418 --> 00:24:22.078
Michelle Slater: And he always said, and I remember these words very clearly, because Brady was one of the dogs who, Debbie said that he was such an old soul as she called it, because he communicated on a very high level in complete sentences, paragraphs.
00:24:22.078 --> 00:24:25.198
Michelle Slater: Sometimes he would say to her, you should just be writing this down.
00:24:25.998 --> 00:24:30.838
Michelle Slater: And what he said was, my body is just a piece of paper.
00:24:31.618 --> 00:24:36.998
Michelle Slater: Our love does not end when my body dies.
00:24:36.998 --> 00:24:39.518
Michelle Slater: Our love will continue in spirit.
00:24:39.518 --> 00:24:50.498
Michelle Slater: And when I would ask him, there was a time at the end of his life that I did have to go away to support someone who was actually grieving the loss of their husband.
00:24:50.498 --> 00:24:53.998
Michelle Slater: And I said, please do not die without me.
00:24:54.178 --> 00:24:56.638
Michelle Slater: Just wait for me to come back if you're going to leave me now.
00:24:56.638 --> 00:24:58.978
Michelle Slater: He said, you don't get to decide.
00:24:58.978 --> 00:25:04.478
Michelle Slater: You don't get to decide the time or the place, but I'll do my best essentially.
00:25:05.258 --> 00:25:10.438
Michelle Slater: And then it was very important for us to be together.
00:25:10.438 --> 00:25:20.218
Michelle Slater: And so we had a moment at the end where the vet actually said, it may be time to help him.
00:25:20.218 --> 00:25:23.258
Michelle Slater: Not every dog goes on their own.
00:25:23.698 --> 00:25:27.878
Michelle Slater: And I had this conversation with Debbie and with him.
00:25:27.878 --> 00:25:31.378
Michelle Slater: And he indicated that he wanted to be with me.
00:25:31.378 --> 00:25:39.978
Michelle Slater: And I don't want to give this away on Soulmate Dog, but I will just tell you that Brady choreographed his own death.
00:25:39.978 --> 00:25:42.038
Michelle Slater: I feel very convinced of that.
00:25:42.038 --> 00:25:45.718
Michelle Slater: And it was the most loving, supported death.
00:25:45.718 --> 00:25:56.478
Michelle Slater: And it felt very much like he was almost choosing that path so that he would provide some comfort to me as I began my own process of grieving.
00:25:56.478 --> 00:26:04.638
Michelle Slater: But he made it very clear that this death was not as big of a deal as I thought it was.
00:26:04.638 --> 00:26:08.278
Michelle Slater: That his spirit was bigger than his body.
00:26:08.278 --> 00:26:09.558
Michelle Slater: That's literally what he said.
00:26:09.558 --> 00:26:11.178
Michelle Slater: My spirit is bigger than my body.
00:26:11.178 --> 00:26:14.518
Michelle Slater: My body is just a piece of paper.
00:26:14.518 --> 00:26:15.438
Genie Joseph: Fabulous.
00:26:15.438 --> 00:26:20.918
Genie Joseph: And have you been communicating with him since, since he's left form?
00:26:20.918 --> 00:26:21.358
Michelle Slater: Yes.
00:26:21.358 --> 00:26:22.658
Michelle Slater: Yes, I have.
00:26:23.338 --> 00:26:24.118
Michelle Slater: I have.
00:26:24.118 --> 00:26:27.818
Michelle Slater: And he's had, he was also very funny.
00:26:27.818 --> 00:26:34.058
Michelle Slater: And he said that he was working on some of the issues that he had during his lifetime.
00:26:34.058 --> 00:26:38.778
Michelle Slater: He had a traumatic experience in his lifetime with a trainer.
00:26:38.778 --> 00:26:45.818
Michelle Slater: And it left him with some, some aggression towards certain males who resembled the trainer.
00:26:45.818 --> 00:26:47.598
Michelle Slater: And he said that he had worked through that.
00:26:47.938 --> 00:26:52.238
Michelle Slater: And then he told me what I needed to work on and my own journey.
00:26:52.238 --> 00:26:55.098
Michelle Slater: So that was so like him.
00:26:55.098 --> 00:27:00.098
Michelle Slater: And we did have conversations like that, which of course meant the world to me.
00:27:00.098 --> 00:27:04.698
Michelle Slater: And I marveled at the ability, Debbie.
00:27:06.018 --> 00:27:10.218
Michelle Slater: I wasn't confident in my own ability to connect with him on that level.
00:27:12.218 --> 00:27:12.878
Michelle Slater: But Debbie did.
00:27:12.878 --> 00:27:22.238
Michelle Slater: And then there was one time that I was grieving him, and I was actually in Patagonia, specifically to grieve him.
00:27:22.238 --> 00:27:24.178
Michelle Slater: I needed to walk it out.
00:27:24.178 --> 00:27:26.478
Michelle Slater: My grief was so deep.
00:27:26.478 --> 00:27:34.458
Michelle Slater: And I was gazing out at the mountains, and he said, I did this for you.
00:27:34.478 --> 00:27:40.798
Michelle Slater: I planted this idea in your mind because all these years that you took such beautiful care of me.
00:27:40.798 --> 00:27:46.138
Michelle Slater: I wanted you to go enjoy this beauty, and this is what you deserve.
00:27:46.138 --> 00:27:47.438
Michelle Slater: It's like my gift to you.
00:27:47.438 --> 00:27:51.878
Michelle Slater: And it would just, I can't even express what that meant to me.
00:27:51.878 --> 00:27:53.758
Michelle Slater: I heard him so clearly.
00:27:53.758 --> 00:27:54.458
Genie Joseph: Yes.
00:27:54.458 --> 00:27:56.678
Genie Joseph: And what did he tell you about your lessons?
00:27:56.678 --> 00:27:57.958
Genie Joseph: What did he have to say?
00:27:57.958 --> 00:28:03.418
Genie Joseph: I mean, here he knew you better than anybody, probably having spent the life with you, his life with you.
00:28:03.418 --> 00:28:04.938
Genie Joseph: What did he tell you about your lessons?
00:28:05.758 --> 00:28:07.438
Michelle Slater: It's very interesting.
00:28:07.438 --> 00:28:14.058
Michelle Slater: And I did write about this some in my first book, Starving to Heal in Siberia, about my recovery from late stage Lyme disease.
00:28:14.058 --> 00:28:18.778
Michelle Slater: Very funny that we both had medical memoirs for myself and for Brady.
00:28:18.778 --> 00:28:22.958
Michelle Slater: He said I needed to work on my own problem of unworthiness.
00:28:22.958 --> 00:28:29.558
Michelle Slater: He said, I walk around happy with a smile on my face and on the interior, I doubted my self worth.
00:28:29.558 --> 00:28:30.958
Michelle Slater: And that was so very true.
00:28:32.958 --> 00:28:36.798
Michelle Slater: And I write about that in In Starving to Heal.
00:28:36.798 --> 00:28:39.498
Michelle Slater: And I really did work on that.
00:28:39.498 --> 00:28:44.358
Michelle Slater: And in spite of two masteries and a PhD, I did have that sense.
00:28:44.358 --> 00:28:52.398
Michelle Slater: And when I did overcome it, then I started writing these books, and they just flowed out of me, Starving to Heal, Soulmate Dog.
00:28:52.398 --> 00:28:56.598
Michelle Slater: And I have a novel, The Lunatic, that is coming out in March.
00:28:56.818 --> 00:29:07.358
Michelle Slater: And lo and behold, the co-protagonist is a dog who employs the subtle forms of animal communication without that ever being named in the novel.
00:29:07.358 --> 00:29:12.078
Michelle Slater: So that might be interesting for your listeners as well.
00:29:12.078 --> 00:29:12.878
Genie Joseph: Right.
00:29:12.878 --> 00:29:17.698
Genie Joseph: Well, in just the last moment we have left, what would you like to leave our listeners with?
00:29:17.698 --> 00:29:20.818
Genie Joseph: A little bit of wisdom from, well, let's ask Brady.
00:29:20.818 --> 00:29:24.918
Genie Joseph: Does anything Brady wants to say to his audience here?
00:29:28.158 --> 00:29:48.418
Michelle Slater: I think that Brady would like to say that he celebrates all of the soulmate relationships out there, and to celebrate that love and never be ashamed of saying that you have a soulmate animal, because people might think that that's weird.
00:29:49.038 --> 00:29:57.858
Michelle Slater: But to embrace that and explore how profound that can really be.
00:29:57.858 --> 00:30:02.478
Genie Joseph: That's beautiful, and anything from you that you'd like to leave our audience with.
00:30:02.478 --> 00:30:10.598
Michelle Slater: I just, I hope that soulmate dog will provide comfort to those who might be grieving.
00:30:10.598 --> 00:30:30.038
Michelle Slater: I hope that it will provide inspiration, and I hope that it will even help some dogs with their own medical journeys, whatever they may be, to employ not only animal communication, but also a combination of the allopathic and holistic remedies.
00:30:30.038 --> 00:30:40.538
Michelle Slater: And I just want to say that this story is a love story that celebrates interspecies love, and I hope it brings joy to the readers.
00:30:41.178 --> 00:30:41.838
Genie Joseph: Great.
00:30:41.838 --> 00:30:43.738
Genie Joseph: And I know you have another wonderful dog.
00:30:43.738 --> 00:30:49.458
Genie Joseph: Let's just tell our audience a little bit about your new dog and your new relationship.
00:30:49.458 --> 00:30:51.318
Michelle Slater: Yes, I will be happy to do that.
00:30:52.098 --> 00:30:59.938
Michelle Slater: I am here in Switzerland with Genji, who is a gentle soul, a five-year-old.
00:30:59.938 --> 00:31:03.478
Michelle Slater: He will be five years old on Sunday, Swiss white shepherd.
00:31:04.898 --> 00:31:08.138
Michelle Slater: And he is very different from Brady.
00:31:08.138 --> 00:31:09.198
Michelle Slater: He's more of a listener.
00:31:10.018 --> 00:31:19.518
Michelle Slater: He is not this charismatic ham that Brady was, but he is this very gentle soul, very profound in his own way.
00:31:19.518 --> 00:31:24.578
Michelle Slater: And I am honored to be his human companion.
00:31:24.578 --> 00:31:25.218
Genie Joseph: Right.
00:31:25.218 --> 00:31:36.138
Genie Joseph: Well, it's wonderful that you were able to go through your grieving process and open your heart one more time, even knowing that there would never be another Brady, but yet there's room in your heart for another dog.
00:31:36.138 --> 00:31:37.378
Genie Joseph: So that's a beautiful story.
00:31:37.378 --> 00:31:38.258
Genie Joseph: That's exactly right.
00:31:38.418 --> 00:31:38.878
Michelle Slater: Thank you.
00:31:38.878 --> 00:31:42.618
Michelle Slater: That's exactly well stated.
00:31:42.618 --> 00:31:44.958
Genie Joseph: Well, I want to say thank you so much, Michelle.
00:31:44.958 --> 00:31:48.598
Genie Joseph: Michelle Slater is the author of Soulmate Dog.
00:31:48.598 --> 00:31:52.358
Genie Joseph: So thank you so much for being a guest on our show today.
00:31:52.358 --> 00:31:54.538
Michelle Slater: Jeannie, thank you so much for having me.
00:31:54.538 --> 00:31:58.318
Michelle Slater: I really enjoyed our conversation in the work that you're doing.
00:31:58.318 --> 00:31:59.958
Genie Joseph: Thank you.
00:31:59.958 --> 00:32:01.898
Genie Joseph: We'll say aloha for now.
00:32:01.898 --> 00:32:03.238
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