The Pet Whisperer

Have you ever sensed that your dog needed to go outside? Or known when your cat was hungry?

While most pet owners don't think twice about these types of feelings, animal behaviorist and communicator Rachael Resk said they add up to more than we think. These intuitions are indicative of everyone's innate psychic ability.

Resk doesn't use the term "psychic" to describe herself, but it's a trait people often confuse with her profession. Resk, a Naperville resident, purports to talk to animals.

She shies away from the psychic designation because she considers herself more of a "translator" and "interpreter."

"My role is really not so much psychic," she said. "... Psychics look into the future."

Instead, Resk uses the intuition most of us have, she said. She merely talks to animals in a way humans have mainly used to communicate with each other.

Yet her communication skills are not verbal. Instead, she said she telepathically asks animals questions and, in the case of lost pets, can see what they see. In most cases, a pet doesn't have to be in the room with her. She simply needs a name and a picture or description.

Resk said she only recently started communicating with animals, about five years ago, although she has worked with animals about 10 years. When she was younger, she recognized her strong intuition but thought everyone had similar feelings. She would know when a friend was pregnant before it was common knowledge or sense that someone she just met had had a fight with her husband.

"It happens all the time," she said.

Resk gets the most attention for her animal communication skills, but she also works in a number of other capacities.

About 60 percent of her work is as a behaviorist working with rescued or abused dogs, she said. She might help an owner stop a pet from urinating in the house or teach a pet to trust humans. She is a member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, the Animal Behavior Society and Animal Protection Institute.

People seek Resk's services for five reasons, she said: to build a better bond with their pet; for medical issues; to find a lost pet; for behavioral issues; and when a pet is dying.'

Nancy Waters of Lake Barrington recently called Resk about her lost Italian greyhound. With two phone calls, Resk was able to pinpoint the dog's location and tell her about its minor injuries. Waters said she only tried Resk because her daughter convinced her to call. As a Christian, she was wary of the situation, she said. It comforted her to know that Resk is religious, as well, she said.

"I wouldn't call a psychic because I would be fearful of where their source was coming from, because, is it good or would it be evil?" Waters said. "After talking to her, I felt like this is OK."

More than that — to find a dog that was lost for 10 days, "it was truly amazing," Waters said.

Resk isn't often negatively confronted about her career, but she knows people doubt her abilities. She even questioned herself for a time.

"That's the biggest hurdle people face," she said. "I myself had a lot of doubts. What I did was keep a success journal."

Tracking her successes helped Resk see that her abilities were real, she said.

"It gets stronger as you validate it," she said.

Petra Mains was a doubter to begin with. A resident of Belvidere, Mains met Resk at a holistic health fair. She didn't quite buy the idea of communicating with animals, but she saw firsthand how Resk helps animals, she said.

"You kind of don't want to believe it because it's almost too spooky," Mains said. "But when you see it work, it's ... incredible."

Mains had Resk work with two pets. One dog was urinating in the house, and the other was scared of "everything," she said. She remembers seeing Resk communicate with her pets.

"I'm watching it. It's not on TV," Mains said. "It's not staged; it's right in front of me. To see the difference in the animal — (it's) nothing less than amazing."

Resk said people who realize humans can communicate with animals experience a "paradigm shift." That's almost exactly what Donna Eltoft of Glen Ellyn experienced when Resk communicated with her German shepherd, Makena. Eltoft took a class from Resk to learn animal communication.

"It's a very important tool, and once you do communicate, you will never, ever, ever think of animals the same way ever again," Eltoft said.

Resk compares it to a tree in the forest suddenly speaking to a lumberjack. One can never think "a cat is just a cat" again, she said.

It's not obvious when Resk is talking to animals. She simply speaks to them telepathically on a level they can both understand, she said. A common question people ask is, "Do animals speak English?"

"I would have to say no," Resk said. "They speak the language of the heart. ... When we talk to each other, we talk and we also send thoughts at the same time."

Animals tell her all sorts of things, she said. They tell her why they have trouble performing at dog shows or that they feel neglected by their owners. They tell her about what hurts and what feels good. They tell her what they think of other humans or their owners. They answer questions about their health and whether they want surgery. She has even spoken to a dog about his last request before being put down for health reasons, she said. He simply wanted to lie in the grass with his owner.

They can be funny, intelligent, sad or immature, just like humans, she said.

"A lot of times they will ask me, 'Is that really you?'" Resk said.

Resk said it takes no effort to talk to animals; her conversations are in "real time."

Why, then, if it's so easy for Resk to communicate with animals, is it something so many people don't believe in or experience themselves?

"We learn not to use the gifts," Resk said. "We were all born with them, but they're not often used."

Contact staff writer Lauren B. Kraft at lkraft@scn1.com or (630) 416-5224.