I Spoke to an Animal Communicator and Learned My Dog Thinks I'm an Anxious Mess

Danielle MacKinnon didn't want to know anything about my dog prior to our call. "It's easier for me when I don't know a lot of stuff," the pet psychic shared. Even at the beginning of our session, she told me not to reveal too many details about Tucky until she was able to work out what he was trying to communicate herself. "It helps validate that this psychic connection is genuine," MacKinnon said.

Her thinking is, the less she knew about Tucky beforehand, the more impressed I'd be by what she revealed. And though I began the process with mild uncertainty, she began describing Tucky with uncanny accuracy.

With almost 250,000 followers and four million likes on TikTok, MacKinnon is the animal communicator of social media. Although she grew up "deeply connected to animals," she didn't start professionally practicing animal communication until she went to see a pet psychic herself. "That reading awakened something in me," MacKinnon says. "I realized I'd been communicating with animals my whole life without knowing it was real."

Though animal communication is something that fascinates many, the practice is undeniably met with much skepticism. A lot of people wonder how it could even be possible or real. And to those who question the practice, MacKinnon agrees: "Animal communication can sound pretty out there if you've never experienced it." But just like any other spiritual practice, MacKinnon says you have to be open to the process: "You have to be willing to step outside your comfort zone and allow for possibilities beyond what you currently believe."

Personally, I'm not very skeptical about psychics or what people consider to be pseudoscience. (I love tapping into my zodiac sign and practicing manifestations.) So when I had the opportunity to work with MacKinnon to find out what's actually going on in Tucky's head, I had to take it. Here's what the experience was like.

Experts Featured in This Article

Danielle MacKinnon is an animal communicator and pet psychic with more than 20 years of experience. She is also the creator of Soul Level Animal Communication®, a program offering animal communication courses and programs.

What Is Animal Communication?

Yes, animal communication is the ability to communicate with animals, but it also goes deeper than that. "Animal communication is psychically connecting with an animal to discover their thoughts, feelings, and deepest wisdom," MacKinnon shares. "Just like how some psychic mediums can connect with our deceased loved ones, animal communicators can tune in intuitively to animals (both living and deceased) to learn what they want to share."

For MacKinnon, she connects with animals psychically, often receiving information from them through the images, physical sensations, emotions, words, tastes, and smells they share with her. "Animals use these connections not just to share their food preferences or physical needs, but also to guide us toward greater self-awareness," she adds. During our session, MacKinnon actually practiced body mapping so that she could feel what Tucky was experiencing in his own body. (More on this below.)

Because MacKinnon connects psychically during an animal communicating session though, the animal she's working with does not actually have to be present. In fact, MacKinnon didn't even need to see a photo of Tucky to do the reading. When our session happened, he was in a completely different room than I was.

My Experience Working With an Animal Communicator

MacKinnon started by psychically connecting with me first. She explained that this would show Tucky that if I'm connected to her, it would be safe for him to connect with her, as well. To no surprise, my friendly dog had no problem connecting with her. According to MacKinnon, he walked right up to her in a way she described as "goofy," putting his backside forward in a plea for butt scratches. (Exactly how he greets people now.)

Once they were connected, MacKinnon sat in silence, allowing him to "show up how he wanted to show up." And the first thing he voiced to MacKinnon is his desire to be more in charge in our household. "He would like to be the leader," MacKinnon said.

This made sense to me because my boyfriend's dog, Lexi, has a much more dominant and alpha demeanor. Even MacKinnon noticed Lexi's strong personality during the reading: "Lexi's like knocking at the door, saying 'I'd like to be a part of this,'" MacKinnon laughed.

When MacKinnon put her attention back on Tucky, she shared that he wanted me to stop focusing on his fur. "He's trying to push the focus off the coat and, not meanly, but say, 'get over it, stop focusing,'" she said. And when she asked me if this made sense to me, it did perfectly.

Tucky recently underwent two TPLO (tibial plateau leveling osteotomy) surgeries on his right and left leg, so the surgeon had to shave part of his coat to prepare him. Now that he's in recovery, most of his hair has grown back, but there's still one small spot that hasn't. Clearly, Tucky has noticed my anxiety around this one spot, and wanted to assure me he's good.

After hearing about his surgeries, MacKinnon explored this topic more with Tucky, and he continued to reiterate that "he's good." I've been taking his recovery slowly — on-leash walks only, supervision outside during potty breaks, no roughhousing with Lexi — so this assured me that Tucky is feeling ready to get back to normal.

Based on where Tucky was going with this, MacKinnon suggested we move toward body mapping, so she could see if he still felt any lingering pain in his legs. "Body mapping is where I ask Tucky If he'll basically show me in my body anything he wants me to know about his body," she explained. "It's not diagnosing – I'm not a vet – but if he wants us to know something about his body, he can show me this way."

After a few minutes, MacKinnon shared she wasn't experiencing any pain. "What I am feeling is a bit of weakness on my left leg versus the right, like I don't feel as strong on the left as I do the right. Does that give you any information?" she asked. And it did: Tucky's left leg was his most recent surgery, so it made sense to me that it was still a bit tighter and weaker than his right leg. It was also relieving for me to hear he wasn't in pain anymore.

Throughout the rest of our session, I learned that Tucky loves my mom (he brought "Roxy" up to MacKinnon randomly), he likes when I talk to him like an adult, and even though he can act like a baby sometimes, he wants me to know he really does it because he wants attention.

When it was time to ask questions, I asked MacKinnon for some insight from Tucky on how I could make the vet a more positive experience for him. (He won't let anyone touch his paws or clip his nails, and he's definitely not OK with a vet tech administering shots or drawing his blood either — even when he's on the maximum dose of Tradozone.)

"He doesn't like the vet because he knows you don't like the vet," she said. "You don't like how the vet talks to you. You feel small when you're around this vet, so he doesn't feel comfortable there. He doesn't trust this vet because you don't trust the vet," she added. And she's not wrong. I do think the vet we see could be much more empathetic and understanding, but I had no idea my dog could intuitively feel my own anxiety. "He's more connected to you than you think," MacKinnon responded.

The Verdict

Though you may be reading this article thinking, "OK, but that could be said about any dog!" I know Tucky. Even though I can't communicate with him in the way MacKinnon did, everything in our session made perfect sense. It also helped me understand him better.

Though it sounds like Tucky could definitely use some space from Lexi, and he is clearly ready for more off-leash time in his recovery, these are realizations that I might not have had if I didn't speak with a pet psychic. And clearly, the next thing on my to-do list needs to be finding a new vet we both feel comfortable with. Maybe then he'll let someone touch his paws.

Taylor Andrews (she/her) is the balance editor at PS, specializing in topics relating to sex, relationships, dating, sexual health, mental health, travel, and more. With seven years of editorial experience, Taylor has a strong background in content creation and storytelling. Prior to joining PS in 2021, she worked at Cosmopolitan.