Ask any dog lover what superpower they most dream of having and high on the list would be ‘Dr Dolittle syndrome’ — being able to talk to the animals. More to the point, to our dogs.

Just imagine what we would find out, the problems we could solve, the misunderstandings we could fix. No more shouting into the distance for a dog with selective hearing!

I love the idea that ‘we could converse in polar bear and python, and we could curse in fluent kangaroo’ but isn’t it just the stuff of books and films?

Not according to James French, one of the country’s leading animal communicators. I had previously visited him to talk about animal communication and even did one of his workshops. James has shown me some pretty extraordinary things (including details of conversations that he has had with my dog, Digby ¬— who apparently gives him business advice and a shopping list of things he would like to eat when he visits!

But somehow, my doubts lingered. This was something that ideally I just needed to go off and try at home in my own time — without people around me to make me feel self-conscious, ask how I was doing, or make me feel silly! The problem with that is you don’t have James’ guidance every step of the way to make talking to animals seem natural and easy.

So I was delighted to hear that James has produced a CD course that covers all the things he does in his workshops — but to do in the privacy of your own home with no one but your dog to think that you may have lost the plot.

It’s good to talk

The first CD made for good listening and filled me with encouragement. James very simply explains what animal communication is (and what it isn’t) in a clear and demystifying way. It all sounded very natural and easy.

As James says: “Animal communication is one of the most natural forms of communication. Rather than a language of words, it is a language of feelings.

“Every thought that we, or our animals have, creates a specific feeling. Sharing these feelings opens a world where we can become closer to our animals and help them on a physical, emotional and spiritual level.” OK — I am with it so far…

CD two was a little more challenging! This introduced the three different ways to communicate with animals, requiring a bit of meditation, concentration, and a suspension of disbelief. First of all, James talks through the ‘real now’ — in other words, putting yourself in a frame of mind and a mental state where you actually can communicate and listen to the answers — rather than being focused on yourself and listening to your own thoughts. This involved concentrating on your own senses, a really interesting thing to do.

I enjoyed this exercise and have since found it excellent for helping me get to sleep at night when my mind is buzzing. It also helps you concentrate on day-to-day communications with other people when you feel your mind wandering.

The next part was the ‘imagination now’, which was a little trickier. It involved finding a special place in nature where you fell happy and relaxed, and really ‘being there’. This is where you are going to invite animals to come and talk to you.

I found this meditation fantastic. It was so relaxing and a chance to explore the world of imagination and just how ‘real’ it can be. This was one of my favourite parts of the CD, but it takes a suspension of disbelief and a desire to ‘give in to it’.

Go with the flow

The last technique is ‘flow writing’, which involved finding the voice of the animal and then writing (as quickly as you can) whatever feelings appear as that animal. I found this very hard and ‘forced’.

Now armed with my three techniques to communicate with Digby, I began CD three — the actual communication bit. So to start with, I was disappointed to hear that I would be practising communicating with an animal I didn’t know (and from a photograph) - not ‘in real life’ on Digby. But it soon started to make sense.The idea is that you don’t have any preconceptions, don’t know anything about the animal and its life, so you are actually genuinely communicating (or not!). Then you can ask the human in that animal’s life how you have done.

What if you don’t have access to other animals? Thankfully James has thought of that and set up a web group for his clients with access to animals to converse with — and owners to give feedback. I thought this was a great addition.

By practising with animals you don’t know, the idea is that you find out that you can actually do it and your confidence soars. The more you practise, the better you get and the easier you find it.

So did it work? I found that by using James’ ‘real now’ technique, I seemed able to communicate in some kind of way with Digby — and as always, he certainly enjoyed the attention.

James says that by spending time with our dogs in the ‘real now’ is something really special. He is right. It is too easy to just be in the same space as your dog without actually spending time really being with them and giving them our attention.

If the CDs do no more than this for people, then they are worth every penny. Maybe it is this time spent really focusing on our dogs that is what is going to get our dogs to actually listen to us when we talk to them.

If they help people actually communicate with their dogs and so deepen their relationship even further, they are utterly invaluable. But for those who don’t ever find that they can do the Dr Dolittle thing… well, sometimes the journey is even better than actually arriving.

You can buy James French’s Act 1 CD set for £24.99 plus P&P (£1.50 in UK) via the website www.animalcommunicationtraining.co.uk