If you want your pet to listen to you, make sure your words and thoughts match. Kathy the Pet Psychic (that's the name she goes by, folks) says animals get all confused when we're asking them something simple like to come, when what we're really thinking is, "Come in ‘cos I really gotta get to the bank before it closes and then to the grocery store. Oh, and I better not forget to pick up the dry cleaning." Meanwhile, your pooch is likely thinking, "Cool, I'll play out here while you're gone."

Although the 50 or so people who gathered at Brighton Town Hall on Tuesday, November 27, brought photos and pet articles, there weren't any demonstrations like the flyer advertised. Kathy didn't actually handle any items. Instead there was a Q&A session regarding pet problems and what Kathy thought the underlying issues might be. Kathy generated her answers by doing what is commonly called a "cold reading" --- the psychic asks questions and by process of elimination, arrives at an answer. People's concerns were mostly the expected: is my pet happy, OK being dead, did I do things right?

If you want to play at being your own pet psychic, Kathy offered a rather simple exercise: sit quietly for five minutes thinking about your pet and write down the first three to five things that come to mind. No less than three because you'll think you didn't get anything, and no more than five because you'll just be complicating the matter. She also said what most animals really want is attention. They're like people that way.