Left to right: Benjamin, Scotty and Kei
Written by Linda Piegl
My rescue pups brought Scotty Valadao, a qualified canine behaviouralist and “animal whisperer”, into my life in 2008, shortly after I’d rescued a pair of two-month-old littermates from puppy traders.
Having been dangled in the traffic by the scruff of their necks and waved at car windows like a pair of sunglasses for sale, their fear of traffic and men ran deep. While I’d grown up with pet dogs, Edie and Dante were the first dogs that were mine as an adult, and realising the extent of their trauma, I was out of my depth in helping them.
After extensive online research, I was led to Scotty. She helped me understand my pups’ behaviour, explained the crucial timeframe of imprinting, and gave me the tools and knowledge to help them. We attended Scotty’s dog behaviour classes, the pups experienced Tellington TTouch™ in private sessions, and I was so inspired by the progress I’d seen with them that I signed up for Scotty’s puppy behaviour foundation course. Edie and Dante grew up to become happy, loving, confident dogs, and Scotty was instrumental in paving the way for them to be who they were always meant to be.
Fifteen years later, Scotty has turned her attention to her calling: animal communication, energy work and healing. Her incredible talent lies in speaking to animals, decoding the language they speak back to her, and feeling into their bodies to identify what they need in terms of healing.
Scotty can also communicate with pets who’ve crossed over, bringing much-needed comfort to grieving pet parents, while sharing important messages with them from the other side. To facilitate this profound work, she’s just launched two new websites: Conversations Beyond the Rainbow Bridge and Animal Communications SV, where she offers distance healing for behaviour and health issues. This made it the perfect time to put her in the interviewee chair to find out about her passion and her path:
L: Scotty, when did you first realise you could communicate with animals?
S: When I was a toddler! I grew up in a small town in Scotland with the Clyde River and a forest nearby, so it was an idyllic childhood, and we were always outdoors. I remember chatting to all kinds of creatures, from birds to rabbits, and unlike other children who had imaginary friends, at the age of four, I had a very real feathered friend – a crow. My mother saw me through the window stroking “Crow” and having a deep conversation with him, and almost fainted for fear of me being pecked. But he allowed it, loved it, and visited me every day for the whole summer. As autumn arrived, he disappeared forever.
L: Did you tell people about what you could do?
S: Well, I thought everyone could speak to the animals! People just used to say I had the most extraordinary imagination. It was later at school that I realised I was different. I never fitted in, I was a loner, and I learnt to keep the animal communication to myself. Books became my escape, my favourite being The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting, which I discovered at age 11. From that point on, I wanted nothing more than to be a Dr Dolittle myself.
L: Your family went to live in South Africa in the 1960s, and you became a passionate horse rider. You continued to communicate with animals secretly, and then life happened – you got married, had three children and worked in a corporate. Somehow, you still found time for your spiritual life. Then, you decided to make a radical career change. Tell us about that.
S: I decided I wanted to work with dogs, and one of the “traditional routes” was canine behaviour. So, I completed various courses, got accredited by several organisations, including the Animal Behaviour Consultants of South Africa™ and Tellington TTouch™, and ran a puppy school. I also worked on the spiritual side, attending various workshops and completing courses, including Reiki and Louise Hay. But it was when I went full-time into canine behaviour that things started shifting.
L: Please elaborate.
S: I would ask a client for a photo of a dog before an in-person consult. Then, I’d connect with the pet through the image, introduce myself to them, and have a little chat to find out what was causing the behaviour issues. Later in the consult, I observed the dog’s body language and how it interacted with its owner. This helped me tailor the behaviour modifications accordingly, and I found that combining communication with the consults was really effective.
L: You also took your passion for dogs up a notch by launching Friends of the Dog. This is a platform to educate owners by sharing free resources like articles, contacts in the industry, and product information. And you did some incredible work with shelters, empowering them to better understand and work with their dogs to improve their chances of adoption. Now let’s fast-forward to 2020.
S: That was the year I joined my family in Portugal. I was still running Friends of the Dog and doing online consults, but intuitively, I knew there was more work to be done and a new direction for me. I went through a time of seclusion and introspection and was guided full circle to fulfil my destiny as an animal communicator and healer.
L: I can attest to an incredible session, Scotty, where you helped my storm-phobic senior dog cope to the extent that he went out into the garden in the pouring rain to relieve himself and then managed to sleep through the rest of it! What other issues could you help in this way?
S: I’ve yet to come across a behaviour where the combination of communication and energy healing has been unable to help, regardless of the behaviour being exhibited. To the animal the behaviour being exhibited is totally normal, so in its eyes, nothing “wrong” is being done. At the same time, the animal’s person doesn’t understand why the behaviour is happening, so once we can get everybody “on the same page”, so to speak, determine the root cause/s of the behaviour, and offer some suggestions as to what could be done instead, we are on the way to a successful outcome.
L: In closing, if you had only one message from Pet Heaven to give to grieving pet parents, what would it be?
S: “You did all you could and loved me unconditionally. There’s no need for guilt or regret. There’s absolutely no pain in the passing – the Soul leaves the body immediately and arrives in Planet Heaven.” Or Planet Love, as I’ve heard it called. We must still deal with our grief in the usual manner, which is totally normal and healthy, but rest assured, our beloved pets are safe, happy and very loved in Planet Heaven.
…ends.
