When we acquire a new animal friend who has already been named, we usually think that we need to keep this name. However, if your new friend seems to be oblivious to his name, or present some strange behaviour, sometimes renaming him can be a blessing.
Noah the parrot
Noah’s owner approached me as she was concerned about Noah’s behaviour. He was fairly aggressive and always tried to bite her or anyone coming too close to his cage. Noah was not locked in his cage and had the ability to come and go as he pleased.
She was also wondering if Noah was a boy or a girl. Noah had been given to her as a boy parrot few years back and he never seemed to have settled nor was he happy.His previous owners who bought him in a pet shop, were never able to settle him down and after a little while decided it was better for Noah to find a new home.
As soon as I started speaking with Noah, he told me that he was a girl! In fact, he had been fairly annoyed that humans thought he was a boy.
I asked her if he had a name in mind and the word “Pippa” came up. She kept saying “Pippa! Pippa!”
So Noah became Pippa that same day! Within only few days after the session, Pippa turned into a nice little parrot! No more biting, no more hissing! She enjoyed her finally well deserved identity!
I’m no Princess!!
A case very closed to my heart is the one of my beautiful Quarter Horse mare Diamantina Dreaming.
When I bought Diamantina, I asked her owner whether he had a nickname for her as Diamantina Dreaming is a mouth full! He did not as he only called her the big mare! Straight away I thought that would be quite interesting to have a 6 year-old horse with no name!
Never the less, I bought her. It became quickly obvious that it was going to be an issue not having a name. Whatever I tried to call her, she never answered. So I switched to a very loud whistle to call her. It worked but was not very practical. Then one day, one of my friends suggested to call her Princess as she was acting like one. Well more like the queen but Queen did not resonate well in my ears!
So she became Princess! 2 years later, she was still not responding to her name and she was acting more and more like a diva! And you know, when you are too close to a problem, you can’t see the big picture! No matter how much I communicated with her, I did not seem to get anywhere.
Then one day as I was grooming her and talking with her, I heard “don’t like my name!”. However, for some strange reason I didn’t pay attention to it until only few days later where I remembered what I heard. I spent more time with her and she did not seem to be talking to me like any other animals: it was more like ideas popping into my head. The name change kept coming back as well as the word “flower”.
So I asked her whether she wanted to be called “Flower” but did not receive an answer. So I seek the help of another animal communicator who confirmed she wanted a different name and it had to be the name of a flower!
I spent more time with her and waited to get ideas in my head as it was her way of talking to me. Few names came up and I selected 2 which I wrote on two pieces of paper. I put a piece in each hand without knowing which name was written on them. I presented to her my closed hands and she nudged one. I looked what was written on the paper and it was “Lily”. To make sure, I repeated the exercise and again, she picked Lily.
So that day, the Princess became Lily.
Within only few weeks of her new name, Lily was transformed. She is now happy, social and does not think she is a diva, princess or queen anymore. She talks and has turned into a very affectionate horse. She is a new horse!