Last Friday, Animal Communicator Jeannie Lindheim did a communication with Izzy, the Soul Dog, my hospice therapy dog, the star of “Izzy & Lenore.” Izzy was abandoned on a farm in Washington County where he lived more or less outdoors for four or five years, with some help from a friendly caretaker. He entered hospice volunteer training with me, and embarked on a remarkable career in hospice work for two years, until we both realized we needed a break.

Izzy is an amazing creature, and Jeannie connected him immediately, referring to him as “an old soul,” a “soft” and “sweet” presence. He is that. I will never forget the peace and connection he brought to people on the edge of life, and the human connection he helped me to recover and to find. You get the dog you need. I needed Izzy.

This communication was gentle, easy. Jeannie doesn’t do tricks like telling me amazing things she couldn’t know. I’m not really interested in that, and more and more, I see her telepathic gifts are about gaining a sense of the animal, and the animal’s spirit. She is quite wonderful at that. She reminds me and others of the true nature of animals, and she doesn’t go into drama, recriminations or a lot of emotionalizing. She captures the essence of animals adaptive and accepting nature. No, they are not like us, and she doesn’t present them that way.

Izzy loved the hospice, especially the beginning of his visits, when he made a special connection with people. He loved working with me, and would love returning to hospice work if I am willing and interested. He enjoyed it. It was not difficult for him, although he sometimes found the visits too long. He has no sense of life or death in human terms, Jeannie said, but he sensed the work was special, for him and for me.  He was not depressed or discouraged when people and their spirits left, he has no concept of what that means. One day they were there, and then they were gone. He was just doing his thing. It was just him, who he was.

Hospice work was not a trauma for him, not difficult or sad work. He loved making initial connections with people, sensing their need and attention. His life on the farm, he said is perfect. He loves watching the life of the farm, the animals, and he loves being with the other dogs, hanging around with them. He is very happy, and all of the time.

What he mostly wants, she said, is to take care of me. And if hospice is the way to do that, fine. Other ways can work also.

We asked him about his time on the farm, before coming to me, and he said he knew someone would come, he always knew that, and he was just waiting. And when I came, he knew I was the person he had been waiting for and was happy to join my life. Mostly, Jeannie said he gave off the feeling of a sweet, soft, soul. And that is so. I am grateful for him. I was waiting for him also.