What is a Pack Reading?

If you've ever lived with more than one animal, you already know the truth — you don't just have pets. You have a whole entire society under your roof. Complete with alliances, grievances, unspoken rules, and at least one member who is absolutely convinced they are in charge.

A pack reading is exactly what it sounds like: an animal communication session with multiple animals at once. Instead of tuning into one animal's thoughts, feelings, and perspective, I open the conversation to the whole group — the dynamics, the relationships, the tensions, and yes, the opinions everyone has about everyone else.

I didn't know I could do this until the day it was accidentally thrust upon me.

I was still a student. We were in a Behavior & Dynamics class and our instructor came on the Zoom with not one, not two, but THREE dogs. Mags gets aggravated with Beau. Beau annoys Remi. She wanted to get to the bottom of the issue.

I almost lost my mind.

Every other student seemed completely unruffled, which was the only thing that kept me from raising my hand and filing a formal complaint. I took a breath. I grabbed the reins of my inner Karen. I settled in.

I did my usual meditation and as soon as I opened the connection, everyone started talking at once.

It was like walking into a principal's office where every kid in the room was desperate to give their version of what happened. A wall of impressions, feelings, and energy all competing for the same airspace. For a split second I thought — I cannot do this. This is too much. There are too many of them.

And then one voice rose above the rest.

Hold it, everyone. I'll tell you what happened.

That was Beau.

Beau was absolutely certain he was the most important person in the room. I'm cute. He said. He seemed to be vying for attention and had a lot to say. They're just jealous, he went on. He had a lot of energy and was very distracted. I watched him tear around the room and bounce from subject to subject and he had a goofy streak a mile wide — the kind of energy that walks into every room like it owns the place and somehow gets away with it entirely.

Then came the rebuttal.

How is it possible that you can be so in sufferably annoying?!

That was Mags. She was the older one — the real authority in the group, even if she let Beau do his thing. Mags seemed to wince as he bound too close to her, a sour look on her face. I felt tension in my head and shoulders just watching him from her perspective, like my muscles tensing to protect old, achey joints. She seemed so tired and craving a slow and easy pace. I could tell this sweet, old girl was struggling to see and hear. Add that to being over stimulated, it was no wonder she had enough of Beau's nonsense.

And then there was Remi — filing a formal complaint about Beau's entire existence. He needs to calm down. He saw Mags as a mother figure, a big sister. Beau was the annoying little sibling who never got the memo that his behavior was a lot.

Three animals. Three completely distinct personalities. Three entirely different experiences of the same household.

And I was accurate. Every bit of it confirmed.

So what does a pack reading actually look like in practice?

It starts the same way any animal communication session does — with intention, with a photo, with opening myself up to whoever wants to come forward. The difference is that in a pack reading, I'm not just listening to one voice. I'm holding space for the whole conversation — who speaks first, who hangs back, who has a lot to say and who chooses their words carefully. The dynamics between animals tell their own story. Sometimes the one you least expect turns out to be running the whole show. After years of practice, I'm better about running it more like a "facilitated group session" than a chaotic free-for-all.

For more info, check out my blog post "What Happens in an Animal Communication Session?"

Pack readings are especially useful when:

• You've recently introduced a new animal to the household and the adjustment isn't going smoothly.

• You've noticed tension between animals that seems to come out of nowhere.

• One animal's behavior has changed and you wonder if it's related to another member of the group.

• You simply want to understand the social world your animals have built when you're not watching.

• You have a household mystery on your hands and the usual suspects aren't talking. (They are. They're just waiting to be asked.) Read "The Mystery of the Missing Bottle" [link]

Animals are extraordinarily perceptive about each other. They notice things we miss entirely. And when you give the whole group a voice, you often discover that what looked like a behavioral problem was actually a communication breakdown — something that shifts the moment everyone finally feels heard.

Beau, Mags, and Remi taught me that a pack isn't just a collection of individual animals. It's a living, breathing, opinionated little society.

And every society has stories to tell.

That day in class I learned something that has stayed with me ever since. The best animal communicators, the best parents, the best therapists, the best humans — they stay humble. Soft. Open. Listening. Not because they don't have knowledge or experience to offer, but because you cannot receive anything new when you're already full of what you think you know.

I almost filed a formal complaint that day (not really, but my anxiety had my blood pumping). Instead I got one of the best lessons of my practice.

Curious about the dynamics in your own pack? A pack reading might be exactly what your household needs. Book a session!