Can Dogs Really See Ghosts?

In tonight’s episode, Delia’s dog, Bob, is able to see – and even to play with – Homer the ghost dog. Could this actually be possible? I teach that dogs read human energy as if we are speaking a language with them. They know our every mood and emotion – sometimes, even before we do! Could dogs really be aware of spirits that we humans cannot see?

Recently, I had a real life experience with one of my dogs at the Dog Psychology Center that opened my eyes – and my mind – and made me a true believer.

Preston is a rescued pit bull who has lived with me as part of my pack at the Dog Psychology Center for the past five years. Preston had a friend, also a pit bull, named Dosey, who belonged to my friend Joey. , but often stayed with us at the Center. When Dosey was at the Center, he and Preston had become the greatest of friends. But about a month ago, Dosey passed away from cancer. One day Joey came to the Dog Psychology Center, and something happened that astounded me. Preston went right to Joey and began acting like Dosey. Now, I’ve known Preston for five years already, but that day he behaved like I’ve never seen him before, He totally became Dosey. I was so amazed, I really wanted to make sure I wasn’t imagining things, and I wanted to see if this behavior would continue. So I asked Joey, “Is it OK for Preston to come home with you?” Joey agreed.

Dosey had been best friends with one of Joey’s three cats. Now, Preston has never seen a cat, lived with a cat, or had anything to do with a cat in his life. But as soon as Preston arrived at Joey’s apartment, the cat that had been Dosey’s friend came running to meet them. At the moment that they met, Preston and this cat went nose to nose and started playing with one another. That night, they slept curled up together, exactly the same way that Dosey used to sleep with the cat. It was definitely like Dosey’s spirit was inside Preston, or was somehow communicating through him to make everybody who missed him feel a little bit better.

I usually work in the instinctual world, and I had never before experienced that kind of thing with any of my dogs. But from that point on, I’ve been more open to the spiritual world, and as I’m more open to it, more of it is presenting to me. It is real, and it makes sense to me that our dogs would be much more in tune with it than we are.

“My history with Ghosts”

My wife Ilusion and our kids and I all love to watch the “Ghost Whisperer” because it isn’t just a supernatural show, it’s also a spiritual show. It really stresses the important lessons that I learn from my dogs every day – to live in the moment and appreciate everything and everyone we love, all the time. My wife is a very spiritual person – she’s even seen ghosts and had visions in her life. But she was raised in America, where people are free to believe whatever they want. I grew up in a working class family in Mexico, where things were a little different. My family was more caught up in religion than spirituality. In spirituality you can definitely be more open to supernatural things, but since we were very Catholic, that would be like black magic or that would be like the wrong thing to follow. It wasn’t until I came to America that I really started to open up to things like ghosts and the supernatural. And of course, falling in love with my wife, I began to see the world in a much more open-minded way. Sort of like how Melinda opened up a new world for Jim!

The funny part of it is that even in my family, there were certain superstitions that persisted, even though they might not agree 100% which what the religion teaches. For example, on the farm where I was growing up they always used to say that the dogs would sense death coming. The farm hands all believed that dogs would behave in a certain way and the next day or right after somebody would die. Then, once you went to church, they’d tell you not to believe that. It was very contradicting. It really confuses you, but even despite the religious rules, there were always stories like that. And I think they probably had some truth in them.

“My Day on the Set”

I arrived on the set early in the morning to do makeup and wardrobe, and was so flattered by all the Dog Whisperer fans among the crew! The energy on the set was amazing – a very positive energy. Jennifer Love Hewitt is definitely a “calm assertive pack leader.” From the beginning, I had a great time. I had a special parking spot right in the front. I had my own trailer. Everyone there really made me feel like a special guest, from the person who made the food to the big executives.

Even though I have my own TV show, I am definitely not an actor! The way we shoot my show, I don’t even know the details about the dog I am going to help before I get there. There is no piece of paper or script telling me what to do. That’s the difference between a reality show and a fiction show. Also, the dogs I deal with don’t understand the concept of “take two,” so the camera guys on “Dog Whisperer” have a tough job making sure they catch all the action!

Even though working from a script was a new experience for me, fortunately, I was playing myself – which gave me a big advantage.

Working with Jennifer Love Hewitt and Camryn Manheim was awesome. They made it so easy for me. What’s amazing about great actors like those ladies is that no matter how many times they do a scene over, it always feels like it’s really happening in the moment. I had two great teachers in front of me and they were not faking anything. They were really being that character. I just had to learn to tune into their frequency. It’s actually very similar to what I try and teach people – to learn and tune into the frequency of their dogs. I really wanted it to sound real, and I think it came out well. We had a really good time, laughing and enjoying ourselves. It was definitely a day I will always remember.

“How the Dog Whisperer met the Ghost Whisperer”

My name is Cesar Millan and many of you know me as the “Dog Whisperer” on the National Geographic Channel’s hit show, “Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan”. Normally, my job is working with people to turn their problem dogs into good canine citizens…so, how did I end up getting to help “Ghost Whisperer” Melinda Gordon solve her problems with a ghost dog that won’t cross over? It’s actually a pretty cute story.

One of my executive producers and also the co-writer of my books, Melissa Jo Peltier, happens to be married to John Gray, the creator of the Ghost Whisperer series. They are newlyweds and get a lot of mileage out of the coincidence that the Dog Whisperer Producer and the Ghost Whisperer Producer are a couple. One day, Melissa suggested to John that maybe I could help Melinda deal with the problem of what to do about Homer the ghost dog. Since many of the Ghost Whisperer staff and the CBS executives were fans of my show, they loved the idea. And since my whole family are all huge fans of Jennifer Love Hewitt and the show, I was very excited to participate.