ABOUT
![Picture](/uploads/1/4/6/7/146723359/published/me-with-muttmix-dogs.jpg?1699299452)
Hello, my name is Scotty Valadao, and I would like to share my story with you.
I’ve had an absolute passion for animals my whole life, especially dogs, horses and cats. I’ve been able to communicate with them for as long as I can remember, but as a child, I thought this was something everybody could do. I was always referred to as the child with the extraordinary imagination because talking to animals was just not done in the 1950s!
My family lived in Scotland on the edge of a small town, in the last row of houses, with the River Clyde not far away. The countryside surrounded us, and I loved nothing better than lying amongst the bluebells in the woods, watching the clouds through the trees and talking to birds and the odd rabbit.
I came to meet my main animal guide, Crow, at about the age of four. My mother told me how she looked outside the window one day to check what I was up to and saw me sitting stroking a crow. She felt she would collapse, but did not shout, afraid that I’d get pecked (they have big beaks!). Crow visited me every day for the whole summer and then was never seen again. Mom thought it was possibly someone’s pet that had escaped.
As time went on, I realised very quickly that talking to animals was not seen as the 'done thing', especially at school, so I kept it to myself. I always felt different and that I didn’t fit in. I used to lose myself in books and when I was about 11, I read The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting. This was what I wanted in life more than anything else – to become a Dr Dolittle!
Moving to South Africa
In 1963, my family moved to South Africa. Horse riding and dogs were still my passions, and I spent every weekend and holiday at the stables. My psychic abilities were still there – I had the ability (and still have) of being able to calm down and help animals that were nervous and fearful, and I believe this was because I could communicate with them. When riding in a group, I would also intuitively know if someone was going to be thrown from their horse, and by tuning into each of the people in our group, I was always right about the person this would happen to. But I couldn’t say anything as I was still not speaking about my abilities!
Life went on, I finished my education and began working, and marriage and my first child came quickly, with two more children to follow several years apart. Life was incredibly busy, and I never seemed to be able to find the time to work more on my spiritual life, especially as my husband did not approve. I remember shortly after Mom had passed, saying casually to him as we were driving: "I spoke to Mom today”, with the result that he nearly caused an accident and thought I’d lost my mind!
Once my children went to school, and even though I was still working, I found time to pursue my spiritual path and loved every second of it, even though I had no idea where it was leading me – it just made me happy.
A career change
When I turned 40, I decided to change my career and work with animals, especially dogs. While still working, albeit half-time, I completed every available course in canine behaviour I could fine, and started to work full-time on the behaviour side. I ran a puppy school with Lotte Griffiths called Canine Communications and I had already become accredited by the South African Companion Animal Professionals™ as a canine behaviourist. A few years later, I was accredited by the Animal Behaviour Consultants of South Africa™.
I loved every second of my work; my passion was working with dogs that were fearful or nervous and dogs exhibiting aggression. (Did you know that about 99% of dogs exhibiting aggression were initially fearful and instead of running from the thing that scared them, they had the opposite reaction? Gradually this reaction intensified and became full-blown aggression).
During my practical training with SA Dog Training Academy & College to become a puppy & obedience trainer, I met Jenny Shone, who had recently completed an animal communication course in Ireland. I suggested that she should offer courses here and I would do the bookings. This came about with Jenny doing the communication part and me the Reiki part of the courses. We worked together for just under a year until I choose to go the more conventional route with canine behaviour as I was still having strife regarding 'my other life' as I called it.
It was after deciding to work solely in behaviour that I made the change with my clients. When I sent a questionnaire to a client, depending on the behaviour being exhibited, I asked them to send me a picture of their dog. I would connect with the dog before the consult, and this enabled me to get an understanding as to what was causing the behaviour. I could then observe the dog’s body language, interactions with its owner, and in this way, I was able to bring in behaviour modifications that would really help. This combination made me successful in my chosen profession.
Friends of the Dog is born
One of my other passions is education – helping people understand why their dog is behaving in a particular manner, plus the tools to deal with it. I was regularly gave advice on dog behaviour on – Radio 702, Edenvale Radio, and gave umpteen workshops on various aspects of behaviour and TTouch, not only in South Africa, but also in Scotland and Ireland.
My colleagues and I had seen that many behaviour problems could have been avoided if the owners had correct knowledge, and this led us to launch www.friendsoftehdog.co.za on the 14th of February 2011 to provide dog owners with much-needed education and resources, and it’s still going strong today. We later started FODS Academy and offered practical courses on canine behaviour; we had a puppy school and offered instructors courses. We also hosted the FODS Shelter Courses in Gauteng and the Western Cape to give shelters more tools to work with and help them and their staff improve the lives of the dogs and assist with getting them ready for adoption. In addition to the workshops in the Western Cape, I spent seven months in the province going through to the Fallen Angels shelter an average of three times a week, meeting new owners and giving them the basic tools for a successful adoption and working with dogs in the shelter.
Honouring my calling
Three years ago, I joined my family in Portugal and made this beautiful country my home, continuing to work on line with Friends of the Dog.. By now, many of my friends knew about my dream of becoming a Dr Doolittle and had witnessed the results that could be achieved with communication. At their urging, and the urging of Spirit, I knew the time was right. It was time to start the work I was born to do, and I began preparing for launching Conversations Beyond the Rainbow Bridge, and my other website www.animalcommunicationssv.com, where I offer assistance for both behaviour and health issues.
At last, my dream has become a reality, plus my family is accepting and even encouraging! I invite you to visit my websites and feel free to share what I do with friends and family. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions . My qualifications and certifications follow below:
Qualifications and Certifications
Most of the non-canine courses I completed over the years have played a part in my work as a canine behaviourist. This was especially so with the Louise L Hay facilitators course. While I never had the inclination to work with humans, I instinctively felt I should do this course. I went on to use the positive affirmations with behaviour modification and found them a wonderful way to help owners change their perception of their dogs.
With the rest of the non-canine courses, I still use nearly all of them – this must have been the Universe preparing me for this new stage in my life!
Dogs:
I’ve had an absolute passion for animals my whole life, especially dogs, horses and cats. I’ve been able to communicate with them for as long as I can remember, but as a child, I thought this was something everybody could do. I was always referred to as the child with the extraordinary imagination because talking to animals was just not done in the 1950s!
My family lived in Scotland on the edge of a small town, in the last row of houses, with the River Clyde not far away. The countryside surrounded us, and I loved nothing better than lying amongst the bluebells in the woods, watching the clouds through the trees and talking to birds and the odd rabbit.
I came to meet my main animal guide, Crow, at about the age of four. My mother told me how she looked outside the window one day to check what I was up to and saw me sitting stroking a crow. She felt she would collapse, but did not shout, afraid that I’d get pecked (they have big beaks!). Crow visited me every day for the whole summer and then was never seen again. Mom thought it was possibly someone’s pet that had escaped.
As time went on, I realised very quickly that talking to animals was not seen as the 'done thing', especially at school, so I kept it to myself. I always felt different and that I didn’t fit in. I used to lose myself in books and when I was about 11, I read The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting. This was what I wanted in life more than anything else – to become a Dr Dolittle!
Moving to South Africa
In 1963, my family moved to South Africa. Horse riding and dogs were still my passions, and I spent every weekend and holiday at the stables. My psychic abilities were still there – I had the ability (and still have) of being able to calm down and help animals that were nervous and fearful, and I believe this was because I could communicate with them. When riding in a group, I would also intuitively know if someone was going to be thrown from their horse, and by tuning into each of the people in our group, I was always right about the person this would happen to. But I couldn’t say anything as I was still not speaking about my abilities!
Life went on, I finished my education and began working, and marriage and my first child came quickly, with two more children to follow several years apart. Life was incredibly busy, and I never seemed to be able to find the time to work more on my spiritual life, especially as my husband did not approve. I remember shortly after Mom had passed, saying casually to him as we were driving: "I spoke to Mom today”, with the result that he nearly caused an accident and thought I’d lost my mind!
Once my children went to school, and even though I was still working, I found time to pursue my spiritual path and loved every second of it, even though I had no idea where it was leading me – it just made me happy.
A career change
When I turned 40, I decided to change my career and work with animals, especially dogs. While still working, albeit half-time, I completed every available course in canine behaviour I could fine, and started to work full-time on the behaviour side. I ran a puppy school with Lotte Griffiths called Canine Communications and I had already become accredited by the South African Companion Animal Professionals™ as a canine behaviourist. A few years later, I was accredited by the Animal Behaviour Consultants of South Africa™.
I loved every second of my work; my passion was working with dogs that were fearful or nervous and dogs exhibiting aggression. (Did you know that about 99% of dogs exhibiting aggression were initially fearful and instead of running from the thing that scared them, they had the opposite reaction? Gradually this reaction intensified and became full-blown aggression).
During my practical training with SA Dog Training Academy & College to become a puppy & obedience trainer, I met Jenny Shone, who had recently completed an animal communication course in Ireland. I suggested that she should offer courses here and I would do the bookings. This came about with Jenny doing the communication part and me the Reiki part of the courses. We worked together for just under a year until I choose to go the more conventional route with canine behaviour as I was still having strife regarding 'my other life' as I called it.
It was after deciding to work solely in behaviour that I made the change with my clients. When I sent a questionnaire to a client, depending on the behaviour being exhibited, I asked them to send me a picture of their dog. I would connect with the dog before the consult, and this enabled me to get an understanding as to what was causing the behaviour. I could then observe the dog’s body language, interactions with its owner, and in this way, I was able to bring in behaviour modifications that would really help. This combination made me successful in my chosen profession.
Friends of the Dog is born
One of my other passions is education – helping people understand why their dog is behaving in a particular manner, plus the tools to deal with it. I was regularly gave advice on dog behaviour on – Radio 702, Edenvale Radio, and gave umpteen workshops on various aspects of behaviour and TTouch, not only in South Africa, but also in Scotland and Ireland.
My colleagues and I had seen that many behaviour problems could have been avoided if the owners had correct knowledge, and this led us to launch www.friendsoftehdog.co.za on the 14th of February 2011 to provide dog owners with much-needed education and resources, and it’s still going strong today. We later started FODS Academy and offered practical courses on canine behaviour; we had a puppy school and offered instructors courses. We also hosted the FODS Shelter Courses in Gauteng and the Western Cape to give shelters more tools to work with and help them and their staff improve the lives of the dogs and assist with getting them ready for adoption. In addition to the workshops in the Western Cape, I spent seven months in the province going through to the Fallen Angels shelter an average of three times a week, meeting new owners and giving them the basic tools for a successful adoption and working with dogs in the shelter.
Honouring my calling
Three years ago, I joined my family in Portugal and made this beautiful country my home, continuing to work on line with Friends of the Dog.. By now, many of my friends knew about my dream of becoming a Dr Doolittle and had witnessed the results that could be achieved with communication. At their urging, and the urging of Spirit, I knew the time was right. It was time to start the work I was born to do, and I began preparing for launching Conversations Beyond the Rainbow Bridge, and my other website www.animalcommunicationssv.com, where I offer assistance for both behaviour and health issues.
At last, my dream has become a reality, plus my family is accepting and even encouraging! I invite you to visit my websites and feel free to share what I do with friends and family. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions . My qualifications and certifications follow below:
Qualifications and Certifications
Most of the non-canine courses I completed over the years have played a part in my work as a canine behaviourist. This was especially so with the Louise L Hay facilitators course. While I never had the inclination to work with humans, I instinctively felt I should do this course. I went on to use the positive affirmations with behaviour modification and found them a wonderful way to help owners change their perception of their dogs.
With the rest of the non-canine courses, I still use nearly all of them – this must have been the Universe preparing me for this new stage in my life!
Dogs:
- Canine Behaviourist (SABCAP) South African Companion Animal Professionals™
- Canine Behaviour Consultant ABC of SA™ – Animal Behaviour Consultants of South Africa™. The ABC was internationally recognised, and I was accredited by them around 2007. They decided to close in 2023, after more than 30 years in the canine industry. I would be happy to send you my last certification with them, should you wish to see it.
- Ethology Academy – Dogs
- Tellington TTouch Practitioner™
- Animal Care College in UK – Advanced Canine Behaviour (correspondence course).
- Puppy & Obedience Instructor – SA Dog Training Academy & College (SADTAC)
- Clicker Instructor
- Animal Communications (several courses)
- Reiki – USUI™ Master
- Karuna Ki Reiki™
- Lighterian Reiki™www.diesiener.co.za/
- Louise L Hay Facilitator™
- Psychic Development Course with Janette MacKenzie
- Meditation and spiritual development from Gerald Burger (Die Siener), and mentorship (on going)
- TM Meditation™
- Weekly meditation with Liz Marshall
- Crystal Healing Certificate with Liz Marshall
- Angel workshops with the late Margaret Neylon (author, numerologist, psychic) in Ireland.
- Courses in tapping, pendulums, auras, chakras and two modules of the Bowen Technique with Bowen SA (After two modules I felt I had received what I needed, so I did not continue, although an excellent modality). I am self taught in TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupressure.