Keeping it real

I realized that someone reading my last few posts might imagine me at home with my animals constantly engaged in philosophical conversation.
In spite of the deep information I get from animals sometimes, I would say in general our day to day interactions are much less intense.
Here is a summary of the main things my animals have to say to me on a daily basis:

My dogs:
1. I want to go outside
2. I'm hungry
3. I'm bored
4. I love you

My cats:
1. I want to go outside
2. Feed me!
3. We need new water


My horses:
1. I want to go out on the pasture
2. When will you play with us again?
3. I love you

So you can see, there is really not that much philosophizing going on around here!

Keeping it real when doing animal communication sessions is important to me. If I go in as an animal communicator and wax poetic without ever addressing the animal's basic needs, I think I am being grossly neglectful.
It doesn't do any good to address an animal at a spiritual level, for example, if it isn't getting fed!
I recently read a post on another animal communicator's website that asked the question: How do you know that what you received is real?
Answer: Because you can see it in the physical. Otherwise you never know and shouldn't treat it like fact.
This was a refreshing viewpoint to see, because I think too many animal communicators are out there leading people on spiritual wild-goose chases.
I had a person call me once to ask me to check in with her horse to see if there was anything physically wrong with it. I do this kind of thing all the time; but in this situation she was asking because she was out of town and wanted someone to check in on her horse while she was gone.
I told her I could attempt this only if she also sent someone out to physically check on the horse! Animal communication is no substitute for two pair of eyes.
I recently did a riding session with a horse and rider that demonstrated this to me strongly. I had communicated with the horse and hadn't found any major problems. So I said: tack up, lets see what happens when we put the horse in the situation you are speaking about. Within one minute I had pinpointed the problem, which was just a simple mechanical error on the riders part.
Does the fact that I have to watch the situation in action make me less of an animal communicator?
I don't believe so at all. I believe it makes me more responsible and better at "keeping it real."