The pet psychic, Sonya Fitzgerald (left), claims she can "talk" to all kinds of animals.

SONYA Fitzpatrick - the woman known as "the pet psychic" whose special drew such big numbers for Animal Planet that they gave her a regular hour-long show - has the magic ingredients for a hit: pets, paranormal chats and a sense of humor about it all.

Yes, I'm hooked. Call me the sucker who gets born every minute, but the woman is a hoot, and so is the show.

On the first special, there were maybe 50 animals - from iguanas to llamas to a big camel, to run-of-the-mill pets like cats and birds - sitting cheek-by-jowl with nary a growl, snarl or shriek. It was like a live Rousseau painting.

After my review ran, the pet psychic herself invited me to bring my pet in for a private reading. I immediately called the love of my life and told him to bring the love of his life - Leo the Wonder Dog - to the conference room of Rogers & Cowan public relations where Sonya was waiting for us.

She won us both over - or should I say, all three of us - including Leo the Wonder Dog.

She has this amazing ability to immediately put animals at their ease. No, I'm not talking about the Love Interest, I'm talking about the dog.

Among other things, we found out that Leo misses his best friend since he moved away. He wanted to know what happened - "We used to see each other everyday and now I'm very sad," he "told" Sonya. (She explained on the show that animals "talk" in pictures that she can "see." OK.)

To help Leo over his separation anxiety, we started picking up little Chappo the Cairn Terrier (he's five pounds, Leo, a Rhodesian Ridgeback, is 100) on weekends so they could spend hours biting each other. Arranging weekend dates between the ex and my one perfect child was light stuff compared to this.

She also told us that Leo was very happy with the new car that the L.I. had bought just for him because the other one was a bit cramped. (Yes, he bought an SUV so the dog could be more comfortable - even though I was perfectly comfortable in the other car, thank you very much!)

When she asked him why he always fights with the Airedale at the dog run, she said Leo said, "Because he stinks! If you smelled him even once, you'd fight with him too!"

So, needless to say I was very excited to see that Sonya got herself a regular gig. Since she has such a great sense of humor and such compassion for the pets, you'd have to be a real stinker yourself not to like her.

On the first show, she "talks" to Hershey a dog who is afraid of people - except for her. Poor Hershey's afraid that since he was given the boot by his first family, that he'll get the boot again.

Within seconds of "talking" to Sonya, Hershey is laying all over his owner's feet, and smooching up a storm.

There's also an unhappy alligator, a ticked off Myna bird, a dog who wants more French Fries (to the amazement of his owners who say it's the pooch's preferred treat) and a depressed horse.

You'll also see in coming weeks a pet zebra, a disgruntled bat and more than a few dead pets who talk from beyond the grave because, well, dead is huge on TV this year - from "Crossing Over" to "Six Feet Under." Talk about dying for a hit.

Copyright 2002 NYP Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.

Return to top