Pet psychic finds blown away Chihuahua?

Well, the weird news just keeps coming in from my hometown. This time around, consider the case of Tinker Bell. Tinker Bell is a tiny Chihuahua weighing all of five pounds. This poor little creature met nature in a most unfortunate way on Saturday, when some rather heavy storms swept through southeast Michigan. It turns out that storms and Chihuahuas don't mix very well (as you might expect), and poor Tinker Bell discovered that in a most harsh way:

Tinkerbelle was with her owners, Lavern and Dorothy Utley of Rochester, when a powerful storm swept into the Dixie Land Flea Market in Waterford.

The storm packed wind gusts of more 70 mph.

One of the gusts lifted up Tinkerbelle and carried the dog away.

"They tried to catch her too but nobody could. The wind had her and she was just going on and her collar was found across the street," said Dorothy Utley. "She flew and she went over three lanes into the woods."

Joe Goldberg is the manager of the flea market.

He said the storm came up suddenly and began sweeping away equipment from the more than 100 vendors at the site.

"It was just like the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy and Toto," Goldberg said.

The Utley family searched the area through the weekend.

I can feel for the Utleys. Really, I can. I may not be a big fan of Chihuahuas. (I prefer larger dogs.) I would never make fun of anyone who lost their dog. I can totally understand their going to radio stations for help, which apparently the Utleys did on Monday morning. Fortunately, this story has a happy ending. But how? Surely you must be able to guess.

That's right. Enter...the Lorrie the Pet Psychic:

A pet psychic "thought we were looking in the wrong place," Dorothy Utley, Tinker Bell's owner, said Monday. "She said, 'I'd like you to go over and look under things and up high and on hills.' She said she was going to be up high."

[...]

"The animal speaks to me," Lorrie the Pet Psychic said Monday. "She was telling me she was OK. ... I'm just so happy for her, that they have her home. I don't call myself a hero or anything."

And another account:

Then, an unexpected call Monday brought the family new hope of finding Tinkerbelle.

"Well, we were on a local radio station this morning for about two and a half hours, and a psychic had called and she had told us that we were doing the wrong thing," Dorothy Utley said. "She told us what to do and we went and found her ... she came running out of the woods like a little rabbit."

The Utley's said the psychic told them exactly where to find the dog, on a hillside across the road.

The Utley's said Tinkerbelle was unhurt, but very hungry.

Let me see. Could it be that this "pet psychic" knew the area? Certainly, it doesn't take much to guess that, if Tinker Bell had survived, she would be on high ground somewhere. There's also the likelihood that this is one of those occasions when the psychic got lucky. Certainly there's no evidence that any "pet psychic" can communicate with pets using any sort of psychic powers. Not that that stops Lorrie the Pet Psychic from making such claims:

I am a Third Generation Psychic / Medium.
I have been using my gift for the past 16 years.
I have been blessed with this Psychic gift to communicate with
animals and humans so let me share my gift with your animal and you!
Your animal or pet does not need to be in crisis to have a reading.
Mini Reiki Energy Treatment with each reading, no extra charge.
I can help you with your lost animals I can help you find the right
animal needs for your (Breeding, work animal, companion).

I am not limited to the animal realm. I also read Humans.

Nice of her to include a bit of that ol' reiki woo in with the mix at no extra charge. Of course, at $80 for a half hour of psychic "work," I'd expect some extras myself, especially if Lorrie doesn't even need to meet the pet in order to communicate with her. So, yes, let's throw in a little of that distant healing reiki woo on top of the psychic readings of the pet. Is there anything easier to do? After all, there's no way anyone could ever disprove anything a pet psychic says about what a pet is thinking, especially if it's a dog. After all, say that the dog is thinking of food, play, chasing squirrels, or belly rubs, and you'll rarely be far off the mark, although, of course, again there would not be any way to tell one way or the other.

Of course, Lorrie has lots of testimonials. So what do I know?

I just had a frightening thought. What if Lorrie had pulled a Sylvia Browne and said that poor Tinker Bell was alive when, in fact, being blown across the road killed her? I suspect she would have had an answer for that, too, namely that she had communicated with Tinker Bell from across the Great Divide. Psychics, pet or human, always get their plays from the same basic play book. Although I'm happy that the Utleys have their beloved dog back, I'm not so happy that they have given so much publicity to such woo.

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My favorite fake psychic will continue to be Shawn Spencer. I think he worked a case where a cat's owner died.

Look "under things". Man, what an amazing gift.

Who would want a pet psychic? They eat too much, all their tricks are bogus, and they're too needy; they need even more attention than the neediest dogs. Without lots of attention, they're just not happy.

I much prefer my pet cat.

By Karl Withakay (not verified) on 29 Apr 2009 #permalink

What if, just thinking out loud here, the "Psychic" actually found and saw the dog before making the phone call. Perhaps Lorrie drives that way a lot and stopped to look..oh what have we here...??

"fake psychic", isn't using the word fake next to psychic a little redundant? :)

"What if, just thinking out loud here, the "Psychic" actually found and saw the dog before making the phone call. Perhaps Lorrie drives that way a lot and stopped to look..oh what have we here...??"

Hey if you need to go to the trouble of contriving complex theories based on outlandishly mundane principles to explain your world, fine.

It's far more likely that this person has a true psychic gift for talking to pets...wait a minute, if the pet knew where it was and communicated that info to the psychic, why didn't it just walk home itself? Dang, there I go, using reason again.........

By Karl Withakay (not verified) on 29 Apr 2009 #permalink

My sister works at a stable, and one of the clients uses a psychic to determine the horse's training activity. This woman pays out the nose to be told the same thing that the trainers would say.

I suggest a simple experiment. Put the psychic in front of 10 kennels with dogs, and tell her to feed 5 of them, the 5 that don't have rabies. Let's see how well she trusts her abilities.

I'm sorry. I'm a dog owner and lover but this is just too funny for me.

"They tried to catch her too but nobody could. The wind had her and she was just going on and her collar was found across the street," said Dorothy Utley. "She flew and she went over three lanes into the woods."

When being interviewed by Penn and Teller, James Randi once pointed out that pet psychics reveal their fraudulent nature right off the bat when they ask the owner what he pet's name is. "Why don't you ask the animal?" Randi said, "If there's any one word that the animal would recognize, it's its name."

The Science Pundit,

I'm getting an "s" or "r" or "t" or an "a" or an "n" or a "p".
Maybe Spike, or Sport, or Spot, or maybe there's an S in his life, maybe one of his parents was an S, or maybe one of the owners, or maybe his DOG name starts with an S, and it's different from the name humans gave him, maybe the p is because he has to pee, or he has peed recently.......

By Karl Withakay (not verified) on 29 Apr 2009 #permalink

Here's my best guess on what happened - most of this entire story was made up. The dog was never blown away. Maybe it ran, maybe it was blown off something, maybe nothing happened at all. The news media wouldn't think of checking on a story like this. It would spoil the whole thing.

That one is not worthy of you Orac.
A dopey story from beginning to end.
Not worth your attention....

Pet Mafioso helps find Dog
[...]
A pet Mafioso "thought we were looking in the wrong place," Dorothy Utley, Tinker Bell's owner, said Monday. "He said, 'I'd like ya ta go over and look under things and up high and on hills.' He said she was going to be up high. Very high, unless we put $3000 in unmarked bills under things."

[...]

"The animal speaks to me," Guido the Pet Mafioso said Monday. "She was telling me she was OK, for now. ... I'm just so happy we could work this out, that they have her home. I don't call myself a hero or anything, just did 'em a favor. Maybe sometime they can be doin' me a favor."

By Adam Cuerden (not verified) on 29 Apr 2009 #permalink

Let me see. Could it be that this "pet psychic" knew the area?

With Google maps and a weather report mentioning hte wind direction, anyone could "know the area."

By Trin Tragula (not verified) on 29 Apr 2009 #permalink

"That one is not worthy of you Orac.
A dopey story from beginning to end.
Not worth your attention...."

I have to disagree; that fact that this story was carried on NPR made it worthy of Oracian ridicule for me.

By Karl Withakay (not verified) on 29 Apr 2009 #permalink

Orac, unfortunately, it was on NPR, during my drive home. I was hoping you or one of the other science/skeptical blogs would mention it. I wept a little inside when I heard the story; not for the woman or her dog, but for NPR.

By Karl Withakay (not verified) on 29 Apr 2009 #permalink

OK, Orac,
I love you and this blog, but come on, man, can't you have a little faith in anything? Does everything have to make sense?
No mystery in life makes Orac a dull boy, indeed.
J. Todd DeShong

How ignorant of you to write this when you aren't even putting the entire story down. The psychic said that the dog would be in a wooded area behind Aldi's and she was not hurt. She said that the dog would be up high and that is exactly where she was. Of course you wouldn't put that though because it just shows more details that she had actually said. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but at least put all the facts down before you go bad mouthing someone. If you don't believe them then go to Detroits 95.5 podcasts and listen to "tinkerbell 4" and you will see that more details were given.

@Liz,

Orac's point is that none of those "predictions" required any kind of psychic ability. A dash of common sense and a little knowledge of the area is all it took.

Not hurt? 50/50 guess and fairly safe -- easy to fudge if the dog turns up injured. Up high? That's an instinctive reaction in animals in bad weather -- head for high ground. In the woods? There's a lot less wind there. So, knowing that there were some woods downwind of the flea market, it's not too hard to make that "prediction."

I can't believe that people hire 'pet psychics'. I mean, magical thinking can be fun, but if you want to have a pretend conversation with a dog, just suspend disbelief and start "reading the thoughts" (it's free - mild risk of permanent suspension of disbelief in susceptible individuals, these statements not evaluated by the FDA). If one is inclined to believe that a person can be psychic and read animals' minds, then how do they know they don't have that gift themselves, if they don't just believe enough?

Perhaps among people involved in the psychic circuit, those who pay for psychics are willing to suspend disbelief (until they realize that they aren't getting any voices or thoughts in their heads besides their own), those who think themselves psychics are those who can suspend disbelief further (they can transpose their own thoughts as being those of another, even when they are not hearing things or getting distinct thoughts -which would be darn annoying and likely to cause mental illness of some form if it genuinely occurred with any frequency-), and those who practice as psychics are generally either the latter or those who can impress them.

So she's up high, but also look under things. Seems basic common sense and hedging of bets really.

By Richard Eis (not verified) on 29 Apr 2009 #permalink

A pet psychic "thought we were looking in the wrong place," Dorothy Utley, Tinker Bell's owner, said Monday.

I'm sorry, someone was actually impressed by this "insight"? The owners has been frantically looking for the poor dog all weekend and come up blank, of course they had been looking in the wrong places!

If they had been looking in the right places they would already have found her!

By Lilly de Lure (not verified) on 30 Apr 2009 #permalink

@Liz

How ignorant of you to write this when you aren't even putting the entire story down.

Part of the problem with reports of "psychics" is that we never get the entire story. All we hear about are the "hits." How many "predictions" did this person make that were wrong? If the psychic had failed, would we have seen this headline: "Forseer Fails to Find Flying Phydeaux"? I doubt it, very much -- failed psychics aren't news. True Believers don't pay attention to the failures, either. That's called "confirmation bias."

Certainly, it doesn't take much to guess that, if Tinker Bell had survived, she would be on high ground somewhere.

I would have guessed at the Taco Bell, eating a Chalupa.

Yes, she is such a fraud..... that is why she is going to be interviewed by Oprah today with the family of the dog that was found. Before you comment on such things, you should actually research them a bit more and tell the whole story. Lorrie did not just tell the family that the dog was to be found on the hill, she informed them exactly where to look. She also does not live anywhere near the location where the dog was found. Also, I would suggest you look up Reiki and understand what it is before you pass judgement. The world really doesn't need another cynic. They need to believe in miracles and the ability to heal. You, my friend, are one close minded individual. Negativity is what is wrong with the world today and you are helping to spread it. Have a happy day, if that is possible for you accomplish.

She's going to be interviewed on Oprah's show today? Well, well. Maybe there'll be more blogging material in the interview.

As for reiki, I have "looked it up" and read extensively about it. It's nothing more than faith healing, except that the religious faith is not Judeo-Christian. It's Eastern mysticism. But it's the same thing. In fact, it's magic, complete with hand gestures and incantations. I described before here:

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/03/noooo_not_quackademic_medicin…

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/04/reiki_versus_the_catholic_chu…

I thought that I was the only one .... or that I was going crazy. It is bad enough that Jenny McCarthy has been on Oprah babbling about her pseudo-scientific opinions regarding parents not vaccinating their children. And now today, discussing the validity of pet psychics, "well it must be true because law enforcement uses psychics."

I think there is a cultural war stirring, between reason, rationality, and science vs. mysticism. I worry sometimes that if this keeps up we are going to head back into the dark ages.

By Elise Kamp (not verified) on 01 May 2009 #permalink

I was a skeptic too at first when it came to pet psychics. I have never taken an animal to one nor have I had the want to really. It took a few years for me being around that element and observing for myself and speaking with those that had just had a reading, that I finally began to believe. You see my mother is Lorrie so I've seen how it all began and the good she had done for people. So many people have become believers because of her and she continues to amaze people. Yes there are some that are frauds but is it really so hard to believe that there are real psychics out there?

Yes there are some that are frauds but is it really so hard to believe that there are real psychics out there?

Given that there's absolutely zero evidence for it, psychics tend to fail whenever rigorously tested, and there's no known mechanism, organ, or biological system by which psychic powers could work... yes. Yes, it really is hard to believe that there are real psychics out there.

I feel for you, Liz. It would be hard for me to believe that my mother was defrauding people too. You just let that wonderful cognitive dissonance do its work on you.

One possible scenario I haven't seen mentioned - perhaps the 'psychic' managed to acquire a chihuahua similar enough to fool the bereaved family? If they were truly distraught they might just believe anything rather than that their beloved pet had died.

By Jacob Bartle (not verified) on 02 May 2009 #permalink

You know, for a dog that flew 6 miles through the air, he looks pretty healthy. No injuries? No broken legs?

Did he land on a mattress factory? Is Sealy Posturepedic in Waterford MI? Did the Serta Sheep play a role in this?

By Thomas Boner (not verified) on 28 Aug 2009 #permalink

Pet Mafioso helps find Dog
[...]
A pet Mafioso "thought we were looking in the wrong place," Dorothy Utley, Tinker Bell's owner, said Monday. "He said, 'I'd like ya ta go over and look under things and up high and on hills.' He said she was going to be up high. Very high, unless we put $3000 in unmarked bills under things."

[...]

"The animal speaks to me," Guido the Pet Mafioso said Monday. "She was telling me she was OK, for now. ... I'm just so happy we could work this out, that they have her home. I don't call myself a hero or anything, just did 'em a favor. Maybe sometime they can be doin' me a favor."

By Adam Cuerden (not verified) on 29 Apr 2009 #permalink

Pet Mafioso helps find Dog
[...]
A pet Mafioso "thought we were looking in the wrong place," Dorothy Utley, Tinker Bell's owner, said Monday. "He said, 'I'd like ya ta go over and look under things and up high and on hills.' He said she was going to be up high. Very high, unless we put $3000 in unmarked bills under things."

[...]

"The animal speaks to me," Guido the Pet Mafioso said Monday. "She was telling me she was OK, for now. ... I'm just so happy we could work this out, that they have her home. I don't call myself a hero or anything, just did 'em a favor. Maybe sometime they can be doin' me a favor."

By Adam Cuerden (not verified) on 29 Apr 2009 #permalink

Pet Mafioso helps find Dog
[...]
A pet Mafioso "thought we were looking in the wrong place," Dorothy Utley, Tinker Bell's owner, said Monday. "He said, 'I'd like ya ta go over and look under things and up high and on hills.' He said she was going to be up high. Very high, unless we put $3000 in unmarked bills under things."

[...]

"The animal speaks to me," Guido the Pet Mafioso said Monday. "She was telling me she was OK, for now. ... I'm just so happy we could work this out, that they have her home. I don't call myself a hero or anything, just did 'em a favor. Maybe sometime they can be doin' me a favor."

By Adam Cuerden (not verified) on 29 Apr 2009 #permalink

Pet Mafioso helps find Dog
[...]
A pet Mafioso "thought we were looking in the wrong place," Dorothy Utley, Tinker Bell's owner, said Monday. "He said, 'I'd like ya ta go over and look under things and up high and on hills.' He said she was going to be up high. Very high, unless we put $3000 in unmarked bills under things."

[...]

"The animal speaks to me," Guido the Pet Mafioso said Monday. "She was telling me she was OK, for now. ... I'm just so happy we could work this out, that they have her home. I don't call myself a hero or anything, just did 'em a favor. Maybe sometime they can be doin' me a favor."

By Adam Cuerden (not verified) on 29 Apr 2009 #permalink

Pet Mafioso helps find Dog
[...]
A pet Mafioso "thought we were looking in the wrong place," Dorothy Utley, Tinker Bell's owner, said Monday. "He said, 'I'd like ya ta go over and look under things and up high and on hills.' He said she was going to be up high. Very high, unless we put $3000 in unmarked bills under things."

[...]

"The animal speaks to me," Guido the Pet Mafioso said Monday. "She was telling me she was OK, for now. ... I'm just so happy we could work this out, that they have her home. I don't call myself a hero or anything, just did 'em a favor. Maybe sometime they can be doin' me a favor."

By Adam Cuerden (not verified) on 29 Apr 2009 #permalink

Pet Mafioso helps find Dog
[...]
A pet Mafioso "thought we were looking in the wrong place," Dorothy Utley, Tinker Bell's owner, said Monday. "He said, 'I'd like ya ta go over and look under things and up high and on hills.' He said she was going to be up high. Very high, unless we put $3000 in unmarked bills under things."

[...]

"The animal speaks to me," Guido the Pet Mafioso said Monday. "She was telling me she was OK, for now. ... I'm just so happy we could work this out, that they have her home. I don't call myself a hero or anything, just did 'em a favor. Maybe sometime they can be doin' me a favor."

By Adam Cuerden (not verified) on 29 Apr 2009 #permalink

Pet Mafioso helps find Dog
[...]
A pet Mafioso "thought we were looking in the wrong place," Dorothy Utley, Tinker Bell's owner, said Monday. "He said, 'I'd like ya ta go over and look under things and up high and on hills.' He said she was going to be up high. Very high, unless we put $3000 in unmarked bills under things."

[...]

"The animal speaks to me," Guido the Pet Mafioso said Monday. "She was telling me she was OK, for now. ... I'm just so happy we could work this out, that they have her home. I don't call myself a hero or anything, just did 'em a favor. Maybe sometime they can be doin' me a favor."

By Adam Cuerden (not verified) on 29 Apr 2009 #permalink

Pet Mafioso helps find Dog
[...]
A pet Mafioso "thought we were looking in the wrong place," Dorothy Utley, Tinker Bell's owner, said Monday. "He said, 'I'd like ya ta go over and look under things and up high and on hills.' He said she was going to be up high. Very high, unless we put $3000 in unmarked bills under things."

[...]

"The animal speaks to me," Guido the Pet Mafioso said Monday. "She was telling me she was OK, for now. ... I'm just so happy we could work this out, that they have her home. I don't call myself a hero or anything, just did 'em a favor. Maybe sometime they can be doin' me a favor."

By Adam Cuerden (not verified) on 29 Apr 2009 #permalink

Pet Mafioso helps find Dog
[...]
A pet Mafioso "thought we were looking in the wrong place," Dorothy Utley, Tinker Bell's owner, said Monday. "He said, 'I'd like ya ta go over and look under things and up high and on hills.' He said she was going to be up high. Very high, unless we put $3000 in unmarked bills under things."

[...]

"The animal speaks to me," Guido the Pet Mafioso said Monday. "She was telling me she was OK, for now. ... I'm just so happy we could work this out, that they have her home. I don't call myself a hero or anything, just did 'em a favor. Maybe sometime they can be doin' me a favor."

By Adam Cuerden (not verified) on 29 Apr 2009 #permalink

Pet Mafioso helps find Dog
[...]
A pet Mafioso "thought we were looking in the wrong place," Dorothy Utley, Tinker Bell's owner, said Monday. "He said, 'I'd like ya ta go over and look under things and up high and on hills.' He said she was going to be up high. Very high, unless we put $3000 in unmarked bills under things."

[...]

"The animal speaks to me," Guido the Pet Mafioso said Monday. "She was telling me she was OK, for now. ... I'm just so happy we could work this out, that they have her home. I don't call myself a hero or anything, just did 'em a favor. Maybe sometime they can be doin' me a favor."

By Adam Cuerden (not verified) on 29 Apr 2009 #permalink

Pet Mafioso helps find Dog
[...]
A pet Mafioso "thought we were looking in the wrong place," Dorothy Utley, Tinker Bell's owner, said Monday. "He said, 'I'd like ya ta go over and look under things and up high and on hills.' He said she was going to be up high. Very high, unless we put $3000 in unmarked bills under things."

[...]

"The animal speaks to me," Guido the Pet Mafioso said Monday. "She was telling me she was OK, for now. ... I'm just so happy we could work this out, that they have her home. I don't call myself a hero or anything, just did 'em a favor. Maybe sometime they can be doin' me a favor."

By Adam Cuerden (not verified) on 29 Apr 2009 #permalink

Pet Mafioso helps find Dog
[...]
A pet Mafioso "thought we were looking in the wrong place," Dorothy Utley, Tinker Bell's owner, said Monday. "He said, 'I'd like ya ta go over and look under things and up high and on hills.' He said she was going to be up high. Very high, unless we put $3000 in unmarked bills under things."

[...]

"The animal speaks to me," Guido the Pet Mafioso said Monday. "She was telling me she was OK, for now. ... I'm just so happy we could work this out, that they have her home. I don't call myself a hero or anything, just did 'em a favor. Maybe sometime they can be doin' me a favor."

By Adam Cuerden (not verified) on 29 Apr 2009 #permalink

Pet Mafioso helps find Dog
[...]
A pet Mafioso "thought we were looking in the wrong place," Dorothy Utley, Tinker Bell's owner, said Monday. "He said, 'I'd like ya ta go over and look under things and up high and on hills.' He said she was going to be up high. Very high, unless we put $3000 in unmarked bills under things."

[...]

"The animal speaks to me," Guido the Pet Mafioso said Monday. "She was telling me she was OK, for now. ... I'm just so happy we could work this out, that they have her home. I don't call myself a hero or anything, just did 'em a favor. Maybe sometime they can be doin' me a favor."

By Adam Cuerden (not verified) on 29 Apr 2009 #permalink

Pet Mafioso helps find Dog
[...]
A pet Mafioso "thought we were looking in the wrong place," Dorothy Utley, Tinker Bell's owner, said Monday. "He said, 'I'd like ya ta go over and look under things and up high and on hills.' He said she was going to be up high. Very high, unless we put $3000 in unmarked bills under things."

[...]

"The animal speaks to me," Guido the Pet Mafioso said Monday. "She was telling me she was OK, for now. ... I'm just so happy we could work this out, that they have her home. I don't call myself a hero or anything, just did 'em a favor. Maybe sometime they can be doin' me a favor."

By Adam Cuerden (not verified) on 29 Apr 2009 #permalink

I think there is a cultural war stirring, between reason, rationality, and science vs. mysticism. I worry sometimes that if this keeps up we are going to head back into the dark ages.