To be honest, I’ve always been skeptical about the idea of talking to animals.

Not the beasts of this world—I’m talking about the pets people kept back in my world.

When a dog barks, humans can only guess at their general emotions. Deciphering a dog’s language with any accuracy is impossible. The idea that animals possess complex linguistic structures akin to human languages has always struck me as nonsense. Given their intelligence, barking is likely less a language and more a form of body language enhanced with sound for clarity.

Still, pet owners often claimed they could “talk” to their …