The day you found them — or the day they found you — it probably didn't feel like a cosmic event. But it wasn't coincidence. Here's what hundreds of conversations with animals have shown me about the sacred agreements we make before we ever arrive in these bodies.

My introduction into the world of lost pets was a crash course in what not to do when my own very fearful foster dog went missing after living with me for only three days. I quickly learned there is a science to finding lost animals and that by following certain protocols the chances of recovery are quite good.

I used to be a skeptic. The quiet kind — the kind who had been through enough, and lost enough, to stop believing in anything she couldn't see, touch, or hold onto. This is the story of how my dog and my late sister changed everything I thought I knew about what happens when we die.