You know the series of questions they ask when at the Dr’s office? Have you recently traveled outside the country? Have you been sick in the past two weeks? Have you been in contact with anyone having the Zika virus in the past 30 days? Most of the time, we all answer No to those type of questions. Medical professionals ask the questions to understand whether someone needs specialized care. Now some dog-centered questions, that will likely elicit an answer in the affirmative. Fear not; these questions are procedural to see if you need some specialized care as well.
-Have you ever wondered, of the things your dog witnesses, what he/she understands?
-Do you wonder if dogs are judgemental?
-Do you wonder what your dog would say if they could talk?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you need specialized care.
I work from home, so I am the person my dog sees the most. She follows me around from room to room, napping at my feet. I talk to her all day long about various subjects. I’m not kidding; I talk a lot with human beings. One of my former roommates used to call me Brook as in Babbling Brook. Nice huh? But likely true. We know that the brook exists for both humans and dog conversations. To that end, I tell my girl I love her at least 40 times a day, including lifting up her ear to be sure she hears, “Mama loves Sadie.”
There have been plenty of studies about what dogs do and don’t understand. People have studied words and intonation as well as a combination of the two. Research has shown dogs grasp a little vocabulary. Those words they know, become more meaningful if you attach familiar intonations. I am convinced that more analysis will surface and confirm we don’t give dogs enough credit. Dogs comprehend more than we ever thought possible. In fact, dogs do communicate. Some of us are missing the signs and not engaging in conversation.
In the future, dogs and humans will communicate with one another. It’s coming, I know it. I’ve been keeping a mental list of topics that I’ll address with my girl when the time is right.
Dog questions worth pondering
Will she score my husband and my performance in bed?
Of course, this is on everyone’s mind, so I’ll address it first. Do dogs know what is going on? Are they worried or curious? I don’t care because I don’t notice where our dog is during that time, hello I’m preoccupied. If she knows what it is, well then, my husband and I can now say we’ve done it when “someone else” was in the room. But, I do not want her opinion on the quality of the activities should she decide she wants to judge us.
Will she be a complainer?
I’m hoping when my dog chooses to make sense of our daily life, that she expresses only positive opinions. After all, I pretend not to notice her farting while trotting. I am silent when she decides to poop in public. I don’t embarrass her if she pees and then walks right through the puddle.
What if she ends up being self-centered?
Our girl hears how beautiful she is. We often tell her that the other dogs are jealous that she is so fabulous. She hears about what a sweet girl she is as well. I hope it doesn’t go to her head and that she keeps in mind, it’s what’s on the inside that is most important.
I’m pretty sure I know what my dog is thinking
You see, my bubba-girl is like many other dogs, and wears her emotions on her face and in her body language. Who hasn’t seen their dog run around doing donuts at top speed with their back-end out of control? That’s happiness. I am confident what her first spoken words will be:
At certain times of day, our girl shows us her pleading eyes, does a dance, and sits a little too close to us. We know what she wants. She will say “You need to keep better track of time. I am positive when dinner is. It’s NOW.” She’ll be one of those close-talkers, by the way.
She lays in the sun and pants but wears a huge smile on a daily basis. One of us will ask her if she is too hot in that fur coat. She will finally be able to tell us to “stop talking to me about my wardrobe choice. I prefer wearing fur in the summer. Deal with it.”
I’m not entirely certain my sweet girl would tell me to zip it. She’s docile and polite. However, she does have some Eddie Haskell in her so the jury is still out.
The thing I am most looking forward to is when I come home to see her wiggling body and wagging tail. Instead of her doing a drive-by nosing, she’ll greet me and say “Hey mom, how was your day?” If that’s all she’ll ever say to me, it will have been epic.
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