One dog drops her rump across another dog’s shoulders during a wrestling match, and somebody immediately says, “She’s showing who’s boss.” The position certainly looks unequal. One dog is physically above the other, sometimes with enough body weight to pin her partner for a moment.…
At a dinner party, deliberately turning your back on someone would be questionable manners. Dogs have apparently declined to adopt this rule.
Your dog walks over, settles directly beside your legs, and then rotates until his face points toward the room and his back points toward you.…
There can be an entire stretch of empty carpet available, and your dog still chooses the backpack. Or the jacket you dropped beside the couch. Or the folded laundry you meant to put away twenty minutes ago.…
You smooth out the blanket on the couch, and a few minutes later your dog climbs up and immediately starts undoing your work. One paw hooks the fleece and drags it backward.…
There is something unusually quiet about a dog placing his head on you. He walks over while you are sitting on the couch, lowers his chin across your thigh, and stops.…
A dog doesn’t have to touch you to choose you. He can settle on the floor beside your chair, leave several inches between his body and your feet, and stay there while better-padded beds sit unused across the room.…
Some dogs can identify the best seat in the house in the fifteen seconds it takes you to get a glass of water. Conveniently, it’s the one you just left.…
Your dog trots past you with a balled-up sock in her mouth. She isn’t chewing it. She isn’t hiding it. She’s just carrying it, head held a little higher than usual, like she’s won something.…
A dog sitting on your lap isn’t claiming ownership of you. The position can look possessive because the dog is literally occupying your body, but location alone doesn’t tell you whether she’s trying to control anything.…
Some dogs seem to organize their day around a person. You stand up, and they stand up. You walk into the kitchen, and footsteps follow a few seconds later.…