Your dog did something today that made you stop and wonder. Maybe they followed you into the bathroom again. Then they started pacing for no obvious reason or dropped a toy at your feet for the fourth time in an hour.…
Your dog looks at you, glances toward the leash hanging by the door, then looks back. A moment later, he paws your leg.
Which part was the message?
The useful answer may be the whole sequence.…
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.…
A visitor kneels to greet your dog, the interaction gets lively, and then the person stands up. Your dog steps away, plants her feet, and sends a ripple from her head through her shoulders, ribs, and tail.…
Here’s the experiment: put a dog in a room with a person. Have the person yawn several times. Then repeat the setup with similar mouth movements that aren’t yawns.…
Long before dogs slept on couches or waited by front doors, their wolf ancestors were already fluent in a language that had nothing to do with words. Posture did the talking.…
You’re scratching your dog’s chest when you stop to answer a message. A paw lands on your forearm.
Later, you’re eating at the kitchen table and the same paw reaches toward your leg.…
It’s 7:45 in the morning, and your dog trots into the kitchen with the leash hanging from his mouth.
You laugh, grab your shoes, and head outside.
The next morning, he appears with it again.…
Have you ever watched two dogs spot each other across the street and braced for the worst? Have you noticed how one bark can sound completely different from another, even though they’re both just “barking”?…
A spoon slips off the counter and clatters onto the floor. Your dog turns toward the sound, maybe flicks an ear, then goes back to what she was doing.…