Communication. Dogs do it, cats do it, and people try to do it. The problems come when we try to communicate between each other. I think we dogs have refined our means of communication down to a simple yet transparent system. I can tell you what a dog is thinking from across the room, he doesn't even have to bark, or howl. One look and I know what's going on. We dogs save a lot of time that way. People just don't seem to get it. They tend to bark and howl a lot more than they need to. They seem to work pretty hard on all of the different sounds that they make, but only take the time to teach us the important ones. Actually, we dogs prefer it that way. According to Bea, the cats don't even bother learning that much. Cats get to do whatever they want, and people have learned not to expect anything from them. I think dogs could learn a lot from that. If it wasn't for my inexplicable desire to be next to my mother at all times, I would consider trying to be more like that.

So, back to communication. I decided to spend today listening to what some of the pet visitors were saying to show some of the gaps between dog and human communication.

A perfect example was the dog, Hobo. Hobo has been coming to our clinic for several weeks now. He says he started to feel strange after visiting another clinic and getting the usual pokes. Within a few days, he had no energy and didn't want to eat or do anything. Hobo's mother told my dad, “He's got anemia”. From what I gather, that has something to do with the red syrup; that there's something wrong with it, like it's missing or something. But what me and Hobo can't seem to figure out is why if his red syrup is missing, do my dad and his helpers take more and more out of his arms every week. How is it supposed to come back if they keep taking it? I can tell you one thing, Hobo sure doesn't know. He's a good looking dog, don't get me wrong, reminds me of the dog Bea had a thing for a few weeks back, but as far as figuring things out, I don't think he's on top of things.

Here is a good example of how dogs hear things differently. Before Sweet Sally went to get some red syrup from Hobo's arm she said in an upbeat singsong voice: “What a handsome boy you are. What a good boy you are. I hope you're feeling better today. This will only take a second and then you can have some treats.”. Now, what Hobo and I heard was – happy voice, happy voice, happy voice...treats! At that we were both paying attention. The rest of the stuff just doesn't translate.

And poor Fluffy, is still coming to our clinic everyday. She is convinced that she is being punished for letting that Rottweiler bite her. I've tried to tell her otherwise but she won't hear it. I think that's why she is so nice to Sweet Sally, mother and Vonnie when they do their work, she somehow thinks this is payback for not running faster or fighting back. Her wounds are healing now, but she has to get special injections because mother says, “she has a resistant infection”. I would have thought it was good to resist infection. Sometimes I don't think I'll ever understand what these humans are talking about.