I got some sad news today. A beloved professor (then colleague and boss) passed away suddenly yesterday.

My favorite memory of Bob is from the day I presented the research I had done for my final master’s project. I (of course) wrote chapters for a still-unpublished book about dog-human partnerships. The chapter I was presenting was on dog-human communication. Throughout my presentation, I referred to the dogs, Wylie and Jana, as “saying” things. At the end of my presentation, in his typical dry style, Bob said “What I find most interesting about your research is how well your dogs talk!” We all had a good laugh.

My dogs might not be talking in the way most humans do, but all day, they’ve been saying, “Why are you so sad?” and “How can we make you feel better?” Even though our dogs don’t speak to us in our preferred human language, they sure do talk to us … and understand our feelings.

I’ll sure miss Bob. My “talking dogs” will, too.