I was on deadline, struggling to communicate with my computer (and failing). Cali came over and ever-so-gently nudged me. I patted her and kept working. Another nudge. I had taken a ball-throwing break about 10 minutes earlier, so I distractedly said, “Not now,” and kept working.
Another nudge. I ignored her. More nudges. Insistent, but so, so gentle and sweet. I patted her, told her to wait a few minutes, told her she was cute. Not what she wanted. This went on for about 10 minutes, I’m embarrassed to admit.
Finally, deciding that rebooting my computer was the only possible step, I shut everything down, rebooted, and got up. “OK, Cali, where’s your ball?” I asked, wandering outside.
Cali wasn’t outside. Neither was her ball. I called her again and looked around the yard. No Cali, no ball.
I went inside. Cali was standing in front of the sofa. She came to me, then walked back to the sofa. Touched it gently. Looked under it. Touched it. Looked at me.
The ball was under the sofa. Actually two balls were under the sofa, one dry, dusty, covered with tufts of fur. So much for my housekeeping skills. And my communication skills.
I gave her back the ball. She graciously allowed me to throw it twice, but really, all she wanted was her ball. And her long-lost second ball. She happily stretched out in the yard nuzzling the balls as I went back to work.
I’m constantly amazed by how clearly our dogs communicate — if we’re paying attention. And of course, this clear and detailed exchange reveals how little actual words matter to human-dog conversations. No, our communication does not suffer from dogs’ inability to speak human language. It suffers from our inability to pay attention, to focus on what they are saying — without words, but with eloquence nonetheless.
The Thinking Dog 
[…] “Training” class is really just how a human and a dog learn some new ways to communicate — and, to be really honest, it’s mostly about the human learning to understand the very clear and consistent communication the dog is and has always been using. And about the human learning to (try to) be more consistent and clear in how they communicate things to the dog. […]
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[…] communicate with us constantly and effectively. If we’re not getting it, that’s because we’re not trying hard enough, not because the dogs need to learn to use English […]
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Read a book recently by Terry Kaye, but really written by her Dog Belle. IT’s “narrated” if you will by Terry, but the story is Belle’s and how Dogs in this instance communicate. There is a much deeper story here as well, between the lines. But it’s a clever short read that leave you wondering how much dog do you speak! http://dogonlyknows.com/ is her site. Well worth it if you have any pets, I think I’ve learned some communication tricks for my peers as well!
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Sounds wonderful. I will look it up!
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Hi Pam – Perhaps I can unashamedly promote my book about Ray (profits are going to local Humane Society) which covers the first 18 months of living with him – a rescue, 75lbs of attitude, and my first dog! The stories are told from 2 viewpoints – mine and Ray’s!
https://www.amazon.com/Who-Said-Was-Adoption-unsuspecting-ebook/dp/B01FIT5PAM/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1468862662&sr=1-1&keywords=who+said+i+was+up+for+adoption
It is quite light reading, but does have some very emotional moments!
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Beautiful and so very true. So much that humans can learn from canines — patience, tenacity, forgiveness.
On Mon, Jun 27, 2016 at 11:02 AM, The Thinking Dog wrote:
> Pam Hogle posted: “I was on deadline, struggling to communicate with my > computer (and failing). Cali came over and ever-so-gently nudged me. I > patted her and kept working. Another nudge. I had taken a ball-throwing > break about 10 minutes earlier, so I distractedly said, “No” >
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Wonderful story! Your little Cali is very smart. We have an old wooden curtain rod leaning against the wall for just such instances. The ball or bone or other precious treasure that makes its way under the sofa gets pushed out with the curtain rod. And just like Cali, mine persists in telling me “Hey! I need you.”
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Loved your last paragraph as it really says it all. Dogs are communicating regularly but, unless we pay attention, it is all for nothing!
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