What Do Dogs Think?

Oh how I wish I could answer that. We observe, we study, we listen, we assume, and sometimes we cry or laugh until tears are running down our cheeks.

I was training a black lab, Maxi-B, who was having issues with being timid. She seemed to be hardwired this way. She was adopted as a pup and had no known traumas. She was in a very playful mood this particular day and heeling nicely but with a bit of a spring in her four-pawed step.

The visual I’d like you to get is that there was nothing smooth or simultaneous about her gait. I think that goofy is a good word for her enthusiasm.

I was thrilled because she seemed to be making progress with briefly letting go of her timid nature. If a dog can express being pleased with herself – she was pleased.

Labs in particular are good at maintaining a semblance of control and somehow staying in a perfect heel while their body wiggles with motion (and perhaps emotion).

I stopped and she sat but with a bit of an extra twist of the hips. Then, I said “down” and she looked up at me and began to move and wiggle like she was dying to let me in on some secret but wasn’t supposed to say anything!

Have you ever told a child to do something and they know they are supposed to do it and will do it but they say “okay, but I want to show you something first?” It’s an obvious diversion for a child.

Could that be the case for a dog? I think so. I think that she was feeling so good and so confident that the girl would rather just have danced a bit. So, I let her and then like a good trainer made sure that she followed through with the command.

She made me laugh, and I think that on this particular day, Maxi-B laughed too.