As an avid dog lover, I find myself at a loss without a canine pet.  My little gray-haired dog, Calli (short for Calliope Jane), is immensely entertaining and fascinating.  She is smart and has learned essential words for enjoying life with her humans.  She understands “sit, stay, off, give, come, and down,” for example. However, she is also very communicative in her own right.  

I have a story featuring her in my new book, Do You Know How to Talk with Your Young Child?,entitled “Calli, the Learning Teacher.”

Calli learned that a simple prance in front of me, with an expectant stare, lets me know she wants to go out.  Knocking her crockery water and food bowls together tells me she wants water or an extra helping of food. If that doesn’t get the immediate attention she’d like, she pushes the colored bottles together on the bottom of the baker’s rack for an extra “ding!”

Those techniques are not extraordinary.  They merely signal that each of us is interested in communicating with one another with a sincere desire to send and receive effective messages.

Now five years old, Calli has advanced her speaking skills.  If I am busily engaged and don’t understand her subtle messages about going out for a “business trip,” Calli raises the pitch of her voice and moves her mouth in various ways appearing to be speaking words in a sentence.  Am I anthropomorphizing? (Attributing human traits to a mere “animal.”) Perhaps.  

I prefer to think that while dogs have evolved through living with humans, learning to raise their eyebrows or appearing to smile, we as mere humans have evolved while living with dogs. We understand their traits that often are superior to humans such as the ability to sense pain in loved ones and experience boundless joy at simple things.

Calli is so attentive to her life in our household that she has learned to use different voice tones and verbal expressions to communicate her desires.

 I think it’s good to remember that two beings who have the love, attention, and intention to communicate effectively can and do learn to develop a wondrous and enduring understanding and relationship.