Dogged Conversations

I am an unabashed lover of the canine species.  I was raised around dogs and currently have a black lab with a lot of personality. Although I like most animals, with a strong exception of canaries, dogs will always have my unabashed love.  There is a primeval connection between man and dog that goes back to Cro-Magnon days.  A dog will always be happy to see you, even if the last thing you did was yell at him.  A dog is great company, like a lifelong friend, silently content just to be in the room with you – no conversation needed.  Dogs seem to sense when you’re down and need some affection.  Maybe I’ve been lucky in my life with the dogs I’ve had.  The only down side (other than feces patrol) is having to say goodbye at the end of their all too short a life span.  A couple of years ago we lost two absolutely beloved golden retrievers and I was affected for months – I can still tear up remembering them.  Over the last few days, my current dog, Buddy (I’ll cover how we acquired each other in another blog), has decided he wants to have conversations.  Last night as I was trying to watch a movie he apparently thought I was being too sedentary and launched into a long diatribe or barks, whines, and other vocalizations I didn’t realize he was capable of.  He just came in from outside so he wasn’t asking to go out again.  I started answering him and before long we were having an actual conversation, of course not understanding a single thing the other was saying.  At the end we both sat back in contented correlation.  My wife sat in bemused audience of this performance, I’m sure wondering if I had finally gone over the edge.  God, I love dogs.