With all children, asking if they'd like a treat is really a silly thing to do. I have a five year old daughter who's full of life and curiosity. She loves to ride in the bike trailer or the car, loves to go for walks with me while I take pictures, completely enjoys a good romp in an open play area but she'll stop everything for a treat.
Like all five year olds, Molly knows exactly where the cookie jar is. And, like most parents, I keep the jar up high so my daughter can't gorge herself on treats and get an upset tummy. I'm sure she's smart enough to go get them anyway, but she doesn't.
Molly is a registered toy poodle, and she's got so many of the same expressions any human girl can display. From a sound sleep, I can mention to someone else that I'm nearly out of cookies and neet to go get some more. Molly's eyes will fly wide open like she'd never been snoring only moments before. She even manages an extra-excited sparkle in her eye and her upper lip twitches into a smile before she gets up and dances her way over to me then skips over to where I keep the cookie jar.
It's almost like I need to begin spelling out C-O-O-K-I-E J-A-R now. How old are human kids before they figure out that trick? Even now, if I refer to cookie as "those," she looks at me with her head tilted to one side. I don't know of a more direct way to ask, "Those?" She even glances at the cookie jar to see if I react to the question!
Once or twice, I admit to wondering if it's just me living in a wild fantasy world where dogs can understand every word you say. So I test the "cookie theory" with someone who's not a big dog fan. I've yet to meet anyone who disagrees with me on the assumption that Molly knows what I'm saying when I refer to "those." She springs to life and dances over to me like I've said the C-word, then skips over to the cookie jar to wait for me to give her a treat. When the person looks at me like I've got a possessed dog, I smile and explain that the cookie jar is over there and she knows when I'm talking about them.
They admit to being impressed and that it does seem like she knows what I'm talking about when I speak to her (or to someone else, for that matter). Personally, I think the fantasy world of all dogs understanding what I'm saying is a little whacked. It's just too broad an assumption and I'm no Dr. Doolittle. But if the fantasy bubble where to include only Molly and I, yah, she understands what I'm saying and I understand what she's saying.
That's not a fantasy, that's my life with Molly.
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