The Oregonian had an interesting article yesterday titled Give pets their say. The idea is that an “animal communicator,” or “pet psychic” might be able to understand some things about your dog’s behavior by tuning-in telepathically to your dog’s messages. The Oregonian experimented with three “communicators” and found that all three seemed to be getting some relevant information about the subject’s (Levi’s) past. It’s pretty interesting, because Levi was a Hurricane Katrina survivor.

I’m a little skeptical about the “telepathic” part, but I’m not a total disbeliever. I believe dog communication is like intuition. In fact, it is largely intutive. There is a continuum of intuitiveness. Some people are very intuitive — very aware of the things around them. Others are not. Part of the process of developing your dog communication skills is to develop your intuition for your dog’s behavior and body language.

Does a well developed intuition approach telepathy? I’m not sure, but I had an experience once that made me wonder. My wife and I hired an “animal psychic” to meet with our four pets: Tiki, the Amazon parrot; Melody, a Golden Retriever; Renne a mixed breed dog; and Swami, a magnificent male cat. Most of the “messages” sounded to me like the palm reader at a carnival. “There’s been a change in your life.” “Or, something is bothering you.” Sort of generic.

But, when the psychic came to Tiki, the Amazon parrot, she said, “Tiki told me she has ridden down the hallway on Melody’s (the Golden Retriever) back.” This blew us away, because it was absolutely true, and we didn’t think there was any way the psychic could have known it.

This photo is from My Doggie Says… It’s a picture of Tiki, but the dog is Jamie, who arrived at our house after Melody died. In the photo, Jamie is saying, “Hurry up, Tiki, and drop your toast, so I can finish it up.”

Whether it’s telepathy or good instincts, it’s fun to work at being a better dog-listener.

At one of my recent speaking engagements on My Doggie Says…, a member of the audience, Bill, told about his childhood dog, an Airedale, who loved fish & chips.

Bill and his Airedale lived in Scotland, where fish & chips has been popular for a long time. Bill’s dog loved fish & chips so much that Bill worked out a deal with the local “chipper.” Bill would put enough money for one order of fish & chips in a small bag, which he tied to the Airedale’s collar. The dog ran down the local lanes to the chipper, who filled the order, took the money from the dog’s small bag, and tied a bag containing the fish & chips to the dog’s collar.

Once the dog returned home, he would put the fish & chips on the floor in front of Bill. The dog never touched the food until Bill gave the “OK” signal. Bill would say “OK” and the dog would enjoy his meal.

But one evening, the dog put the fish & chips on the floor, and Bill got sidetracked before he could say “OK.” He woke up the next morning and realized that he had never told his dog it was “OK” to eat the fish & chips. He went to the next room, and there was the package, still untouched. So, belatedly, he said “OK” and the dog woofed down his prize. That’s a very disciplined Airedale.

This is a good example of the bond that can be created with a dog when the owner “listens” to his dog. Bill “heard” his Airedale say, “I really like fish & chips.” But the important thing is that he acted on the message. He helped his dog enjoy one of its favorite things every day.

Lots of people tell me about doggie books. Last Tuesday, a friend left a copy of A Dog Called Perth in my golf locker. The author is Peter Martin, who is the brother of my friend’s brother-in-law. (A Dog Called Perth, by Peter Martin, 2001, Orion Media) This book has a few lovely dog-talk passages, which I will share with you.

But first, this Memorial Day weekend, there’s a lovely story about the family of fallen soldier, Army Spc. Justin Rollins, and the Iraqi puppy he held the day before he was killed. The family, who live in Concord, New Hampshire, now have the puppy, as a rememberance of Justin. See the story on msnbc.com.

A Dog Called Perth is a true story about a beagle, whose owners, author Peter Martin and his wife Cindy, decided that Perth would have complete freedom for all of his lifetime. He would never be tied down. Peter taught Perth how to respect roads and cars, and then trusted Perth to find his way around, which led to one adventure after another. In one incident, Perth jumped off a boat dock and swam to a ferry boat carrying Peter and Cindy.

After various adventures in the U.S., Peter, who is English, has an opportunity to work in his homeland, but moving there would mean that Perth would be quarantined for six months. Peter describes this very doggie-personal, seaside, conversation:

“We had our ways of communicating. I told her gravely, in a falling, confidential voice that it meant six months of imprisonment for her. She shook the specter off. She looked beautiful. Her eyes and briskness of movement spoke of adventure, going forward, taking risks, not looking back. The briny water sparkled on her brown hear, which she held high into the wind. I knew we had to go.”

Another exchange takes place when Peter and Cindy visit Perth in her cement, quarantined prison:

“Perth showed her emotions by looking straight into our eyes with the deepest and most loving look, breathing heavily. She stepped back and forth between my lap and Cindy’s, occasionally letting out a howl. The tenseness in her body gradually dissolved and after a few minutes she settled down on Cindy’s lap. None of us said much, but there was no need to speak.”

I liked the story, but there was an aspect that was frustrating for me. It’s one thing to give a dog total freedom if you live in one place. It’s another if you move from New York to Ohio, to Florida, to Maine, and to England. Some of these moves meant that Perth had to be “parked” with other people, which did not work very well. So I felt sorry for Perth.

It’s a fun book and easy to read and has a few very sweet doggie communications.

Between my travel schedule and trying to figure out how to do some things in WordPress, I’ve been down for a few days. I’m new to blogging, and some of the technical stuff has been difficult to sort out. The blogging part is easy; it’s all that stuff in the righthand sidebar that took some time. A Ph.D. in Computer Sciences (Carnegie-Mellon University) isn’t worth much these days.

Like lots of other Americans, I’m taking the long Memorial Day weekend off. My family, including Callie, will spend the time at Lake Arrowhead, in the San Bernardino mountains about one hundred miles east of Los Angeles. Lake Arrowhead was one of Jamie’s (the subject of the book My Doggie Says…) favorite places, so I’m thinking about her today. Another time, I’ll tell the rest of Jamie’s story.

Jamie loved to swim at Lake Arrowhead and retrieve her floating “Frisbee,” which is actually a “Floppy Disc.” It was her favorite thing to do, and she started asking to go to the lake as soon as she saw my green backpack come out of the closet. She knew it contained stuff for the lake — flashlights, bottle opener, first-aid kit, and sunscreen. So as soon as Jamie saw the backpack, she would get a big drink of water and then start barking, “Can we please go to the lake now?”

This conversation was followed by a whole sequence of other discussions, because Jamie knew every step of the way to the lake and our boat dock, where her Floppy was stored. So she said things like, “this way to the dock,” and “my floppy is in this dock box,” and “please open the gate so I can run out on the dock,” and “please throw my Floppy now!” And the end result was pure joy for Jamie.

My Doggie Says…: Messages from Jamie is a collection of these photos and stories about dog-talk, or dog communication. Since the book was published, I have had many wonderful conversations with people about their dogs and their communication. I will share some of them with you in future blogs. Dogs “talk” more than most people know. They talk with their bodies and their actions. Sure, they “bark” sometimes, but to understand their messages, you really have to tune-in to their body language.

Share your dog-talk story with me!

Does your dog talk to you? Can you tell what it’s saying? I spent the last five years photographing my Golden Retriever and capturing some of her body language messages. The result is a book titled My Doggie Says…: Messages from Jamie. How a dog named Jamie talks to her people. The web site for the book is www.mydoggiesays.com. In this blog, I plan to share some of the stories from the book. Also, everywhere I go these days, dog-lovers want to have fun conversations about their dogs and how they “talk” to their owners. So I plan to share some of these stories, too. You will also meet a four-month-old Golden Retriever puppy named Callie (short for Callaway) (short for Woodland’s Callaway Hole-in-One). I will post pictures of Callie as she grows up. One of Callie’s favorite things is to play soccer. I’ll post some pictures of Callie playing soccer in the next few days.

Please share your “dog-talk” stories with me and the other readers. Our pets communicate with us more than a lot of people realize. My Doggie Says… has helped a lot of people become more aware of their pets’ communications skills.

Happy Dog-Talking!