Saturday morning, a week ago, I was getting ready to go watch the Northern Trust golf tournament, which was being held at Riviera Country Club, near Los Angeles. I took Callie out for a short walk. My plan was to walk down the left “wing” of the driveway and walk to Callie’s favorite street corner.
But as soon as we left the house, Callie pulled me toward the right “wing” of the driveway. It was one of those “what is my dog telling me?” moments. I’ve learned that, when Callie does slightly unexpected things like that, there’s usually a reason — a “doggie method” to her “doggie madness.”
So I was happy to let Callie lead the way, and we went toward the right wing of the driveway. Then, I realized what Callie was doing. Barbara often takes Callie out that door in the morning, and the first thing they do is to pick up the morning paper. Sure enough, there was the morning paper, lying on the right side of the driveway. Callie knew exactly what she was doing. I just had to be smart enough to figure it out — as is often the case with doggie communication. Dogs use ail the tools at their disposal in order to communicate — including which direction they are looking, which direction they are walking, and — sometimes — which direction they are tugging on their leash.
Try figuring out what your dog is telling you. You will get better at understanding dog behavior, and your dog bond will get stronger.
