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!
