Hubba-hubba

I make no claim to understand all the motivations behind each and every action and emotion of my dogs. I have enough trouble figuring out my own motivations and those of my human companions, though tomes have been written on the psychology of human behavior and words abound to describe what we feel and why we feel it. But I see that dogs clearly communicate their emotional states and in my experience, it requires no special training to figure it out. All you have to do is pay attention.

A couple of Christmases ago, we had a big family gathering at my mother's home in Montana. Nicholai was with us and one afternoon, my brother came to sit in the family room with a large muffin, which he placed on the end table next to where he sat. Peripherally, I noticed Nicholai park himself in front of Joe. After a couple of minutes, Joe turned to me. "He's staring at me; what does he want?" he asked with a mildly nervous chuckle. I looked up from my book and observed for a few seconds and smiling said, "Watch him, it's obvious." Joe – a scientist – watched Nicholai's face for less than a minute. Nicholai looked straight at Joe, raised one eyebrow and flicked his eyes to Joe's left, then returned his gaze softly to Joe's face. He repeated this tiny gesture a couple more times and Joe laughed. "Oh, he wants a bite of my muffin." Calmly and efficiently, Nicholai had communicated to my non-dog owning brother exactly what he wanted.

Nicholai is particularly attuned to people and to reading our cues. He watches faces, listens to tone of voice, and uses a multitude of methods to get his own points across. He uses subtle facial expression and eye movements, but he also talks up a storm, for the benefit of us wordy humans. In the mornings, after breakfast, while I am finishing my coffee, Nicholai grows impatient with waiting, comes to sit next to my chair, and takes up a one-sided conversation. His comments consist entirely of jumbled sounds that add up to something approximating "hubba-hubba" and maybe a little Scooby-Doo-ish "rubba-rubba." It's the best he can do with the equipment he's got for articulation, but I know what he's saying. "Let's get this show on the road, time's a-wastin.' Get your keys and let's go. This is the day we have, let's make the best of it!"