Woof

Woof.

To the average person, it is just the sound a dog makes. To me, it does not exist.

There are arou, grarr, gyep, harr, and agraw.

There is no such thing as woof.

I was playing with my neighbor's dog earlier today. I got into a heated game of tug-of-war using his light blue Kong Wubba. But all of a sudden, I felt him change. He thought he was hunting. I was still in a play-fight kind of mindset.

Max's grraw  brought me back to reality. I responded with a call of my own--garhar grarr. In English, I said, "Calm it, Max. Your Basenji lineage doesn't get you a free pass to hunting humans." But all of that was down to two short words in dog.

With Tessie, I enjoy myself in a different way. She doesn't like toys, so we use Beggin' Strips instead. I break one into ten or more pieces, and my calls in her native language tell her what to do to get a bite.

But Max isn't Tessie. Tessie's a quiet scenthound. Max is a hyperactive sighthound mix.

Yet they share a language.

If only humans had canine intelligence.