Believe It Or Not

The "experts" tell us that dogs don't see color, have no emotions and don't really think or reason, that they only act instinctively or by repeated learned behavior.

I think the "experts" are full of it!!

On what do I base my statement? On a lifetime of living with, interacting with and observing dogs.

Let's take these statements one at a time. First color.

I have always heard that dogs are color blind or see in shade of gray. Why then do some dogs have preferences for certain colors?

At Christmas we put dog toys in a toy box and let them all choose their own toy. 99% of the time Monty chose a pink toy. This was his favorite, Pink Pig Bunny, but he also had a pink ball, a pink octopus and a pink teddy bear. Was that just coincidence? I don't think so.

I've also heard from the "experts" that dogs can't see the picture on the television screen, that their eyes don't process it the way ours do.

When Bentley was a pup we had a movie on the tv that we had seen before, so we turned the sound off and left the picture on. In the movie the bad guy had three Doberman dogs that guarded his house. Every time the dogs came on the screen, Bentley would start barking. Why? If he couldn't see the dogs, why did he only bark when they were in the picture?

Noah barks at dogs on the television and Tsar loves to watch dancing. He parks himself in front of the television and stares at it as long as anyone is dancing.


"Experts" tell us that dogs can't really think or reason. Their actions are all learned from repetition.

I believe dogs think, reason and have a sense of humor. My dogs enjoy playing jokes. Bentley used to stand in our kitchen window and when he saw a dog walking down the street he would bark, then race upstairs to the bay window where he could watch the dog's confused reaction to hearing a bark and not seeing another dog. He had a similar joke he played on people who were standing at the mailbox. He would sneak up behind them, give one loud bark, then race for home. When the startled person turned and looked around, all they saw was Bentley lying on his porch looking angelic.


On my other blog, I related the story about the frog that pooped on our stairs and this week my pack set me up with this stuffy sitting in a puddle of water. They think this is funny stuff. Their humor is on the level of a pre-schooler, but it's still humor.

As for the "expert's" opinions on emotions, I disagree with that one, too.

We've all witnessed a dog's grieving for a lost companion. It can be heartbreaking. We've seen dogs adopt baby animals of other species that needed love and protection. And yes, dogs do laugh.


When my dogs do something they think is silly or something that makes me look silly, they laugh. Here is Pylon laughing over something she found humorous.


Sky laughs at his sisters when he thinks he's played a trick on them.


Even Tsar, who is generally pretty serious, can laugh when he puts one over on Fudge.

So, what do you think? Are the "experts" right? Are dogs just little machines with no emotions or preferences or reasoning abilities, or do they think and joke and laugh and like one color better than another? What are your experiences?

If you have pictures of your dog laughing, e-mail them to me and I'll post them to show the "experts". Does your dog play jokes on you or a companion? Tell us about them. And does your dog have a favorite color? What is it? And you cat people, let us know what your cat does to amuse itself at your expense.

Maybe the "experts" need to try living with a dog.