As smart as I have proclaimed Toby the Puppy to be, I concede readily that he doesn’t speak English. That is, he doesn’t communicate with my wife and me in the language that we both speak.
That does not mean that our puppy doesn’t communicate. I have recently concluded that after nearly eight years in our family, he has a way of telling us certain things.
One thing in particular is how he tells us we must get up to let him go into the backyard to relieve himself. How does he do that? By shaking. It usually occurs in the middle of the night.
Toby the Puppy usually sleeps with us at night. When he awakens, he is likely to jump from the bed and then shake the way pooches shake. If we don’t move, he shakes again. He will do so a third time if neither of us still doesn’t get out of bed to take him out.
Do you get it? He knows how to awaken us. He won’t make a sound with his mouth. He just shakes, which creates enough of a noise to awaken us … eventually.
Toby the Puppy remains an amazing family member. He is about to turn 8. We love him dearly. We tell him he’s the “best puppy in the whole world.” He believes it.
He also demonstrates it by refraining from barking in that loud bark of his in the wee hours of the morning. If he has to go outside to take care of business, he just shakes.
His parents — my wife and me — get the message … and we comply.