It’s pretty quiet in my neighborhood when I go for walks a bit after sunrise most mornings. You hear a distant roar that is Interstate 10, a mile or so away, but it’s something you can easily put out of your head with the greater quiet that encompasses you. That is until the dogs start talking to one another.
This morning a dog in someone’s yard was into some serious barking. This prompted a response from a dog somewhere else in the neighborhood.
Dog 1: “Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof.”
Dog 2: “Woof, woof.”
In other words, I have no idea what the dogs were talking about. Maybe barking is just some kind of primal response. But then, maybe dogs are discussing serious matters far above our ability to reason.
Nah. Probably not.
Even if dogs were doing some serious communicating, we have no idea if they all can speak the same dog language. For instance, say you’ve got a German shepherd. When it barks can a Chihuahua understand it? Can a French poodle?
I wonder if David Berkowitz got started down his road to ruin by pondering such questions? You remember David “Son of Sam” Berkowitz? He claimed a neighbor’s barking dog told him to kill. Which made me wonder why the cops or district attorney never asked Berkowitz:
“Do you do everything a dog tells you to do?”
I don’t really have to worry about a dog barking evil commands at me. I don’t much like people telling me what to do. I sure am not going to take woof from a dog.