Anyone who doubts that animals "speak" needs to watch the end of the Throw It Again, Daddy game wherein the dog drops the ball or throw toy--retrieved from 50 water yards away--and barks for an instant replay.
Is the owner preoccupied or taking his time? The dog will gesture with his head toward the water and the ball as if to say, "Get with the program!"
Of course what the dog really wants is to defend the toy in his mouth in a game of tug of war. Why else does he drop and catch it seductively and roll it around in its mouth if not to say, "I've got it--and you don't! Naa-naa."
But the dog knows the limits of his owner's largesse; Dad won't give chase and he won't try to pull the toy out of the dog's mouth.
He is also proud of retrieving the toy no matter how far it was thrown--the dog version of the fairy tale in which no task or metaphysical assignment is impossible.
So he surrenders the toy at the owner's feet, shaking off the water he'll take on again in 5 seconds.
And what a fairy tale/task it is. With sling shots, racquets and well developed throwing arms, Dads and Moms throw the ball or squeak toy way past the pier where ocher tones say the water is cold and way over your head.
And off the dogs dash, one after another, innocent of the concept of "some things get old."
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