There Will Be Much Mindless Gnashing Of Teeth

I have just returned from a walk with my brother.  We take care of one of our neighborly--elderly couple's dog (Boo) twice a week and give them a long walk, on which I brought our little Labrador bitch alongside.  I noticed a few things, which I will put into delicious list style.

1)  Halfway through, I finally realized what Maddie was doing--she would always try to run ahead of us to get to the fresh smells first.

2)  Being ahead, she would sometimes get so caught up in her world that when she finally snapped to reality (a.k.a. realized there were three beings behind her) she would immediately pounce towards Boo, attempt to gnaw violently on one of her front paws, and then launch back towards the front of the pack.  And I mean LAUNCH.

3)  Whenever we would have an encounter with another neighborhood dog I would have to yank and pull Maddie until she knew that we didn't need her fooling around anymore.  Once she hurriedly groveled alongside us she would look up at us, longingly perhaps, asking us in her head "you still love me guys, right?".  Regardless of any acknowledgement she would set her gaze again towards the front of the pack.


Do you read your dog's mind?  Feel free to comment, I'd love to know I'm not the only one.