When you come home, whether you have been gone less than an hour or more than all day, your dog (or dogs in my case) greets you. Behaviorists and researchers will say that is because they are “hard-wired” and know you will feed them and take care of their basic needs. Dog owners will say their furkids love them and are glad the “pack” is together. Perhaps it is a little of both.

Jake is the best communicator of all of the dogs I have owned. And I know he has feelings.

One day a few months ago he charged up to stairs to my office. He was barking frantically at me while I was on my computer. He needed me to get up and follow him. I obliged. He led me to the top of the stairs. I looked down. A large pile of poop was on the carpet on the landing. I looked at Jake. He looked at me, snorted and marched down the stairs. The poop belonged to Hope. It was still warm when I picked it up.

Yes, Jake was a tattle-tail. He knows it is wrong to go on the carpet. He knows it is OK to go on a piddle pad on the hardwood floor if no one is home. What made him decide to tell on Hope? He didn’t even demand a belly rub for his efforts.