Dave Barry
You can say any fool thing to a dog, and the dog will give you this look that says, “My God, you’re right! I never would’ve thought of that!” – Dave Barry
Because the Pearl on April Fool’s Day was a serious thought, naturally I looked for something humorous to post on the day after.
Dave Barry is a very funny writer.
In my opinion, there is nothing more difficult to write than a full length novel that is hilarious from start to finish.
Dave Barry’s Big Trouble is one of two such novels I’ve read that had me laughing out loud virtually from cover to cover.
The other was Handling Sin by Michael Malone.
I cannot recommend any two books more enthusiastically — not even books that I’ve written myself.
In spite of the fact that I’m a huge admirer of his work, I must say that Dave Barry is absolutely wrong about dogs in his remark above.
I only chose the quote because I thought it was funny, not because I think it’s true. He’s appealing to the common but mistaken assumption that dogs don’t understand words, and only react to one’s tone of voice.
However, if Mr. Barry were ever to visit our home, he would discover rather quickly that my dogs do know some English, even if they can’t speak the language. Wyatt does try to tell my son that he loves him, though.
And every one of our dogs recognizes the word “treat” and responds with great enthusiasm, no matter the tone of voice.
Granted, nobody likes to be yelled at, so some will probably approach with tail tucked between legs. But they want the treat.
For that very reason, my wife and I haven’t taught our dogs how to spell, so we can still communicate without making the commitment.
According to the dogs, the rule is that once you say the word, you’ve entered into a contractual relationship and as such, you’d better be ready to fork over a treat.
Quite frankly, if Dave Barry wasn’t just trying to be funny — if he really believed what he said, he must not know very much about dogs.
He can’t have heard of the famous Skidboot and said those words –as a matter of fact, Skidboot served as one of my inspirations for the character of Ox in the Robert Mercer mystery novels.
That dog was truly amazing — a lot smarter than some people I know.
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