I so totally agree with you about this, @corzhens ! Our dogs not only communicate with us, but with each other. Chipper, my senior dog is only 6 lbs, and is almost 15 years old now. (He is the one in my avatar) Tootsie, our other dog is only about 4, and she is 12+ and is part Blue Heeler, which is a very protective dog breed. She has designated herself as Chipper's "escort dog", and she always accompanies him when he goes outside to go to thebathroom, even when she doesn't need to go herself.
Since Chipper is elderly, his kidneys are not what the used to be and he has to go out ever couple of hours. she sits patiently and waits until Chipper has finished, then looks at me as if to say, "All done now, can we come back in ?"
Chipper also gets extra food beside the hard kibble, because his teeth are not as good anymore, and he can't chew it as well, even though I get the smallest kibble possible. Tootsie knows that the soft food is Chipper's, and she stands patiently and waits to see whether or not he s going to eat everything.
Once he finishes, then she gets to clean up the food bowl.
They have a great interaction with each other, and Tootsie has learned from Chipper more about communicating than she knew when we first adopted her.
