When Sampson was a tiny puppy, I read an article that said dogs don’t have a memory.
Little Puppy Sampson, with one of his favorite toys.
I remember thinking, well, that’s a bunch of shit, if they can’t remember anything, how can this dog be playing with a toy, go outside for two hours, and come back in and go straight for the toy?
I also recall an article that said pets don’t experience human emotions. I believe the specific emotion was jealousy.
And again I thought, that’s also a bunch of shit. If you’ve ever seen Delilah when Hubby comes home and is a lovin’ on Sampson, you’d know that dogs, do in fact, have feelings of jealousy.
I’m not good at reading my dogs when they are sad, or perhaps depressed. (Although, I could definitely tell Sampson wasn’t too happy during his confinement for CCL surgery.) But I can definitely tell when my dogs are happy.
Delilah is like Tigger when she is happy. She bounces, jumps and runs around like a maniac. Wednesday, Sampson had a vet appointment, when I got home, I brought him in, and harnessed Delilah up for her walk. She ran to the door and jumped around like a lunatic, because she was so excited, she thought she was going in the car.
Sampson on the other paw, can’t jump around like that. He shows his happiness and excitement in different ways.
One of the ways is something we call, swimming. That’s where he lies on his side, and puts his paws up over his head and pulls them down. He repeats this a number of times. For some reason, he always does this on the seam of the carpet, so guess what? Yup, my carpet is trashed. He usually does his swimming, just after he eats, and just after I put his harness and flea/tick spray on.
If he’s not swimming, the other way to know he’s happy is when he lies on his back against the couch.
It always makes me smile when I see him like this.
It doesn’t look comfortable to me…
Or like this.
Whatchu lookin’ at, Willis?
How does your pet let you know they’re happy?
Tomorrow this special boy turns 14, come back for his birthday post.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUTTER!!!! I love you very much!!! 💜💜🍗🍖❌⭕️🐾👑🍦
Happy 14th, I feel like you are in my pack after so many years.
Oh my! 14 is a special age, I hope you have a special day! I do that swimming type of thing when I’m super happy. Usually I’m in the middle of the living room floor, rolling around on my back pulling my front paws up and down. Mom thinks it is super cute.
Aww. Happy birthday beautiful boy ❤ Merlin spins, does the full body wiggle, wags that weapon of a tail side to side or in circles, he jumps and does play bows.
He is known as the happiest dog in the world, both at the Vet and pet shop we go to.
Happy, Happy Birthday Sampson!! (Funny, I thought your birthday was back on June 30th. Whatever.) 🎉🎉🎈🎈😘😘
When Shadow’s happy – which is a lot these days since her stem cell infusion – she holds her floofy tail up and lets it swish back and forth as she walks. When Ducky’s happy – which is about 99% of the time – she’s either barking at us to play with her, chewing on a toy, or rearranging the one dog bed just the way she wants it to sleep on.
14, that’s awesome!!! You’re a good dog mom. Torrey is happy pretty much all the time. That’s one thing that makes her such a joy. Roxy, her happiness is not as prevalent as when she was younger. But, she does love to visit my mom, eat, and go for a walk….when it’s her idea.
That really is seriously happy! We’ll be back tomorrow!
Those images just made me smile. Sam does that swimming thing too but he also jumps around like a pogo stick and that tail rarely stops wagging. I’ve never seen such a happy boy, in spite of his Ninja sister.
one of the things lily does when she is happy and excited is make a snorting sound tru her nose. plus her gorgeous big ear to ear smile.
i say that people who believe that dogs don’t remember things or don’t have emotions are full of sh**.
14years wow! happy happy joy joy.
Luke does something like that too, and he always does it after having an especially good treat, like licking the ice cream carton or the butter wrapper. Dogs absolutely show lots of emotions, and have great memories too (too good sometimes with a fearful dog!).