Do dogs really smile?

I’m not so certain about other people’s dogs but one of mine does. The first time I saw the Bear smile I had to pause and think about what he was doing. He tipped up his dark muzzle and showed just the front teeth. He wasn’t angry or growling, so what was he doing?

The Bear is an interesting dog. He looks like a cross between a black Lab and a Siberian Husky. I recently noticed a strong resemblance to Australian herding dogs like the ones in the movie BABE. I don’t know for sure because we got him from the marketplace in the Philippines where he was being sold as food!

The Bear is nobody’s entree. He’s a big part of my family and a close companion. He does interesting things on his own like his evening patrols. Before I locked up the house for the evening, he would have to go out and check the perimeter of the property.

We lived in a small, high-walled compound with a gate. He would go check the gate,looking up and down the street. Next he checked the side of the house then around the back. His route took him up to the terrace built on top of our bodega where he would look over the wall. After he finished the other side of the house he would come to the back door waiting for me to let him in.

We could watch his progress on the security monitor that displayed the the feed from each of the cameras.

The Bear had other quirks that I needed to learn to interpret. Such as the way he would protect his “younger brother”, our other dog. Whenever the little dog got into trouble we took to threatening with him with a swatter. Whatever you picked up, Bear would gently take out of your hand and try to hide it. Pick something else up and he’ll do it again.

The Bear isn’t yet four years old, and he’s developed a sense of humor. The first time he played a prank on me was odd enough. Then I noticed he was “smiling.”

I laughed and he wagged his tail at me; I had reacted the way he expected. Since then I’ve enjoyed a lot of funny times with the big boy. He still has a sense of humor but, more than anything else he enjoys the fact that his Man is trainable!

Oh, some people think dogs are dumb. Imagine how they feel when they’re trying so hard to communicate with us and we stare like statues. It’s a lucky dog who joins a family that knows how to take a joke.