My Dog Madigan Talks To Me.

Should I tell you my Madigan talks to me, you most assuredly would conclude I am 'nuts'. So I will not tell you that.

But there is talking and there is talking. If talking means uttering sounds from the voice box which can logically and sensibly be placed in the framework of a human language, then my Madigan does not talk. But if talking is merely communication by sounds, uttered by one, understood another, then he most certainly does talk.

Let me explain! Madigan has at his use windows in four rooms of the house, five if you count the side porch when it is open. From those vantage points he can see: the driveway, empty of any car but mine except for rare occasion : the yard from three positions, filled on any given day with seven or eight deer, multiple squirrels, and rabbits too numerous to tell.

Squirrels elicit a low moaning sound; rabbits a deep throated yelp, deer a gasping breath with choppy 'yips'. The most vociferous vicious utterance comes when a strange car enters the driveway.

As I see it my Madigan talks to me as surely as if he says "Oh look there is a squirrel" or "We have company. I wonder who that can be?"  You have to love a dog like that. You have to be insensitive if you do not believe he is talking to you.