A couple of weeks ago I read Why Does My Dog Drink Out of the Toilet: Answers and Advice for All Kinds of Dog Dilemmas, a Q&A-formatted book with lots of random questions that raises even more questions like, how were they able to extrapolate all those answers? Did they perform some sort of polygraphs or Rorschach tests on these dogs? And how long did it actually take to compile these random q’s and a’s to publish this book?

The one answer that struck me the most answered this question: What can dogs learn from other dogs’ #1 and #2 “messages” (I’m paraphrasing here)? The answer, surprisingly, was mood detection, frequency of “ownership” at one dog’s turf and whether a dog was in heat. Interestingly enough, this prompted me to create a little picture I’d like to dub “Dogspeak 101,” which translates what a dog probably might discover during a brisk run at the dog park. Enjoy =)