Animal Observations

I've been noticing some interesting (to me) phenomena lately about the dogs in my life...

• Whenever there is a doorbell (or any bell) ring on the television, Leo jumps up and runs to front door barking trying to welcome whoever is there. He can't quite understand why Mom isn't getting as excited. 
• This also happens when there is a squeaky toy squeaked on television. This happened last night and he woke up to look around and count all of his toys to make certain that there wasn't somebody else in the house playing with them OR that there wasn't one that he missed. 
• When visiting his friend Bailey, he gets SOOO excited...as does she. We were over there this past weekend and they practically knocked all the humans over in their excitement to get to one another. We sent them into the backyard for about 15 minutes so that they could burn off some of their energy. It also turns out that they will hide any injuries so that they will not look weak in front of their peers. Bailey has a strained or torn shoulder ligament and when she is on her own and/or Leo is distracted she does tend to limp but when the two of them are together running and playing there doesn't seem to be any noticeable limp.
• My friend Jennifer's dog Luke (Jennifer would be the person who found Leo for me and Luke is like his godfather) is a Great Dane and the most sensitive dog I've ever seen. When I was visiting Jennifer recently, the television was on without the sound and she and I were chatting and I looked at Luke and he had the most concerned look on his face as he was watching TV. I looked at what was on and it was one of those Sara McLaughlin commercials for ASPCA. Jennifer quickly changed the channel and said that Luke does get very upset when he sees those commercials and sees other animals that are in distress. If you haven't read the book The Art of Racing in the Rain and are a dog lover, I highly recommend it.