# Now I know what the dogs are talking about **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 10, 2002, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-know-what-the-dogs-are-talking-about/123329 "2002-08-10T23:11:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Miss\_Creant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@Miss\_Creant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Creant)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2002, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-know-what-the-dogs-are-talking-about/123329/1 "2002-08-10T23:11:30Z")
For years, I thought my dog was an idiot. Apparently he’s not quite as stupid as he leads me to believe. There really is a [reason](http://www.dailyherald.com/main_story.asp?intid=3747845) he barks at small animals. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2002, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-know-what-the-dogs-are-talking-about/123329/2 "2002-08-11T03:10:00Z")
[Squirrels must die!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=6163&highlight=hate+squirrels) ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2002, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-know-what-the-dogs-are-talking-about/123329/3 "2002-08-11T03:19:44Z")
Wozzer! I thought you Chi-guys were only indanger of your lives if you accidently drove your vans into the South Side. Squirrels. Who’d thunk it? The story makes it sound like an epidemic. What’s the reason? ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2002, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-know-what-the-dogs-are-talking-about/123329/4 "2002-08-11T03:49:52Z")
No offense **Miss Creant** , but your dog is still an idiot. (So is mine. But she’s cute.) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Cynical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee59a6/32.png) [@Mr.Cynical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Cynical)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2002, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-know-what-the-dogs-are-talking-about/123329/5 "2002-08-11T04:11:19Z")
I was saddened when I came to live here, saddened because I had to leave my porcelain squirrel back in Colorado, lest Zac be driven into a frothing rage by its presence. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2002, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-know-what-the-dogs-are-talking-about/123329/6 "2002-08-11T04:29:58Z")
This still doesn’t explain my dog’s hatred for the UPS guy. Robin ---
**Author:** ![NutWrench](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nutwrench/32/20193_2.png) [@NutWrench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NutWrench)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2002, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-know-what-the-dogs-are-talking-about/123329/7 "2002-08-11T04:40:37Z")
Squirrels are the mortal enemy of the dog. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Creant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@Miss\_Creant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Creant)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2002, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-know-what-the-dogs-are-talking-about/123329/8 "2002-08-11T05:46:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MsRobyn \* > \*\*This still doesn’t explain my dog’s hatred for the UPS guy. > > Robin \*\* maybe it’s the hat. trust in your dog’s reaction. Brian was the ONLY man to pass the Zac test, which is, a male stranger comes to the house and Zac does NOT bark. Thats how I knew he (Brian) was a keeper. **jackelope** : of course my dog is still an idiot, he just seem slightly less so in light of this article. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2002, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-know-what-the-dogs-are-talking-about/123329/9 "2002-08-11T06:32:16Z")
Uh oh, I sooooo owe someone an apology now. There’s a squirrel attack in the last episode of Mulder’s Creek, and one of my readers said that she thought squirrels were dangerous biters. I told her of course not, I only had them be the attacking animal because they don’t bite and it’d be a sign of them acting abnormally. Oh well, I’ll send her the link tomorrow so she can laugh at me while I eat crow. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Mermaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@The\_Mermaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mermaid)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2002, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-know-what-the-dogs-are-talking-about/123329/10 "2002-08-11T15:52:29Z")
Oh yeah, [Dogs talk about a lot of things](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=121934) How much of it is actually true is still open for debate. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2002, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-know-what-the-dogs-are-talking-about/123329/11 "2002-08-11T19:48:48Z")
That list of squirrel attacks in that article made me think that it’s too bad Alfred Hitchcock isn’t around. ---
**Author:** ![Kantalooppi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a5b964/32.png) [@Kantalooppi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kantalooppi)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2002, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-know-what-the-dogs-are-talking-about/123329/12 "2002-08-11T19:57:25Z")
That’s what you get from wearing those special braces. ---
**Author:** ![butter\_pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@butter\_pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butter_pie)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2002, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-know-what-the-dogs-are-talking-about/123329/13 "2002-08-12T02:58:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MsRobyn \* > \*\*This still doesn’t explain my dog’s hatred for the UPS guy. > > Robin \*\* Please let us know if your UPS guys starts frothing at the mouth, jumping on people as they exit their house and biting them. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2002, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-know-what-the-dogs-are-talking-about/123329/14 "2002-08-12T12:54:46Z")
Her hatred of the UPS guy has only been since I’ve had the baby. She’s awfully protective of Aaron and spends her time watching him. Airman, on the other hand, passes the Dixie test with flying colors. He came home to shower and change when I was in the hospital, and she slept right through it. Robin ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2002, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-i-know-what-the-dogs-are-talking-about/123329/15 "2002-08-12T14:45:57Z")
Hmmmm…so that explains my neighbors’ poodle’s strange behavior on my back porch on Saturday. The neighbors went out of town for the weekend so “Mr. Pierre” stayed at my house. We were on the back porch Saturday afternoon, me in my favorite rocking chair and “Mr. Pierre” sunning himself on the lounge chair by the screen door. Suddenly, “Mr. Pierre” sits bolt upright, leans over on the arm of the lounge chair so he was looking out the door and let out a mighty Poodle [sup]woof![/sup] A large protective sound that is too. He obviously scared off one of those vicious man eating squirrels! My life was saved by a Poodle. “Mr. Pierre”, you are my hero!