Dog Talk

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They say that animals can understand human talk, but I’ve never seen convincing proof of it.
I did converse with our animals, as most people do, but more for my own comfort than that of the cat or dog.
Kibo has finally shown that there is truth in the idea that dogs can understand human speech.
Last week we went to a play in a castle behind the house of friends about an hour away from us. We were received with tea and cakes, and Kibo happily joined in by sniffing around the garden and being generally gracious.
When it was time to go, we told her to climb onto her cushion in our 2CV. The rooftop was rolled back for plenty of air and the back bench was tilted forward for ditto space.
Kibo jumped in, and sat up expectantly: what now?
I leant over the side of the car to speak to her: “We’re going to the castle to watch a play. You cannot come with us, but we will be back in a few hours, and then we will all go home again.”
Before I had finished my little speech she lay down, curled up in a circle: “You go. I’ll be here, when you get back.”
The performance was a treat. We spoke to the director and some of the actors, had a few drinks and returned to our friends’ house.
I thought Kibo would be alert, and spot our voices from far off. But no, only when we were very close did we hear the cloppity-clop of her rat-like tail against the side of the car.
She was elated to see us, and ran back and forth to lick our hands.
But concerned whether we would come back? No, of course not! I had told her that we would, hadn’t I?