"If I could talk to the animals..." - and it turns out I can!

Ian is convinced that he maintains two-way communication with animals. He says he has taught the dogs to nod or shake their heads - meaningfully - in response to yes-or-no questions. To prove his point, he told me he asked Golden whether he wanted to go into his crate, and Golden nodded slightly (Ian demonstrated) and then went into his crate.

His only concern is that the dogs have become somewhat less emphatic, over time, in the vigor of their head-shakings and nods.

And it turns out that, when all of our guinea pigs voted for John McCain in 2008, it wasn't just because Ian was mesmerized with Sarah Palin, who "looks like a Mommy." Apparently, he really did hold elections in their pen - something along the lines of instructing them to go into the box if they wanted to vote for McCain, and into the plastic igloo if they wanted to vote for Obama. That's why, when I was discussing the elections with the mailman (and the relief, especially in our primary-intensive state, of the elections finally being over-with, in mid-November), Ian ran to the door, after the mailman left, and bellowed, "ALL OF OUR GUINEA PIGS VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN." It wasn't election fraud, or projection, or bravado; they really did cast their vote for the GOP - all of them - and it's rather surprising that Obama won, especially in our state, considering how many guinea pigs we had at that point. Of course, we eventually took them to the vet, to determine which ones were *real* females, and which were impostors, pawned off on us by a family that was giving their "girls" away; after that, the Republican-count in our house steadily decreased.

Of course, that was the same year that Daniel voted for "Rakabama." I think maybe he liked the name...

In any case, Ian expressed to me yesterday, waiting for the school bus, the deep desire to be able to talk fully with the animals. I think our lad has some potential as a world-wide travelling vet, following in the steps of Eliza Dolittle's kindly uncle.

(November 14, 2011)