When Ian Talks, Animals Listen

The other night, the boys wanted to watch a movie with the gerbils.  This was a non-starter, since it was getting to be about bedtime on a Sunday night, but Ian explained why he thought they should get to watch a movie:  "I told them that anyone who wanted to watch a movie should step on my hand."  Apparently he stuck his hand in the gerbil-tank, palm facing upward, and took a poll for the movie idea by inviting all gerbils who wished to view a film, to "vote" by stepping onto his hand, and in short order, a few of them did so.

I don't think this was a ploy to watch a movie; I think Ian believes that the gerbils understood the survey and participated in it quite consciously.  He also thinks that dogs understand his speech - especially Golden, his own dog.  I don't mean things like "Stop that yapping or I'll deck you!" or "Who wants this juicy steak?"; I mean much more hypothetical, abstract, not-pertaining-to-the-moment subjects.  The other night, we were reading or talking about dogs in a way that cast them in a negative light, and Ian wanted us to stop for fear of offending one or both of our own dogs, who were in the room at the time.  And this is quite typical; he loves to tell Golden to do something concrete if Golden wants something in particular - and Golden obliges.

It's fun to have Dr. Doolittle in our house, especially at the tender age of nine.

(March, 2013)