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My dog definitely laughs. Now, we are not talking a little frown or smirk here, but a great big, wide toothy laugh with head held back and eyes twinkling. This doesn't happen naturally in the dog world, as far as I am aware, and my dog only does this when he is really pleased to see a friend or a nice juicy steak. Such a toothy grin in dog language would normally have been interpreted by other dogs as aggression.

Alfie also sits on his hind legs and waves his front ones when he wants attention. This is not exactly a human like way of communicating, I don't do this myself much, but it is definitely done on behalf of humans for their enjoyment, and so that they can be manipulated.

He has also learned to sulk. What purpose this would serve an animal in the wild I have no idea, probably none. I believe that Alfie has learned this from my husband who likes to sulk on a fairly regular basis. Sometimes they just sit and do this together, and it makes me chuckle.

Alfie would also like to be a barfly, if I let him. On the occasions when he has visited the local alehouse with my husband and I, he has learned that sometimes he gets to share a bag of pork scratchings. He knows that first we get some money out of our pockets, and then hand it over the bar before the scratchings are produced.

Now Alfie has somehow learned to beg for money, in the hope that it can be exchanged for what he wants. It can be very embarrassing when another customer gets a few pound notes out of his pocket, and Alfie runs up to him, stands on his hind legs and begs for the monetary exchange to happen over the bar in a fashion reminiscent of a child who wants sweets.

With his front feet on the bar, he watches as the money exchanges hands from the customer to the barman. Sometimes he tries to make the transactions happen faster by attempting to take the note from the customer to give to the barman himself, if it looks like things are just happening too slowly for him. When a pint of beer arrives on the bar instead of scratchings he looks back and forth from the barman to the customer, as if to say, 'what gives'?

He keeps an eye out for people taking money out of their pockets where-ever we go now, and I have, on several occasions, had to prevent him from attempts at pickpocketing!

Dogs have learned to communicate in human-like ways in-order to be part of our 'pack'. They are pack animals at heart and no-longer live in dog groups. They live with us, and have learned how to fit in with our ways. This just goes to show how adaptable they can be for their survival. I also like to think that 'we' and dogs have a special bond too.

Learn more about this author, Bridget Webber.
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