WHY DOGS BARK

I have thought a lot about why dogs bark

why dogs barked in my neighborhood growing up

setting off a firecracker chain reaction of barks

why our dog barked at home but never inside.

except for the one time a cow was trotting down our

suburban street and she saw it from the living room window

and went into the crazy bark. once in summer my sister and I

saw her barking at her own curly shadow on the sidewalk.

whenever I read a magazine article on why dogs bark

it makes me laugh.

you don't get it I think

and I wonder if maybe I am part dog that I know this

but I do know this.

first of all, dogs in the backyard bark to communicate with other dogs

in the neighborhood. Whoever's outside at the same time.

it's saying: hey, something important happened today.

I'm going to tell you about it.

owners always think the dog is barking at an intruder

or just wanting attention.

well, sometimes.

but my dog used to bark in autumn every time a leaf fell down.

and then I know she was barking to tell the rest of the dogs

that her barking shook the leaves off the tree

as in: I am a powerful and clever little dog.

isn't it great? I may be majik.

and other dogs would bark back.yur not majik.

that's nothing. today I made the grass grow

just by staring at it.

or, I made the postman go through the hedges;

he split his pants (dog laughing bark)(other dogs,

laughing bark back)

but the cake topper was the dog that barked

hey, I made the sun come down.

barking and barking, wagging their tails

making sense of the dog world

and sometimes there was the dog

the last one out who thought if it just barked hard enough

the moon would fall down

into the back yard.

and it would all be on the front page of the newspaper

forever. or they would give him some chocolate ice cream finally.

and not just the fried chicken crumbs that fell off under the table.

mary angela douglas 16 may 2023