Do dogs laugh?

Let sleeping dogs...

TV newscasters warns us 'the next item may contain flash photography', helpful to those who might be affected. So why can’t radio and TV programme makers give dog owners similar warning of doorbells being about to be rung?

Seth on a zizz.

Do dogs have a sense of humour? They certainly demonstrate joi de vie with tail-wagging body language, but does their appreciation of a situation give them amusement? When our family was all laughing at something, Jumble would thump his tail so as to join in but I doubt he got the joke.

As mentioned I am trying to avoid anthropomorphising dogs, (my spelling is so bad that it took me several goes to get close enough to ‘anthropomorphise’ for SpellCheck to bother to correct me, even them it wants to put a Z in it somewhere). When my hat blew off on a recent walk the cockerpoos gleefully grabbed it for a game of tag and tug of war. Watching them, Rocco bumped his hindquarters on my leg and caught my eye. He was saying ‘They’ve got you’.

On an another walk Mooli found a pink and yellow tennis ball and presented it to me to throw. My attempt was a bad one as the ball rebounded against a tree and vanished into bramble bushs. The Dalmatian gingerly searched for it without, it seemed, success. ‘OK, I’ll have a look’. I waded into the prickly embrace of the brambles, being unsuccessful in the search I was aware of both dogs watching me. Mooli concerned to be helpful dropped the pink and yellow ball from his mouth and wandered over to help. Once we had restarted the walk Rocco gave me the ‘Gotcha’ thump on my leg.