Say what?

I haven’t written about our young Springer Spaniel Harley for a while…he’s a year old now and a typical teen-dog…bursting with energy and exuberance.

Recently Harley and I drove to the airport to pick up the Spousal Unit (SU). Harley rides in the back of the SUV in the cargo area. We use a special harness and a double tie down...so he can move around, lie down and hang over the back seat enough to snuffle the air through a barely opened side window...but he can't get into the seat and is reasonably secure if we have a crash. [I know, we should use a kennel carrier and we have one, but he gets terribly car sick in it and makes everyone miserable, so we trade off a little safety for quality of life.]

We drove around the "back-to-the-terminal" loop for fifteen minutes. Each pass of the terminal produced a range of doggie emotions from anticipation to disappointment accompanied with a big sigh. On the final pass Harley spotted a familiar shape and there was great doggie joy, wriggling, leaping, spinning and yelping as the SU opened the back hatch and placed his carry-on inside. Harley was patted, hugged and settled down enough for us to depart for home with Harley hanging over the back seat...straining against the tether... bummed out that he can't get to the front of the car.

About ten minutes into the drive, the SU and I are talking about his trip when a husky bass voice from the back seat interrupts:

"HEY!"

We both paused and thought about it for many long seconds...exchanging looks.

Me: "Did the dog just say "Hey?"

SU: "Yes, he I believe did."

I turned to look at Harley and he had this goofy "made you look!" expression on his face. We laughed as Harley grinned from his perch in the back...pleased that he had our attention.

The rational explanation is that it was a combination of his rolled leather collar pushing on the the back of the seat against his voice box and over-excitement...that it was a reflexive sound...or the damn dog can talk.