Maggie

Jack Russells are notoriously intelligent dogs. Our two, Maggie and Rosco, recognize words and what they could mean to them.

"Wanna eat?" means that their bellies will get filled.

"Wanna treat?" means that their bellies will get filled with treats.

"Wanna go outside and go potty?" means that they get to go outside and smell things and pee on things.

"What do you want?" means that I'm about to ask a serious of questions that they will recognize. See the three questions above.

"Kitty cat" means that there is a cat somewhere in our vicinity and they need to find it in order to bark at it.

"Track it" means that they need to smell out a rodent in the yard by sticking their noses in holes.

"What was that?" means that I heard a noise that they didn't yet. When I ask this, they typically bark right away and then listen.

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Yesterday, I was sitting on the toilet and Maggie joined me in the bathroom (which is actual typical). She walked in, sat on the rug and looked up at me. For fun, I asked her, "What do you want?"

Her ears perked up and she stared more intently into my face to listen.

Sometimes I throw words in my sentence that she will recognize, just out of order than the commands I use above. I asked her, "Is it time to EAT?"

Maggie began to wag her tail faster.

I smiled my devious smile, and then asked, "Maggie, wanna EAT... a KITTY CAT?"

Her tail stopped wagging, and because she doesn't normally hear those two words in the same question, her eyes left my face and looked went to a spot on the wall behind my head. With almost indifference, it was as if she replied to my question with a "Would you PLEASE stop teasing me, and just give me something to EAT."