The secret life of dog owners.

Dogs are magnificent observers, far better than we are. They are marvelous at reading our body language, which is why your dog may know -- without your needing to explain -- that he's being taken to the veterinarian, or that you're depressed and in need of comfort. We humans have a rich vocabulary of body language, but in our preoccupation with words, we have allowed our own instinctive understanding of body language to wither. Dogs read us better than we read them, but that doesn't mean they understand why we behave the way we do. Bruce Fogle, a vet with a vast amount of experience in the field of dog and dog-owner behavior, explains in this question-and-answer guide why dog owners do what they do, why dogs respond in the way they do, and how humans and canines can learn to better understand each other.