Do dogs have a sense of humor?

Ed, did I miss something? Where did Gaia go?

Joyce, I fostered Gaia for 7 months.  She's now living on a farm in Oklahoma (40 acres) with 3 other PHs, a retired couple that is never gone for more than 3 hours, and has horses to chase.  Her new name is "Ginger."  I miss her greatly.  Letting go of her was heartwrenching for me, still is, but she has much more than I could give her.  Plus the next time that PHCA Rescue needs a foster home, I'm available for them. 

When I first got her, I wasn't sure if she'd be with me forever or not.  So I took her in as if she was part of my family.  I don't regret it one bit.  She's still family-though from a distance.

With regards to play (to get this back on topic) she didn't like to play with toys, or do much else other than wrestle with the boy.  Or figure out ingenious ways to steal food from cabinets, pantries, and countertops.  When she left, she was playing with squeaky toys, doing play bows, running around the apartment and having a great time.  I taught her that most adult humans are pretty good people.  (She already knew that about kids.)

 If I am busy or not paying attention to him, Hektor will run into the closet and grab a shoe (which he knows he is not suppose to have) and will run out leaping and froliking and throwing the shoe into the air.

Also I think they reason better than we think. As Gunnar was growing up he always loved to chew on dad's stinky tennis shoes. When caught with the shoe we would tell him no and give him one of his toys in place of the shoe. One evening my husband came home from work and took off his shoes. Gunnar jumped up and begin to look around the house searching for something. he located a toy and came straight over to my husband, deposited the toy in his lap and picked up my husband's shoe. It looked as if he had reasoned that since we were always taking the shoe and giving him a toy, that if he brought a toy to us it would be a fair trade for the shoe.

dgriego,
 
that's absolutely hilarious!  What a smart alec and funny dog!

I'm fairly certain my dog has a sense of humor.  She does do a lot of things that could be attributed to playfulness or attention-getting.  But, when she laughs at me after I stumble or trip, that's her sense of humor.   And seeing her laugh makes me laugh.  What I mean by that is, she makes like a smile and her mouth opens and closes slightly in rapid succession.  It looks just like a human laugh. []  It's hysterical.