“Ginger, come!” John said, calling her to come during a recall exercise. Ginger had just discovered that there were liver treats on an adjacent table and didn’t even twitch an ear. “Over here, Ginger,” John repeated, finishing with “Come on. Good girl. Come here. Over here.” John’s vigorous signaling resulted in loss of breath and rising frustration but not in convincing Ginger to leave the liver treats on the table. But she did learn to ignore a whole lot of interesting noises from her hapless owner. What’s most notable about those noises is that they were so variable. If you assume ignorance
...more
