If only our pets could talk. Maybe they do. Our pets are constantly communicating with us. It's just that we're not always sharp enough to pick up what they're trying to say.

"If you recorded all your dog 'said,' the individual woofs would sound just a little different, and there are corresponding differences in your dog's body posture, sometimes subtle, sometimes very obvious," says Stanley Coren, professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia and author "How Dogs Think Understanding the Canine Mind" (Free Press, New York, NY, 2004; $17.99).

Our pets have plenty to tell us. “They express real emotions and thoughts,” says Tim Friend, science writer at USA Today and author of “Animal Talk: Breaking the Codes of Animal Language” (Free Press, New York, NY, 2004; $25)..” Friend says Lassie wasn’t so exceptional, after all. “It’s not that Lassie had an extraordinary ability to communicate; it’s that the poor dog always seemed to have the same thing to say: ‘Follow me, Timmy’s in trouble,’” he notes.

Recently, Friend found Felix, a neighbor’s cat, meowing in front of Friend’s door. When he opened the door, Felix didn’t come in, as he often did, the writer recalled. Friend wound up following the cat to his home. Felix then ‘explained,’ with more meows, that the door was closed and he wanted to get inside.

Sometimes we pick up on what our pets are telling us because they communicate with a language common to many animals, from birds to bears. Friend explains that research (by naturalist Eugene Morton) shows we’re born to understand these sounds; after all, our ancestors needed to recognize them to survive. We know what a dog growl means, even without prior experience with dogs or actually seeing the dog. No one has to teach people the meaning of a rattlesnake’s noisy warning. “We’re born knowing this stuff,” Friend says.

However, often, much of the credit may go to the pets for reaching out to us. They’re capable of being quite inventive to be sure we understand. Coren recalled how his now deceased flat-coated retriever created his own kind of bark for attention. About 15 years ago, Odin made a strange sort of bark – a forced single long bark which almost sounded like a cartoon character bark – and Coren proceeded to let him in the house, snickering at the funny bark. That’s exactly what Odin wanted; his odd bark got Coren’s attention. From then on, Odin repeated the bark whenever he wanted to come inside. He even taught the bark to other dogs, who then taught it to their puppies. In all, five dogs have learned the canine dialect unique to Coren’s household.

Communicating with people isn’t always easy. “We don’t always get it. Sometime we need a sort of sledgehammer approach,” says feline behavior consultant Pam Johnson-Bennett, author of “Cat vs. Cat” (Penguin Books, New York, NY, 2004; $15). “I get dozens of people who say, ‘I was innocently petting my cat when the cat suddenly attacked me out of the blue,’” Johnson-Bennett offered as an example. “The truth is that it never happens like that. The cat is trying to tell you to stop. She may meow, her eyes dilate, her skin twitches, she stops purring, her tail lashes. Finally, she bites because she doesn’t know what else she can possibly do.”

Beth Adelman, also a feline behavior consultant and author of “Every Cat’s Survival Guide to Living with a Neurotic Owner” (Barnes & Noble Books, New York, NY, 2003; $6.98), was the editor of Cats Magazine when she purchased a new ecologically-friendly litter and poured it in her cat’s litter box. She paid no attention when Yang Yang meowed loudly in the box, though he’d never done this before. The next day, Yang Yang tossed litter out of the box toward Adelman. Finally, that night, Adelman was reading in bed when she heard the cat holler from the box. He then came running into the bedroom, jumped on the bed and urinated. “Now, I know what you’re trying to tell me,” Adelman told her cat. “Oh, my gosh, what an idiot I was,” says Adelman. “Yang Yang was telling me all along, ‘I don’t like this litter,’ but I wasn’t listening.” Adelman threw out the litter, returned to her old brand, and Yang Yang never complained again. Johnson-Bennett says such communication gaps explain why many pets are given up.

“Beth successfully figured out what her cat was trying to say, but others might misunderstand, thinking the cat is being vengeful, for example.” “Our animals are constantly telling us all sorts of things about their emotions, and what they’re thinking; this is not beyond their capability,” says Friend. “Sometimes, though, it’s beyond our capabilities to understand them. At other times, it’s amazing how well we connect with one another, a testimony to the bond we have with our pets.”

Content courtesy of Steve Dale. Steve's website is www.stevedalepetworld.com. He can be heard Sundays on WGN Radio, 8 to 10 p.m. (www.wgnradio.com to listen live), and hosts Steve Dale's Pet World and The Pet Minute, both syndicated radio shows. He's also a contributing editor to USA Weekend.