Dog Training Up the Leash

John Kelly notes that not all dog training is down the leash:

Even the smartest dog can't speak English. But every dog can tell you something, if you're willing to listen.

I think of a dog as a human-training device. I might teach Charlie to sit or to shake, but he's teaching me, too: to be observant, to pay attention, to discern through the wag of a tail, the cock of an ear, the look in an eye the thoughts of a living being who shares time with me on this all-too-imperfect planet, in this all-too-finite life.