[bobohyde]

Columbo absolutely understands everything. I suppose there are some words he's never heard before that he doesn't know, but yes, he really does understand everything else. He is 9 and we noticed the same thing with our golden when he got older. He's been listening to the english language long enough to know the meaning of most words or things we say. We test him sometimes to not use anybody language associated with what we say and he still responds that he knows. We even ask him questions and he will spin in circles when the answer is yes, but just stand and stare at us when the answer is no. Ex. He is staring at us... "Do you want to eat?" no response, "do you want to go outside?" no response, "do you want to go upstairs?" spin, spin, spin. Another example, saying to my husband "I'm tired, I think I'll go to bed". Immediately, if Columbo wants to go, he jumps down to go. If he wants to stay up, the ears go back as if to say, "don't even think about taking me and he turns into Bobohyde." All this before I've done anything or asked him if he wants to go with me. If he wants to go to bed before we are ready, he will get up and start barking at us. Some words I can't even spell anymore because he still knows what I'm talking about. I have to use other words he's not as familiar with if I want to fool him. I really like it when a dog has lived with you long enough that it's easy to communicate like that.