Some people don't think their dogs are very smart, but before you dismiss your dog as dumb, think about the last time he pawed your leg under the table and gave you those big sad eyes. He was letting you know what he wanted, and this is far from dumb!

One of the reasons why the thousands upon thousands of years of love between people and dogs has lasted so long is because we communicate in a way that they understand. When a dog comes to you with his frisbee and drops it at your feet, you know without being told that he thinks it's time to play fetch.

The two above examples tell us that our dogs can learn very complex behavior and that we can teach them even more.

Just like humans, dogs relate to each other and to us through body language and posture, but the way that we process it and the way that they do is very different.

Their eyes will take in light and color differently than we do, and they can see in low light much more easily. Thanks to the muscles on their head, they can rotate their ears to figure out where the sounds are coming from, and let's not forget that great sense of smell.

These differences will equal differences in the way that their minds work. Their ability to understand cause and effect relationships is quite different from ours.

When it comes to classic consideration, where the subject figures out the connection between cause and effect, we can figure out pretty easily if it was just a coincidence. On the other hand, dogs create a very persistent relation between cause and effect.

Then look at operant conditioning, where cause and effect are reinforced through positive and negative means, and the differences become even larger.

Consider the fact that I always go out the back door with my Golden Retrievers when we are going to play fetch. Whenever we go out that door, we play fetch. On the other hand, when I let them out the side door, I don't go with them; I just leave them for half an hour or so. Of course, they always go to the back door when they want a game or see someone coming.

With every command that I give them, I always use a very specific tone and hand gesture. This helps them learn a lot of desirable behaviors, which means that they can sit, stay, lie down, come, roll over, let go of something, fetch and release, even eliminate at my say so.

On the other hand, I still cannot prevent them from eating something off of the floor because they cannot connect the bellyache a few hours later with the food that they ate before. This is just something that takes too much time.

What you should learn from this is that your pet dog, whether he is a Husky, a Retriever, a Shepherd, a Chihuahua, or a Beagle, is still a dog. He can learn all sorts of things as long as you are patient, but don't ever expect him to understand things the way that you do.

For instance, one fairly well-known woman has taught her dogs how to dance on command for the show circuit, and rescue dogs can locate children and pull them out of dangerous situations. Service dogs are incredible when they can do things as different as opening a door, pulling a wheelchair or even fetching a container of water without spilling a bit of it.

Dogs are very trainable; just don't expect them to act like people. Whether we like it or not, they are still dogs and they are still going to do things like sniff other dog's posteriors!

Debbie Foster is the owner of Pet Beds Unlimited and an avid animal lover. You’ll find a wide selection of quality pet beds, dog crates, dog carriers, dog pens, cat beds, cat carriers, small dog beds, large dog beds, pet strollers and more at http://petbedsunlimited.com.