Personal space is a really good example.

Even when we dogs come up to one another we do it pretty slowly. Except for those times when I see someone I know and and I run up to them real fast to say hello because I think they're neat-o and I want to play, I make a point of walking up slowly so that I can get a good whiff from a distance.

Then there's another boundary to cross, and that's when we do the customary canine salute. You guys think we're just sniffing each others' butts, but what we're really doing is figuring out where we've been, who we know, and where we each sit in the order of things.

Sometimes the sniffing goes on for a good long time. Sometimes we move from butt to wee wee to face and back to butt again.

Once we've completed that, and only then, do we make our decision about whether or not to move in and play.

You people just charge right up to each other without so much as a sniff. That's fine if it works for you two-footers, but it's not fine when you treat us dogs as if we had those same lousy boundaries that you have.

I can't tell you how many people walk up to me and start grabbing at my face, trying to rub my tummy, making those ooogy silly cooing noises. Only my mom gets to make those to me. Okay, my mom and all of my aunts & uncles. Okay, my mom, all of my aunts & uncles and some of the people at the Park.

My point is, give me some respect will you? I may be a dog, but I have my rights too.