Dogs don’t have a poker face.  They can’t hide what they are feeling.

Rusty had a test today to see if he could be trusted.  So far, Rusty has been crated if I leave the house.  Today, Sparky and I went for a car ride, while Rusty was left to roam around the solarium.    

When we returned, Rusty met us on the stairs to the garage.  Some kind of way, he popped the latch on the gate.  If Rusty had any guile, he’d have gone back in to the solarium when he heard us come in.  He could have done the “oh, the gate was open?  I didn’t notice” routine.

Rusty was proud of himself for being so clever, and wanted to tell us all about.  When I put him back in, he couldn’t stop grinning like a moron.

That’s why the dog’s playing poker paintings are so famous.  It’s not absurd that animals are playing poker, it’s absurd because dogs can’t bluff.