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showing they understood something about "attention." Even in the middle of play, they used mild attention-getters—such as an in-your-face or an exaggerated retreat, leaping backward while looking at the other dog—when their partner's attention was only mildly diverted. If a dog's desired playmate was just standing there staring at him, these attention-getters might indeed be enough to rouse him, as a wave hello? in front of a daydreaming friend. But when the other dog was very distracted, looking away or even playing with another dog, they used assertive attention-getters—bites, bumps, and barks. In these cases, that mild hello? would not do. Instead of using a brute-force method of trying to get attention by any means necessary, they chose types of attention-getters that were just sufficient, but not superfluous, to get the desired attention. This was truly sensitive behavior on the part of the players.

Only after these attention-getters were successful did the dogs signal their interest in playing. In other words, they were using an order of operations: get attention first, then send an invitation to rumble.

This is just what good theorists-of-mind do: think about their audience's state of attention and only talk to those who can hear and understand them. The dogs' behavior looks tantalizingly close to a display of theory of mind. But there's reason to believe that their ability is different than ours. For one thing, in both the experiments and my play study, not all dogs acted equally mindfully. Some dogs are oblivious in their attention-getting. They bark, get no response—and then bark and bark and bark and bark. Others use attention-getters when attention has already been gotten, or play signals when play has already been signaled. The statistics show that most dogs act mindfully, but there are plenty of exceptions. We can't tell yet whether they are just the underperformers or whether they indicate that the species has an incomplete understanding.

It may be a little of both. Rather than contemplating the mind behind the dog, most dogs are likely to simply interact. Their skill at using attention and play signals hints that they may have a rudimentary theory of mind: knowing that there is some mediating element between other dogs and their actions. A rudimentary theory of mind is like having passable social skills. It helps you play better with others to think about their perspective. And however simple this skill may be, it may be part of an inchoate system of fairness among dogs. Perspective-taking underlies our agreement to a code of conduct between humans that is jointly beneficial. Watching play, I noticed that dogs who violated the implicit rules for attention-getting and play-signaling—simply barging in on others' play without following the proper, mindful procedures, say—were shunned as playmates.*

Does this mean that your dog is aware of and interested in what's on your mind right now? No. Does it mean that he might realize that your behavior reflects what's on your mind? Yes. Used to communicate with us, this is a large part of dogs' seeming humanity. Sometimes it is even used in nefarious ways only too human.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CHIHUAHUA

We can now revisit the wolfhound and Chihuahua we met at the start of this book. Their hillside encounter is no less remarkable now, but it does perfectly encapsulate the flexibility and variety of behaviors of the species. The explanation for that play begins in the history of their social ancestors, the wolves; it is apparent in the hours of socializing between humans and dogs; in the years of domestication; in the dialogues of speech and behavior between us. It is explicable in the sensorium of the dog: the information he gets from his nose, what his eyes take in. It is in the capacity of dogs to reflect on themselves; it is explained in their different, parallel universe.

And it is in the particular signals they use with each other. The wolfhound's high-rumped approach: the play bow, an invitation to a game—making perfectly clear his ardent intent