Billy is the name of a dog. A little Schnauzer that, by my judgement, was still a little puppy. We saw him and his owner, a young woman, on a walk along the Willamette River. The little dog was all over the place checking things out and running crisscross on the walking path and by doing so regularly got into people’s way. The young woman was trying to get his attention by calling him by his name – Billy. Billy! And repeating his name probably a dozen times – to all those calls there was no reaction. Finally, she pulled him close to herself and started talking to the dog: Billy, when I call you, you need to pay attention and you cannot run here and there. I could not see the dogs face, but I wondered – have dogs progressed to understand the human language? I recall fairy tales from my childhood where animals could speak but those were tales. But then again, I am not a dog person!