The new dog hadn’t uttered any sounds to speak of in the first four days we had her, but yesterday she barked a little when the Jack Russell Terrier across the street decided to let loose with a string of yaps. Abby, it turns out, has a pretty deep voice and a big “Woof.”

There’s a locally-produced TV show on the PBS station which features a father and son broadcasting duo (the grandfather started broadcasting U of Hawai’i sports, his son did the same, and now the grandson is sports director of a local TV station and also a UH sportscaster) about the local sports news of the week. They always have an invited guest on to talk about some sports news item or another. The conversation takes place on a set which is supposed to represent the hosts’ kitchen table. Part of the schtick is to have a recording of a dog barking as the guest arrives and knocks on the kitchen door. (You can see where this is going, right?)

Tonight, the TV dog started to bark and Abby immediately did the same. Lots of “woof woof woofs” and no embarrassment at all when nothing happened to justify all that noise.

Now if she’d just get up and go look out the door to see what she’s barking at . . .