Dogs With Emotions?

We have the cutest dog ever. Libby is a pure bred black lab and, lucky for us, was the runt of the litter. She is very smart, easy to train, and loves to play escape artist at every chance she gets. There is something interesting that I have noticed in her that I have never noticed with any other dog I have seen. She has emotion. Not only does she have emotion but you can read it in her face.

Lately she has been hooked up to a chain in our back yard. I would love to have her run free, but we have very strict rules about dogs not being on a leash in our neighborhood and we do not have a fence, so unfortunately, she has to be on a chain for now. Anyway, her chain in the back yard happens to be long enough that she can sit on our back porch. Quite frankly she lives there and our sliding glass window has become her television as she watches every move we make.

Sometimes when I look out at her sitting outside all by herself she looks lonely, sometimes when the kids talk with her she looks happy, and when the sun comes out she looks content. When the kids go throw the ball with her I could swear she is smiling. Is that crazy? Is it normal? Maybe, because we had one dog that I swear was the devil in dog form. I never saw a kind look come from that dog and he was never loving to Mark, me, or the kids. As sad as this is to admit, I was not sad when he ran away and we couldn't find him. We did look though, I promise!