How does she know?

Have you ever had your dog read your mind? I swear my eight-year-old golden retriever can. I've tested it.

Here's what happens: Gracie and I are often at the beach with her yellow tennis ball, which she'll chase as many times as I'll throw it. She loves to swim, so the farther out in the water I can get it the better, as far as she's concerned. But after a while, I've had enough -- especially on a cold February day -- and I think to myself, "It's time to go. I've got to get her back on the leash and into the car."

Well, almost as I'm thinking it, she'll pick up her ball and head for the water, wade in about six feet from the shore -- and sit down. She knows I'm not coming in after her -- at least not in February. And she'll stay there. No matter what I say, no matter what bribes I offer, she just sits there looking at me innocently, as if to say "So what's your problem?"

And there she stays -- until I consciously shift my thinking to something else. A seagull, the far shore across the harbor, whatever, as long as it isn't "It's time to get in the car." As soon as I do that, she's out of the water and comes right to me to drop the ball, expecting it's going to be thrown again.

As I say, I've tested this several times, and she never fails to know what I'm thinking.

Does that happen to anyone else who has a dog companion?