If Animals Could Speak, the first in a series of books for animal lovers, covers stories about my menagerie during a nine year period starting in January 1974. During this time my animal companions included five dogs, five cats, three horses and assorted fowls. One dog was rescued from rising floodwaters. A young cat and an even younger pup were saved from starvation. One dog was adopted from an animal shelter and a disposable kitten was given a loving home. The stories are based on fact but of course the conversations are my interpretation of what Ive witnessed. Many tales are humorous since animals of all species and ages can be truly amusing. However life doesnt always go according to plan and as a result some of the reminiscences are quite sad. Most however, just tell the story of my animal friends being themselves and displaying their own sort of intelligence and wisdom, patience and compassion, curiosity and sense of adventure. If Animals Could Speak seeks to answer many questions. Have you ever wondered what animals think about? What are dogs saying when they bark at each other? And what do birds twitter about as they cheep and chirp to one another? Over the years Ive chosen to stop, to watch and to think about the actions and reactions Ive witnessed. Along the way Ive made many interesting discoveries and have come to the conclusion that animals react to the world around them as best they can with their limited understanding. They can definitely communicate with us and so Ive had fun learning their language and translating it into human-speak. Ive also learnt a lot about dog-think and cat-think. Also included in the book are stories about the mistakes I made as well as the lessons I learned. In addition I mention attitudes that have changed over the decades.