Bark Back!

Last night, I was inspired by the movie "Marley & Me" to write nearly two pages of questions in my journal about doggies. Over the next couple weeks, I'll be sharing some of the questions that came up for me and my attempt to sort out the answers...

First Question: Why does my dog react to some barking on TV, but not all barking?

As Belay & I were watching the movie, he couldn't help but bark back at the puppy crying and yelping noises. He couldn't care less about the rest of the barks for the entire movie. Why??

Was the puppy truly distressed and he could tell what it was saying, while the other dogs were trained to just 'bark on cue' and they weren't saying anything important?

What was Belay saying back to the puppy when he barked back at the TV?

Why am I answering this question with more questions? Is this a normal way to figure things out?

What are dogs saying when they bark? Are there actual words, or just intonations and intensity levels that convey their thoughts to other dogs?