I’m glad you were well and the thieves didn’t harm you.
Dogs can tell their owners much, when they take the time to listen. :-)
Absolutely! I have a different Golden now and he never barks. Never. But I still know what he wants just by his cold nose nudges.
He was a “rescue” and all I can think is that he may have been trained with a “bark collar” when he was little. I tried a training shock collar on him to keep him from chasing deer when he was young, and he did not react well to it. It really frightened him and drained all of his spirit away, so I threw the collar away. He can bark, but it is only when he is surprised by a wild animal that I ever hear it; and then it is just a low “rooof”. Just one “rooof” and then he never utters another sound. You can just tell that he is alert and watching by his body language. He’s totally quiet the next time that a groundhog/rabbit/deer wanders by. He only speaks when he spots the first one.