I had a dream last night about an episode of The Simpsons...
The story went like this... After a bunch of destructive acts, the Simpsons get fed up with their dog "Santa's Little Helper." Homer and Marge decide to send the dog to obedience training, but the school says the dog is too stupid to learn anything. When they threaten to give the dog away if he doesn't get trained, Bart tries hard, but the dog still doesn't do anything he is taught.
Long story short, eventually Bart did get the dog trained, but the process gave a lot of insight into what dogs actually hear when the master speaks...
"Blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah blah Blah blah sit blah blah blah blah blah blahblah blah roll over blah blah blah blah blah speak blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah beg blah blah blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Blah gimme paw Blah blah get off blah Blah the blah blah blah furniture Blah blah blah blah Blahblahblah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blahblah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Blah blah blahblah blah what a good boy blah blah blah Blahblah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah blah go blah blah walk? blah blah blah"
The dog isn't stupid or insensitive, he's just oblivious to the extraneous input. People and dogs are different. They think in different ways. Their brains are wired differently. No amount time or hope is ever going to change that fact. Some dogs may be more affectionate, some may wag their tail harder and faster than any other dog, and some may even understand a lot of words and bark in response when you speak to them, but they're all still dogs and they still think like dogs. You can expect your dog to learn some really cool tricks (to grow), but if you expect him to be anything other than a dog (to change), you should consider buying an Aibo instead.
When you invest yourself within what the established limits are, you're going to find yourself much happier with the return. Maybe that's why people have had pet dogs for so long.
Did I mention that men and women are different too?