I just got back from visiting my sister in Arkansas. Her dog, Rascal, is EXTREMELY melodramatic. He's a little 3-month-old Heinz 57. He has learned that he gets a lot of attention by acting like he's injured. So if he barely bumps into something, or falls off the couch, or if you shake his paw or anything he'll start yelping continuously, very convincingly, until somebody tells him to knock it off. Then he'll smile at us and start racing around, waiting to be snuggled. I guess he even did it for the vet, who checked him out thoroughly and agrees that he's just a very good actor!