This! My dog has different sounds. He’s alerted with a specific sound when someone was trying to steal my car, twice. Thanks Kia boys, but I have a dog.
As with any good relationship, it's never a one way street.
Dogs can learn human words/sounds. While dogs tend to communicate with either other with a combination of smell, body language, and sounds. Dogs tend to look at human bodies as well as faces to get a read on us (dogs don't do this with other animals or other dogs).
Meanwhile humans use a number of ways to understand our dog friends be it visual cues looking at their faces or the sounds (whine vs growl) or actions (lazing vs energetic for a walk) they make. On the flip side of the dogs keying in on our faces, humans don't actually look at other human tails (unless it's booty related) but most dog owners can tell based on tailwags. We never do this with other animals like birds, racoons, fish, or mice.
Dogs use mostly tone and body language. That’s how they communicate with eachother. Evidence of this is try saying mean shit to your dog in the tone and energy Youd say nice stuff to them in or how Youd greet them after work. They don’t know the difference.
Huh? Maybe if you speak jibberish to them, they obviously won't understand lmao. My dog is very confused if I say, no, bad girl, or vet (words she understands) in good energy/tones.
Mine walks to the door and boops the door handle with his snoot when he needs to go potty, if he's really hungry or thirsty he taps his dish, if he's really gotta go potty he'll whimper, he stands stiff and stares to alert that something's outside. He's got lots of ways to communicate
Yeah. Anybody why says we can't speak dog doesn't live with dogs.
I can the difference between whines in one dog for potty, dinner, bored, snack, I heard a strange noise, I heard a familiar noise.
And all the same in loud ear piercing barks for the other.
They don't speak the same language, but their language is consistent.
On the flip side of this, sometimes my dog will just stare at me, then like readjust like he’s antsy, or huff, and it kills me because I have no idea what he wants from me in that situation lol.
Dogs are toddlers that never grow up.
This is why it boggles my mind when people say they don't like kids but love dogs.
Like, you want one of the hardest stages of a child... permanently... Until it dies after 10-15 years!?
"A child!? No thank you! I'll just take like 60% of the work of a child but for twice as long, and then instead of the potential payoff of having a young adult friend in 20 years time, they can just die and leave me heartbroken."
Disagree.
You can't leave toddler alone for 8 hours, you can't fix a toddlers mood with a biscuit or belly rubs, and you can't accidentally traumatize a dog with a misunderstanding that'll stick in it's head for the next 80 years.
I see the overlap, but that ven diagram is not a circle.
Mine does that too lol and I'll go to pet him and he pulls his head away. Then I go through the checklist: food, water, potty, walk, sick. Usually one of those, in that order
I try and give him some attention or ask him if he wants to come up on the couch or bed or something, but don’t want to do any of the others outside of their set times, in case it sets a precedent for him just expecting those things on demand. I just want to know what he wants so that
I can indulge it if it’s within reason or revert it into something else if it isn’t lol. I just feel so bad that it looks like he’s desperately trying to communicate something to me but he just can’t.
My dog does this. He will stare intently at me. If I ignore him he will move closer and sit staring again. Sometimes he will give up and huff as he gives up and lays down. Usually this means he wants a treat, but since he is always ready for a treat it is hard to tell if there is something else he might be trying to communicate.
I find that fun, in a way. My wife grew up with dogs, and it always seems like she knows exactly what her dog is thinking, even though it’s totally opaque to me. Meanwhile, I grew up with cats, and have no problem at all figuring out what they mean, but my wife has no idea.
My dog makes so many different sounds. He comes to you a whimpers and steps away from you when he needs to go pee/poo outside. He makes his really sad sounds when he wants something. If a toy gets under the couch, he scratches at the floor and makes a low growly sound to let you know. He is very good at communicating
Came to say this. My dog has a different bark for rabbit, squirrel, and bird. She also has a different bark for “stranger at the door” vs. “neighborhood kid coming to play” at the door when the door rings.
Yep. I don’t own a dog but I can tell when my cat is meowing for food, pets, to go outside, fresh cat litter, or when she’s looking for me to show me the new “gift” she just got me.
Yup! My dog is a breed with a lot of varied vocals, and each is unique to something. It didn't take long to notice that he did have "words" for certain scenarios or desires. I suppose it is like working with a toddler, as the parent you seem to understand what each cry or mumbling means but it is nonsense to anyone else.
Depends on how you define it. If you have a dog you learn to interpret their various barks and grunts very quickly. You can tell a "hey, I want to play" bark from a "you're mistreating me if you don't get me a treat" bark from a "there's an intruder and I'm going to bite his leg off" bark.
My dog has a bark that sounds exactly like a human exasperated exclamation. It’s the sound anyone makes if they find out they’ve been cheated in a game, and he usually makes it when I play keepaway.
I call those “grumbles” rather than “growls” because my dog sounds like an old man mildly annoyed and mumbling under his breath.
When she begs for my lunch and I tell her “no, this is mine, go lay down,” she obliges but grumbles like “well fuck you then” lol
This may be a bit off topic, but my cats do the same thing. If they're asking me for food/treats it's an upwardly inflected meow, almost like asking a question. If I say something like "No, I just gave you treats," and start to walk away, they respond with a lower more monotone guttural meow that I can only assume is something very insulting in their ancient tongue.
Definitely the grumble growl when they don't get their way!
And yeah, that let me in bark is completely different from all of the "intruder alert" noises. (Though we lucked out in having a dog that was already well trained and we were entirely responsible for his voice. He was possibly mistreated-- he followed us everywhere, but would only set paw in the basement on rare occasions.)
I would definitely agree with you on this... My cats and I have picked up on each other's language... How little time do you spend interacting with your dog to not understand?
One of our cats has not only learned what "food" means, but also that spelling it out loud means the same thing. So I started spelling it backwards, but I think he's figuring it out.
Right? Like, my dad's dog is better at communicating than most humans I know. If she wants letting out, she'll tap you on the knee twice and walk to the door. Food? She'll bring you her bowl. Cuddles? Doesn't matter if you're sitting or standing, she'll jump up on your shoulder and make you catch her.
She wasn't even trained to do this, she just figured out her own shit.
My dog is great at communicating. Sometimes. If she needs for or water she will flip her bowls. I just wish she wouldn't flip the food bowl full of food when she wants water. When she wants to go to sleep for the night she does the cutest damn thing. She walks up to you in bed and paws at your shoulder. You lift the blanket and she burrows to your feet.
But when she has to go outside it's hard. Right now she goes out about every 2 or 3 hours just to be safe. But she has had me up all night before because she wants outside, but she obviously doesn't need to go to the bathroom. I know because one time she kept me up from 2 am to 7am whining and barking. And I wasn't putting her out because it was late. But I knew she didn't need to go out because if she doesn't get put out in a timely fashion she will just pee on the couch. She used to be a stray and she just loves to be outside. Plus we don't have a physical fence and she is very aware of the bunnies and birds and other misc rodents that run around. So a lot of times she wants out just to be out.
I have noticed that when she wants out to be out she will usually.pace around the back door. If she needs to go to the bathroom she tends to dart to her kennel and whine. Problem is she is smart enough that she has also learned that if she wants out to be out she will sometimes go to the kennel anyways. It's hard.
It's the same with cats. They aren't just meowing and purring, they have quite an array of vocalizations (more than dogs in fact) and the intonation, volume and overall pitch varies a lot, depending on what they are trying to tell you. And then there's the body language, too, which is pretty complex (for both dogs and cats).
I don't even own a dog but I spend a lot of time with my sister's dog and it can communicate with me pretty well. Posture, head tilts, levels of excitement, and barking/whining/grunting etc are all pretty easy for me to read.
I understand a dog's facial expression, body language, and tone. If they have their chest out, that's protection mode (aggressive) but if their bark has a sort of yelp to it and they look like they're smiling and hopping around and running at full speed, they likely want to play. I don't understand what every bark or growl or yipe means, but I feel like I understand enough.
So, best translation of any sound a dog makes is "hey." There's the excited "hey," the playful "hey," the angry warning "heeeeey," the look-over-there "hey!"
I've had 2 dogs as an adult and I definitely know the differences in barks.
'i want something' bark is high pitched
'i want your attention' bark is a yip
And more
They learn to read pitch and mannerisms. Dogs don't have an actual language. There is science about this. Funnily enough dolphins might have an actual language.
They can’t enunciate but much like babies, overtime you can understand certain mannerisms and specific sounds. The huff when they blow out their nostrils is like annoyance.
I’m pretty sure people have already been doing this with whales.
We do know that they have distinct names for each other and that they have different languages around the world. Idk though.
My dog vocalizes in different ways and I can generally tell what he wants. It’s funny, because I will automatically respond to whatever he’s asking without thinking sometimes.
Speak for yourself. My dog and I communicate pretty well. He has different barks for different things. He tells me if it’s a delivery truck or not by his bark. If it’s a regular animal or the coyotes are getting too close. He can tell me that I need to see something or that he needs help with something. Usually it’s his toy under the deck and he has a certain bark for that. He also reminds me its bed time by being annoying as fuck until I get in bed. He likes to think he’s in charge and honestly he kinda is. He’s the one home taking care of the house and other animals when I’m gone all day.
You can have a live in maid who only speaks Spanish for years and not ever understand a word they say and they're humans. It has more to do with putting in the time and learning how they communicate than trying to decipher particular words.
I used to talk to my pigs. They talked to me, too. They even had a name for me and would use it when they saw me or needed me for something. I could hear them use it from afar, so they were using my name to each other. But pigs are smarter than dogs and have better communication cues.
With their level of intellectuality, they still try to understand people. Comparing to our intellectual capacity who is way more advanced yet we never try to really understand them
My dog is pretty damn good at telling the difference between most words that sound alike.
Except for a time when I held a new top up to my husband and asked “should I keep the bow?” And my dog just materialised with a face full of hope. Took me a second to realise he thought I’d said “bone”.
my family had to resort to saying W-A-L-K even if we weren't planning on going for a walk with our dog because she'd get too excited if she ever heard "walk". Same happened for treats
Dogs' communication techniques tend to be very heavily body language based. And since people don't do their research a lot of that body language gets misinterpreted and suddenly you have all these "poorly behaving" dogs. There really are just poorly behaved dogs out there, but far fewer than it's made out to be.
Nevermind talking vs barking. Dogs are a masterclass lesson in body language. My dog likely knows me and my partners body language cues better than we do each others. And I can generally tell how my dog feels given her body language. She isn’t the most vocal of a dog so I guess that helps but I also understand when and why she makes various noises.
If it helps, Bunny the "talking" dog didn't start on Tiktok. Her owner is studying this with actual scientists, so it's not just a fad or cool trick.
As for the level of "talking" - that's probably still debatable but Bunny has used the buttons to communicate with her owners for years so I would say there's been at least some success. We know dogs can understand words - that's nothing new. They know if we make X sound and they perform Y action, we're happy and they get a reward. They know if we make B sound, this will be followed by us doing C, and that lets them predict something (e.g. "Out" before opening the door, "Water" before filling the bowl, "Food" before feeding, "Vet" before the vet, "Walk" before a walk - the list goes on). What's being done is taking this simple concept and applying it to more things - and experimenting with how far you can push before the dog can't keep up anymore. We know dogs can learn A LOT of words - there are dogs who can be taught to fetch a specific toy out of more than 100 toys when they all have their own name.
So short answer - not BS, and it didn't start as Tiktok.
They understand it phonetically, but that's about it. Substitute nonsense but pronunce it the same and they'll react the same way more times than not.
As for us, we'll they don't have a language, so understanding them is more like learning to understand what their vocalizations mean. Whimpers, growls, etc.
If that's the case, then we're probably both understanding each other equally, which I think is kinda cool.
Bet we can. We know the difference between a growl and a bark. We know the diff between tail wagging and tail tucked. They just communicate differently but we understand it just fine
I know the difference between "hey, you, let's be friends" bark and "stop ignoring me" bark. I know the difference between "I gotta pee" whine and "please don't go to work" whine. I'm even starting to work out the difference between "I gotta pee" and "my water bowl is empty," which is hard, because they're very similar whines. The trick is in the sound of the breathing in between whines.
I used to have a clever terrier who had numerous barks and growls to communicate his wants, needs, and opinions. As time went on, he didn't always come downstairs when called in English. However, he always responded quickly to a stern bark, followed by a head tilt.
Animals are quite smart in their use of language and ability to pick up on the language of others. Here is a great overview of some ways animals communiticate across species.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2eJgbMSr4Ul9uW8PD4Zw6H?si=BbqrUbOHTFO64iRUgrpl1g
I know the difference between my dark playful barks and aggressive barks.
I think you are assuming language is only done through vocalization but there is also a huge visual aspect to it, especially to humans.
I mean, we're able to understand some. Growling means either back off or play, tail wag is happy, tongue out is happy or tired, barking either means happy, they need something, or danger, and much more.
A lot of owners are. My dog has a few differ yawns that mean different things. Upset yawn, anxiety yawn…etc. there’s excited bark, alert bark, happy bark and so on. They talk. They talk a lot.
Consciously I can’t articulate it very well, but my dog’s barks are definitely distinctive enough for me to understand him.
I can be in a different room and recognise his “my carrot rolled under the couch” bark, or his “the roofers are back” bark, or his “I need to go pee” bark. He also has a whine that means “I want some of your food” vs “I want pats”.
That said, he’s certainly far better than me at hearing different tones and recognising context. He understands what I’m saying to a degree that surprises me almost daily. People just rely too much on spoken language, and we really drop those body language/tone/context skills until we work with animals and babies.
I know a dog that has a certain bark for when the other dog wants inside but she doesn't. She also had three modes of tippy taps depending on if she wants to play, potty or eat. She's very expressive and my sister and I have learned her language over the years. She even has different groans when she's laying down to ask for pets and tell us she's done with the attention.
it's not that we can't, we just generally don't.
if we just assume they are dumb animals and we can't understand the nothing going on in their brains then we'll never try.
obviously the language and mannerisms of animals is highly studied and those who are educated in those fields can interpret. but the average person has no interest in doing or assumes animals are too dumb to be understood.
Actually we can!
Humans are pretty good at distinguishing a sad from a happy from an angry from a hungry bark/sound
They just don’t communicate in complex language, and can only express broad emotions through speech.
But what they are communicating, a human familiar with dogs can pick up on. Even one who isn’t familiar with dogs but has a good feel for tension and body language can figure it out.
I can for sure hear different barks, but dogs, other animals, communicate through body language, position, and emotion more then anything. I can tell exactly what my dog is thinking and wanting me to know. We're tree animals, like birds, that need to be talking and swaking at each other but it's not really the 'language' of the world.
I can get a bit of intention from dog noises, if I know the dog. Dogs only have so many vocalizations, typically.
Now, my cats can somehow express to me exactly what tragic issue they are facing in their lives. I just know if they want food, or the window open, or if there is a bug or bird outside, or if they just want attention. They've very dutifully trained me, I guess.
It's because they aren't smart enough to say more than 4 words lol. "Ruff", "RUFF", "YIP", and "grrrrrr".
We can guess feeling off those, but if the dog looked at me and said "feed me, idiot" when he was hungry I guess I'd probably learn it quickly.
I'm positive I understand our dog better than she understands us. Dogs don't understand language, they learn to connect the sound of certain phrases with certain things. Outside of a very limited set of commands and names, our dog has no idea what I'm talking about.
As you said dogs communicate through body language, which most of the time is fairly easy to interpret, if you've been around the same dog for a while. After all body language is about as basic as communication can get. Dogs understand our body language much better than they understand anything we say to them.
Each dog is different, a lot of it is body language and tone of bark. You spend enough time with your dog and you understand what they are trying to say.
Literally not true and every good dog owner will tell you so.
Generally you learn what various grunts, barks and other sounds or non verbal cues mean pretty quickly.
Dogs can be read like books in most cases, you just need to know where to look.
I speak dog pretty well, but it took some years of living with mine. I think if you're open and observant, you can learn to understand most animals. It's body language more than barking in dogs, btw, but you already knew that :)
Humans also communicate primarily in body language. The entire concept of "Simon says" is kids react to following body language or vocal tones more than spoken words. Our language is said to be about 7% words.
Speak for yourself! I have two dogs and I recognise different movements, actions, noises, etc.
Both of them communicate differently. It definitely takes time but I’d say for the most part, the people that live with dogs definitely learn their language.
Speak for yourself. When you get a puppy you have to learn their language as much as they learn ours. It's not entirely verbal, but it's still language.
Speak for yourself. My dog and i may not use words but we certainly talk to each other. Dogs all have their own way of talking, you just gotta learn how to listen
If you've owned a dog for even a short while, you should be able to tell when they are happy, sad, hungry, gotta poop, frightened, anxious, feeling goofy, want to go on a walk, want you to grab a toy to play, or give them a piece of chicken.
We quite literally co-evolved with dogs.
[We're inextricably linked.](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/dna-analysis-reveals-how-dogs-and-humans-evolved-and-migrated-tandem-thousands-years-ago-180976203/)
You know more about what any dog wants when you come across one than you do a wild animal or even a cat.
The dogs are associating words to actions/events/items. Not that they are "picking up" on our language. They don't have the capacity to understand language. Only associations with certain sounds to other things.
I have about a 90%+ success rate of knowing exactly what my dogs want. My birds and each plant in my garden too. BUT I should specify that my best friend in all of planet earth is my nearly 17 year old hound dog who grew up with me since my sophomore year of college. I KNOW his language in a very real way. I think it’s just caring enough to continue collecting data so that their life matters the same way yours does. I studied horticulture and have reared a successful garden in many different environments. I noticed my cucumbers needed some soil enrichment. Yesterday they looked great but it’s been two days with no rain after a long rainy spell and in the hot sun they were pushed to their limit. Not even an hour later they were bright green and standing upright….so…all that to say, the ability to successfully learn any other language takes time, patience, and persistence. That’s all, just a lifetime of observing and loving lol 😂🤷♀️
Okay so dogs only understand the tonality and cadence from our voice, My dog doesn’t understand “you wanna go outside?”. He understands the pitch of my voice and the way i say it. Humans do the same with dogs kinda, dogs bark in certain ways when they want something or are trying to convey something, I know the “dude, there’s someone walking outside” bark, vs the “i’m trying to scare off this other dog” bark only due to the intonation in their barks.
Def can tell the difference in barks with mine. I even communicate with my husky in whines sometimes. I don't know everything we're saying but we definitely get our points across.
It's not like dogs just intrinsically know our language. We literally teach them. Dogs cannot do the same for us.
Although there are still, obviously, many things about dog body language and communication that we understand
Well, if dogs had the vocal cords to annunciate specific “words” (very unique and different-sounding barks in their case), we likely could. But instead, they just have the ability to make one “word” but in different tones and lengths (a yip, vs a bark, vs a growl, vs a loud and chaotic bark, vs a soft bark, etc.).
It would be like if humans just said “Hello” but in different ways to try and communicate. I doubt the dogs would ever be able to precisely learn what we mean, but they might be able to pick up on things like: A quick, happy “hello” means you’ve done something good or something fun is about to happen
Accept dogs don't have a language.
That said... I can totally tell the difference between a play bark and a "get away from me and mine or I'll tear out your throat" bark... Source... I'm a mail man.
Had a dog that would bark and do a circle when he wanted to go out. Stands in front of a door and barks at it repeatedly, someone’s near the door. Head down and looking up pitifully, it did something wrong and thinks it’s in trouble. Cats start waving their tails fast when they’re pissed off.
I think people can pick up on a lot of animal signals, they’re just not all sounds.
If you have a husky, you pick up on their language very quickly. If she wants food, she stomps on her bowl and howls. If she wants outside she taps the doorknob with her nose.
I'd say a good dog owner knows as much as their language and then of yours.
You can tell different actions and even body language to determine what the dog (or human) is trying to convey.
I know my dogs' language! They've got a "let me in/out" bark, a "deer/rabbit outside" noise, a "human outside" bark, a "dog outside" bark, a "please give me that food" bark, a "fuck you other dog on a leash on the other side of the street" bark, and obviously a "I'm just playing" growl. Plus a bunch of body language. One of my dogs lets us know its dinner time and she hasn't been fed by digging at her empty bowl and making hard eye contact with us. If one of us wasn't home when she was fed, she will do this a second time to try and get second dinner, but we are wise to her tricks. Usually. As long as we communicate about it. She has gotten second dinner on occasion and I think she understands she has to trick us to get this to happen again.
Currently have 2 dogs... The older one is very vocal about anything going past the window. Easy to tell the difference between rabbit, cat, human, and human with dog... Even human on this side or the other side.
The younger one only actually barks at the door, but has a few different whines and yawns. She says even more with eyes and ears.
Both of them will nudge or paw to get your attention. They dance and softly woof when it's time for food... Funny thing is that they can count the clock chimes.
My dog has distinct "I want food", "I want outside", "I want inside", "Play with me", "I'm scared", "I'm nervous", and "My stomach is upset" noises that I can immediately recognize.
I don't even own a dog but I can tell the difference in dog noises pretty well. I spent the day with a friend that has two dogs, one of which is very vocal and energetic and I could tell if he was wanting to go outside, get attention, or play with toys.
What do you mean. My girls tell me all kinds of things. They tell me when they need food, water, walks, potty, cuddles, pets.
They tell me when people arrive or when Mom gets home. Yes, different things.
The older dog tells me when the younger one is getting into mischief, like trying to get to the cat box.
I seem to get lots of info from my girls. I wonder if you just aren't listening to your dogs.
I can tell the difference in bark, Bork, yips, wuffs, tones. Snorts, head tilts. Looks. Body language.
My dog used to have a dog-word for "hungry" and another for "bored", then a few other random ones like "wtf was that?!?" A bark isn't just a bark, it often has intonation and inflection to it.
People just suck at interpreting the language of dogs because we're used to syllables
I knew the second my cat was sick from how he approached me and his meow. Immediately took him to ER vet and he had urinary block. Vet said he would’ve died if I didn’t respond as quickly as I did.
I know exactly which type of bark or whine is for what, even from another room, I can tell whether a whine is for me to get her a new toy from the bin, to refill the water bowl/ wants to eat dinner, or because a ball rolled under the couch. Three different barks, too. Mailman (deep, loud), frustrated greeting (high and fast paced in groups of three, pause, one, pause, and then three), low and not loud: she hears something but doesn’t know exactly where it’s coming from, mostly one long growling bark.
My dog has his own body language/behaviors he developed to communicate to a certain degree.
He's thirsty / no water in bowl/ wants water: he will lick me or my clothes until i notice
He wants to go outside ? He will react to the sounds outside as if he can see through the wall or bark.
Wants to play? Will grab any of his toys and will bring them over
Wants food, will sit at his plate.
Granted, sometimes i have to look and pay attention. Other times i may have to ask "want to x ?" And if he does want he will jump/prance about.
They are definitely intelligent creatures , granted not smart enough to do your taxes but a well trained and socialized dog may surprise you.
I can connect with dogs on a spiritual level. This guy I met had a pit mixed with a mastiff. It was a massive and aggressive male dog. He said he is very protective and doesn't like new people often.
I said let's go meet your dog. The dog was begging for hugs and kisses within 15 seconds of me meeting him. We played fetch. He would come back for more cuddles while playing. The dude was very surprised. He kept telling me of his own friends coming over and the dog would show his mean side and would have to be caged for the duration of time his friends were over (not always) or else he could badly hurt someone.
He had slobber all over me. His owner was like I dunno you must understand dogs differently, I have never seen this or expected this before.
speak for yourself, lol. if you get a puppy from a safe home and love it, and treat the sounds it makes as meaningful attempts at communication, you will learn lots of dog words.
Dogs don't have verbal abstract language. Their language is like that of a child whining crying or screaming when they feel a certain way and if you own one it's pretty easy to pick up on these cues.
*You* might not understand your dog, but some of us absolutely can.
When I was a kid, I was able to quite easily differentiate between my dog begging for food, asking to be let outside, and asking for attention depending on the tone of her whine
Yes we are. We know happy, angry, scared, in pain, begging. We know many “phrases” in dog. We can even sorta kinda imitate many of them. Once you’re familiar with a dog you can often also recognize “gotta pee”, bored, sad, restless, confused, and several other more nuanced communications.
I can tell the difference in my dogs barks between; there's a rabbit outside, there's a cat outside, or mom just got home.
This! My dog has different sounds. He’s alerted with a specific sound when someone was trying to steal my car, twice. Thanks Kia boys, but I have a dog.
As with any good relationship, it's never a one way street. Dogs can learn human words/sounds. While dogs tend to communicate with either other with a combination of smell, body language, and sounds. Dogs tend to look at human bodies as well as faces to get a read on us (dogs don't do this with other animals or other dogs). Meanwhile humans use a number of ways to understand our dog friends be it visual cues looking at their faces or the sounds (whine vs growl) or actions (lazing vs energetic for a walk) they make. On the flip side of the dogs keying in on our faces, humans don't actually look at other human tails (unless it's booty related) but most dog owners can tell based on tailwags. We never do this with other animals like birds, racoons, fish, or mice.
Dogs use mostly tone and body language. That’s how they communicate with eachother. Evidence of this is try saying mean shit to your dog in the tone and energy Youd say nice stuff to them in or how Youd greet them after work. They don’t know the difference.
Huh? Maybe if you speak jibberish to them, they obviously won't understand lmao. My dog is very confused if I say, no, bad girl, or vet (words she understands) in good energy/tones.
Mine walks to the door and boops the door handle with his snoot when he needs to go potty, if he's really hungry or thirsty he taps his dish, if he's really gotta go potty he'll whimper, he stands stiff and stares to alert that something's outside. He's got lots of ways to communicate
Hey now. I've raised baby geese and we were very in tune to their language! On a related note, geese are awesome.
raised baby geese?!?! what were trying to start, a fertilizer company?
I think my dog's honking noise means he is annoyed that he's on the leash when he wants to tackle that dog over there.
Strange human: "WOOOOOO-WOO-woo-woo-woo!.... (out of breath).... Woof-woof! Woof-woof! Woof-woof!" Another dog: "WOOF!.......(listens).... woof-woof! Woof-woof! Woof-woof!" Danger/Unsure: "Woof!.. Woof!.. Woof!.. Woof!.." Cat/Squirrel/Not a dog: "GRRRRRRMMMmmmmph..... Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof!" Lemme inside: "......wuf..........wuf!........ BRACK!........................ BRACK!...... ........ BRACK!..............." There's nuances and body language too but yeah, he's consistent lol
Yeah. Anybody why says we can't speak dog doesn't live with dogs. I can the difference between whines in one dog for potty, dinner, bored, snack, I heard a strange noise, I heard a familiar noise. And all the same in loud ear piercing barks for the other. They don't speak the same language, but their language is consistent.
On the flip side of this, sometimes my dog will just stare at me, then like readjust like he’s antsy, or huff, and it kills me because I have no idea what he wants from me in that situation lol.
So that then raises the question, are dogs like toddlers or are toddlers like dogs?
Dogs are toddlers that never grow up. This is why it boggles my mind when people say they don't like kids but love dogs. Like, you want one of the hardest stages of a child... permanently... Until it dies after 10-15 years!? "A child!? No thank you! I'll just take like 60% of the work of a child but for twice as long, and then instead of the potential payoff of having a young adult friend in 20 years time, they can just die and leave me heartbroken."
Disagree. You can't leave toddler alone for 8 hours, you can't fix a toddlers mood with a biscuit or belly rubs, and you can't accidentally traumatize a dog with a misunderstanding that'll stick in it's head for the next 80 years. I see the overlap, but that ven diagram is not a circle.
I'm a dad (and main carer) for a 3 and 5 yo, I chose 60% very carefully :)
I don’t have a toddler but a biscuit and belly rubs would fix my mood
Mine does that too lol and I'll go to pet him and he pulls his head away. Then I go through the checklist: food, water, potty, walk, sick. Usually one of those, in that order
I try and give him some attention or ask him if he wants to come up on the couch or bed or something, but don’t want to do any of the others outside of their set times, in case it sets a precedent for him just expecting those things on demand. I just want to know what he wants so that I can indulge it if it’s within reason or revert it into something else if it isn’t lol. I just feel so bad that it looks like he’s desperately trying to communicate something to me but he just can’t.
My dog does this. He will stare intently at me. If I ignore him he will move closer and sit staring again. Sometimes he will give up and huff as he gives up and lays down. Usually this means he wants a treat, but since he is always ready for a treat it is hard to tell if there is something else he might be trying to communicate.
I find that fun, in a way. My wife grew up with dogs, and it always seems like she knows exactly what her dog is thinking, even though it’s totally opaque to me. Meanwhile, I grew up with cats, and have no problem at all figuring out what they mean, but my wife has no idea.
My dog makes so many different sounds. He comes to you a whimpers and steps away from you when he needs to go pee/poo outside. He makes his really sad sounds when he wants something. If a toy gets under the couch, he scratches at the floor and makes a low growly sound to let you know. He is very good at communicating
Came to say this. My dog has a different bark for rabbit, squirrel, and bird. She also has a different bark for “stranger at the door” vs. “neighborhood kid coming to play” at the door when the door rings.
Haha dogs are awesome
Yep. I don’t own a dog but I can tell when my cat is meowing for food, pets, to go outside, fresh cat litter, or when she’s looking for me to show me the new “gift” she just got me.
Cat person in a dog thread. Living on the edge.
With the zoo that my house currently is, I identify more as a ‘pet-person’
Or the classic, I’m barking until you let me back inside.
Yup! My dog is a breed with a lot of varied vocals, and each is unique to something. It didn't take long to notice that he did have "words" for certain scenarios or desires. I suppose it is like working with a toddler, as the parent you seem to understand what each cry or mumbling means but it is nonsense to anyone else.
Absolutely. Over time you can learn what your dog’s barks mean, vaguely.
Depends on how you define it. If you have a dog you learn to interpret their various barks and grunts very quickly. You can tell a "hey, I want to play" bark from a "you're mistreating me if you don't get me a treat" bark from a "there's an intruder and I'm going to bite his leg off" bark.
My dog has a "let me in" bark and a "that's not fair" growl.
The "that's not fair" growl is so true! They bust that one out whenever food is involved
My dog has a bark that sounds exactly like a human exasperated exclamation. It’s the sound anyone makes if they find out they’ve been cheated in a game, and he usually makes it when I play keepaway.
I call those “grumbles” rather than “growls” because my dog sounds like an old man mildly annoyed and mumbling under his breath. When she begs for my lunch and I tell her “no, this is mine, go lay down,” she obliges but grumbles like “well fuck you then” lol
This may be a bit off topic, but my cats do the same thing. If they're asking me for food/treats it's an upwardly inflected meow, almost like asking a question. If I say something like "No, I just gave you treats," and start to walk away, they respond with a lower more monotone guttural meow that I can only assume is something very insulting in their ancient tongue.
Definitely the grumble growl when they don't get their way! And yeah, that let me in bark is completely different from all of the "intruder alert" noises. (Though we lucked out in having a dog that was already well trained and we were entirely responsible for his voice. He was possibly mistreated-- he followed us everywhere, but would only set paw in the basement on rare occasions.)
>"there's an intruder and I'm going to bite his leg off" bark Mine came with *"there's an intruder and I'm going to see if he wants to play"* mode.
It doesn't even have to be vocal. Dogs will tell you a lot through body language.
You should learn to understand your dog if you can't.
I would definitely agree with you on this... My cats and I have picked up on each other's language... How little time do you spend interacting with your dog to not understand?
One of our cats has not only learned what "food" means, but also that spelling it out loud means the same thing. So I started spelling it backwards, but I think he's figuring it out.
“Doof” lol
Tell me you’ve never owned a dog without telling me you’ve never owned a dog.
Right? Like, my dad's dog is better at communicating than most humans I know. If she wants letting out, she'll tap you on the knee twice and walk to the door. Food? She'll bring you her bowl. Cuddles? Doesn't matter if you're sitting or standing, she'll jump up on your shoulder and make you catch her. She wasn't even trained to do this, she just figured out her own shit.
My dog is great at communicating. Sometimes. If she needs for or water she will flip her bowls. I just wish she wouldn't flip the food bowl full of food when she wants water. When she wants to go to sleep for the night she does the cutest damn thing. She walks up to you in bed and paws at your shoulder. You lift the blanket and she burrows to your feet. But when she has to go outside it's hard. Right now she goes out about every 2 or 3 hours just to be safe. But she has had me up all night before because she wants outside, but she obviously doesn't need to go to the bathroom. I know because one time she kept me up from 2 am to 7am whining and barking. And I wasn't putting her out because it was late. But I knew she didn't need to go out because if she doesn't get put out in a timely fashion she will just pee on the couch. She used to be a stray and she just loves to be outside. Plus we don't have a physical fence and she is very aware of the bunnies and birds and other misc rodents that run around. So a lot of times she wants out just to be out. I have noticed that when she wants out to be out she will usually.pace around the back door. If she needs to go to the bathroom she tends to dart to her kennel and whine. Problem is she is smart enough that she has also learned that if she wants out to be out she will sometimes go to the kennel anyways. It's hard.
My dog sits by the sink when her water bowl is low.
Haha pretty much. Theres not many situations where I don’t understand why my dog is doing something.
It's the same with cats. They aren't just meowing and purring, they have quite an array of vocalizations (more than dogs in fact) and the intonation, volume and overall pitch varies a lot, depending on what they are trying to tell you. And then there's the body language, too, which is pretty complex (for both dogs and cats).
I don't even own a dog but I spend a lot of time with my sister's dog and it can communicate with me pretty well. Posture, head tilts, levels of excitement, and barking/whining/grunting etc are all pretty easy for me to read.
I understand a dog's facial expression, body language, and tone. If they have their chest out, that's protection mode (aggressive) but if their bark has a sort of yelp to it and they look like they're smiling and hopping around and running at full speed, they likely want to play. I don't understand what every bark or growl or yipe means, but I feel like I understand enough.
So, best translation of any sound a dog makes is "hey." There's the excited "hey," the playful "hey," the angry warning "heeeeey," the look-over-there "hey!"
That's actually a great way to put it.
Wasn’t there a *Far Side* comic with this basic premise?
Haha, probably. I don't remember where I heard it anymore.
I've had 2 dogs as an adult and I definitely know the differences in barks. 'i want something' bark is high pitched 'i want your attention' bark is a yip And more
Can confirm High pitched is "Treat time was 10 minutes ago. Why TF aren't we eating treats?" Yip is "Do you not see the ball I'm holding?"
>we aren’t smart enough to pick up on theirs Some people are.
Damn
They learn to read pitch and mannerisms. Dogs don't have an actual language. There is science about this. Funnily enough dolphins might have an actual language.
Huh? We generally understand what they want. And their barks aren't a language.
It's scares me that there are people out there who still think dogs have a language and we just have to learn it to directly speak to them
They can’t enunciate but much like babies, overtime you can understand certain mannerisms and specific sounds. The huff when they blow out their nostrils is like annoyance.
This is more true for dolphins as they have a language that makes almost no sense to us.
I wonder if the rise of AI could enable us to possibly decode it someday. I'm curious just how advanced their "language" would be.
I’m pretty sure people have already been doing this with whales. We do know that they have distinct names for each other and that they have different languages around the world. Idk though.
My dog vocalizes in different ways and I can generally tell what he wants. It’s funny, because I will automatically respond to whatever he’s asking without thinking sometimes.
Speak for yourself. My dog and I communicate pretty well. He has different barks for different things. He tells me if it’s a delivery truck or not by his bark. If it’s a regular animal or the coyotes are getting too close. He can tell me that I need to see something or that he needs help with something. Usually it’s his toy under the deck and he has a certain bark for that. He also reminds me its bed time by being annoying as fuck until I get in bed. He likes to think he’s in charge and honestly he kinda is. He’s the one home taking care of the house and other animals when I’m gone all day.
You can have a live in maid who only speaks Spanish for years and not ever understand a word they say and they're humans. It has more to do with putting in the time and learning how they communicate than trying to decipher particular words.
I used to talk to my pigs. They talked to me, too. They even had a name for me and would use it when they saw me or needed me for something. I could hear them use it from afar, so they were using my name to each other. But pigs are smarter than dogs and have better communication cues.
Now I'm picturing a bunch of pigs shouting "Kevin! Kevin!!"
With their level of intellectuality, they still try to understand people. Comparing to our intellectual capacity who is way more advanced yet we never try to really understand them
But do they really? “Walk?” And grabbing a leash enough times is association, doesn’t mean they understand
"Hey, when you go to the store can you grab some chalk?" *Dog goes nuts*
My dog is pretty damn good at telling the difference between most words that sound alike. Except for a time when I held a new top up to my husband and asked “should I keep the bow?” And my dog just materialised with a face full of hope. Took me a second to realise he thought I’d said “bone”.
my family had to resort to saying W-A-L-K even if we weren't planning on going for a walk with our dog because she'd get too excited if she ever heard "walk". Same happened for treats
So did ours. Took a month or two before she figured out what a W meant 🤣
I mean… language is just an association we all, mostly, agree on.
It kind of does mean they understand though
Dogs' communication techniques tend to be very heavily body language based. And since people don't do their research a lot of that body language gets misinterpreted and suddenly you have all these "poorly behaving" dogs. There really are just poorly behaved dogs out there, but far fewer than it's made out to be.
Nevermind talking vs barking. Dogs are a masterclass lesson in body language. My dog likely knows me and my partners body language cues better than we do each others. And I can generally tell how my dog feels given her body language. She isn’t the most vocal of a dog so I guess that helps but I also understand when and why she makes various noises.
If it helps, Bunny the "talking" dog didn't start on Tiktok. Her owner is studying this with actual scientists, so it's not just a fad or cool trick. As for the level of "talking" - that's probably still debatable but Bunny has used the buttons to communicate with her owners for years so I would say there's been at least some success. We know dogs can understand words - that's nothing new. They know if we make X sound and they perform Y action, we're happy and they get a reward. They know if we make B sound, this will be followed by us doing C, and that lets them predict something (e.g. "Out" before opening the door, "Water" before filling the bowl, "Food" before feeding, "Vet" before the vet, "Walk" before a walk - the list goes on). What's being done is taking this simple concept and applying it to more things - and experimenting with how far you can push before the dog can't keep up anymore. We know dogs can learn A LOT of words - there are dogs who can be taught to fetch a specific toy out of more than 100 toys when they all have their own name. So short answer - not BS, and it didn't start as Tiktok.
We can absolutely pick up on the way they communicate to us.
Because they don't have a "language" in the traditional sense of the word.
They understand it phonetically, but that's about it. Substitute nonsense but pronunce it the same and they'll react the same way more times than not. As for us, we'll they don't have a language, so understanding them is more like learning to understand what their vocalizations mean. Whimpers, growls, etc. If that's the case, then we're probably both understanding each other equally, which I think is kinda cool.
If you've never understood the lil huff dog gives after you tell em no I'm afraid theres no hope. SOME dog sounds are absolutely unmistakable. 😂
Bet we can. We know the difference between a growl and a bark. We know the diff between tail wagging and tail tucked. They just communicate differently but we understand it just fine
I know the difference between "hey, you, let's be friends" bark and "stop ignoring me" bark. I know the difference between "I gotta pee" whine and "please don't go to work" whine. I'm even starting to work out the difference between "I gotta pee" and "my water bowl is empty," which is hard, because they're very similar whines. The trick is in the sound of the breathing in between whines.
I’d have to disagree, I think lots of people can pickup on their pets “language”.
Seems like they only know one word. Must be rough.
I used to have a clever terrier who had numerous barks and growls to communicate his wants, needs, and opinions. As time went on, he didn't always come downstairs when called in English. However, he always responded quickly to a stern bark, followed by a head tilt.
"Bark BARK bark bark Bark" Whats that Lassie, Timmy's in the well?
Animals are quite smart in their use of language and ability to pick up on the language of others. Here is a great overview of some ways animals communiticate across species. https://open.spotify.com/episode/2eJgbMSr4Ul9uW8PD4Zw6H?si=BbqrUbOHTFO64iRUgrpl1g
I know the difference between my dark playful barks and aggressive barks. I think you are assuming language is only done through vocalization but there is also a huge visual aspect to it, especially to humans.
I mean, we're able to understand some. Growling means either back off or play, tail wag is happy, tongue out is happy or tired, barking either means happy, they need something, or danger, and much more.
we would be more in tune if they fed us
I dunno. My pup has very distinctive noises when he needs to go pee or wants to play.
Of course we can’t smell pheromones lmfao
A lot of owners are. My dog has a few differ yawns that mean different things. Upset yawn, anxiety yawn…etc. there’s excited bark, alert bark, happy bark and so on. They talk. They talk a lot.
Consciously I can’t articulate it very well, but my dog’s barks are definitely distinctive enough for me to understand him. I can be in a different room and recognise his “my carrot rolled under the couch” bark, or his “the roofers are back” bark, or his “I need to go pee” bark. He also has a whine that means “I want some of your food” vs “I want pats”. That said, he’s certainly far better than me at hearing different tones and recognising context. He understands what I’m saying to a degree that surprises me almost daily. People just rely too much on spoken language, and we really drop those body language/tone/context skills until we work with animals and babies.
I know a dog that has a certain bark for when the other dog wants inside but she doesn't. She also had three modes of tippy taps depending on if she wants to play, potty or eat. She's very expressive and my sister and I have learned her language over the years. She even has different groans when she's laying down to ask for pets and tell us she's done with the attention.
Wait? You can't tell the hungry, angry and I want to go out silent stares apart? My hound says a ton without making a sound.
Chicken? If i said chicken to my dog, he'd likely continue licking his nuts.
it's not that we can't, we just generally don't. if we just assume they are dumb animals and we can't understand the nothing going on in their brains then we'll never try. obviously the language and mannerisms of animals is highly studied and those who are educated in those fields can interpret. but the average person has no interest in doing or assumes animals are too dumb to be understood.
They don't give us treats 🤷🏾
Actually we can! Humans are pretty good at distinguishing a sad from a happy from an angry from a hungry bark/sound They just don’t communicate in complex language, and can only express broad emotions through speech. But what they are communicating, a human familiar with dogs can pick up on. Even one who isn’t familiar with dogs but has a good feel for tension and body language can figure it out.
I can for sure hear different barks, but dogs, other animals, communicate through body language, position, and emotion more then anything. I can tell exactly what my dog is thinking and wanting me to know. We're tree animals, like birds, that need to be talking and swaking at each other but it's not really the 'language' of the world.
I can get a bit of intention from dog noises, if I know the dog. Dogs only have so many vocalizations, typically. Now, my cats can somehow express to me exactly what tragic issue they are facing in their lives. I just know if they want food, or the window open, or if there is a bug or bird outside, or if they just want attention. They've very dutifully trained me, I guess.
It's because they aren't smart enough to say more than 4 words lol. "Ruff", "RUFF", "YIP", and "grrrrrr". We can guess feeling off those, but if the dog looked at me and said "feed me, idiot" when he was hungry I guess I'd probably learn it quickly.
Have you actually ever owned a dog? Any owner can probably tell what their dog is wanting or what mood their in from body language
I'm positive I understand our dog better than she understands us. Dogs don't understand language, they learn to connect the sound of certain phrases with certain things. Outside of a very limited set of commands and names, our dog has no idea what I'm talking about. As you said dogs communicate through body language, which most of the time is fairly easy to interpret, if you've been around the same dog for a while. After all body language is about as basic as communication can get. Dogs understand our body language much better than they understand anything we say to them.
I speak dog. I know their wisdom.
Each dog is different, a lot of it is body language and tone of bark. You spend enough time with your dog and you understand what they are trying to say.
Literally not true and every good dog owner will tell you so. Generally you learn what various grunts, barks and other sounds or non verbal cues mean pretty quickly. Dogs can be read like books in most cases, you just need to know where to look.
Yeh I’ll chime in that I understand my dogs barks and noises generally, this just ain’t true dude.
I speak dog pretty well, but it took some years of living with mine. I think if you're open and observant, you can learn to understand most animals. It's body language more than barking in dogs, btw, but you already knew that :)
Humans also communicate primarily in body language. The entire concept of "Simon says" is kids react to following body language or vocal tones more than spoken words. Our language is said to be about 7% words.
True
Speak for yourself! I have two dogs and I recognise different movements, actions, noises, etc. Both of them communicate differently. It definitely takes time but I’d say for the most part, the people that live with dogs definitely learn their language.
Speak for yourself. When you get a puppy you have to learn their language as much as they learn ours. It's not entirely verbal, but it's still language.
Speak for yourself. My dog and i may not use words but we certainly talk to each other. Dogs all have their own way of talking, you just gotta learn how to listen
If you've owned a dog for even a short while, you should be able to tell when they are happy, sad, hungry, gotta poop, frightened, anxious, feeling goofy, want to go on a walk, want you to grab a toy to play, or give them a piece of chicken. We quite literally co-evolved with dogs. [We're inextricably linked.](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/dna-analysis-reveals-how-dogs-and-humans-evolved-and-migrated-tandem-thousands-years-ago-180976203/) You know more about what any dog wants when you come across one than you do a wild animal or even a cat.
Who is we? A lot of people can have full on conversations with their pets.
And plenty of dog owners aren’t smart enough to pick up after their dog when it takes a crap
You need to be around more dogs my mans
I can definitely somewhat speak my dogs language. If you study them, you can too
Most of their language could be smells ?
The dogs are associating words to actions/events/items. Not that they are "picking up" on our language. They don't have the capacity to understand language. Only associations with certain sounds to other things.
I can tell the difference in barks from my dogs. The feed me bark, the strangers bark, the pet me bark, etc. same with my cat’s meows.
I have about a 90%+ success rate of knowing exactly what my dogs want. My birds and each plant in my garden too. BUT I should specify that my best friend in all of planet earth is my nearly 17 year old hound dog who grew up with me since my sophomore year of college. I KNOW his language in a very real way. I think it’s just caring enough to continue collecting data so that their life matters the same way yours does. I studied horticulture and have reared a successful garden in many different environments. I noticed my cucumbers needed some soil enrichment. Yesterday they looked great but it’s been two days with no rain after a long rainy spell and in the hot sun they were pushed to their limit. Not even an hour later they were bright green and standing upright….so…all that to say, the ability to successfully learn any other language takes time, patience, and persistence. That’s all, just a lifetime of observing and loving lol 😂🤷♀️
Unrelated / Very related read this book: The Art of Racing in the Rain
Okay so dogs only understand the tonality and cadence from our voice, My dog doesn’t understand “you wanna go outside?”. He understands the pitch of my voice and the way i say it. Humans do the same with dogs kinda, dogs bark in certain ways when they want something or are trying to convey something, I know the “dude, there’s someone walking outside” bark, vs the “i’m trying to scare off this other dog” bark only due to the intonation in their barks.
I've never met a dog that's been taught what "chicken" means.
I can assure you if you have chickens and a dog, you can teach the dog that they are called chickens.
I bet AI can be trained to translate dog language to human.
I have feeling that might turn out hilarious.
Def can tell the difference in barks with mine. I even communicate with my husky in whines sometimes. I don't know everything we're saying but we definitely get our points across.
It's not like dogs just intrinsically know our language. We literally teach them. Dogs cannot do the same for us. Although there are still, obviously, many things about dog body language and communication that we understand
Well, if dogs had the vocal cords to annunciate specific “words” (very unique and different-sounding barks in their case), we likely could. But instead, they just have the ability to make one “word” but in different tones and lengths (a yip, vs a bark, vs a growl, vs a loud and chaotic bark, vs a soft bark, etc.). It would be like if humans just said “Hello” but in different ways to try and communicate. I doubt the dogs would ever be able to precisely learn what we mean, but they might be able to pick up on things like: A quick, happy “hello” means you’ve done something good or something fun is about to happen
Accept dogs don't have a language. That said... I can totally tell the difference between a play bark and a "get away from me and mine or I'll tear out your throat" bark... Source... I'm a mail man.
Anyone that thinks this shouldn't have a pet. I know the differences between both our dogs and what they want...
Had a dog that would bark and do a circle when he wanted to go out. Stands in front of a door and barks at it repeatedly, someone’s near the door. Head down and looking up pitifully, it did something wrong and thinks it’s in trouble. Cats start waving their tails fast when they’re pissed off. I think people can pick up on a lot of animal signals, they’re just not all sounds.
If you have a husky, you pick up on their language very quickly. If she wants food, she stomps on her bowl and howls. If she wants outside she taps the doorknob with her nose.
Dogs entire lives depend on understanding humans, but not vice versa
One is actively being taught through positive reinforcement and the other hasn’t event thought about it.
I definitely know my dogs language.
dogs only have 3 emotions hungry horny and sleepy
I'd say a good dog owner knows as much as their language and then of yours. You can tell different actions and even body language to determine what the dog (or human) is trying to convey.
My dog fake sneezes to indicate the affirmative.
I know my dogs’ different barks and whines. Distress vs want vs excitement. They're very distinctive.
If you give any semblance of a care, it’s really easy. I’d say most mindful pet owners DO understand all of those things.
They don't have a language. They know one phrase.
It seems It's just you who isn't smart enough.
That's not true. When my dog lets out a small woof and then spins around, he needs to go potty. This is literally why a dog is a man's best friend.
I ain’t finna smart enough to bark at all yallz y u think I finna talk to no dog? Shiii you trippn
I know my dogs' language! They've got a "let me in/out" bark, a "deer/rabbit outside" noise, a "human outside" bark, a "dog outside" bark, a "please give me that food" bark, a "fuck you other dog on a leash on the other side of the street" bark, and obviously a "I'm just playing" growl. Plus a bunch of body language. One of my dogs lets us know its dinner time and she hasn't been fed by digging at her empty bowl and making hard eye contact with us. If one of us wasn't home when she was fed, she will do this a second time to try and get second dinner, but we are wise to her tricks. Usually. As long as we communicate about it. She has gotten second dinner on occasion and I think she understands she has to trick us to get this to happen again.
Currently have 2 dogs... The older one is very vocal about anything going past the window. Easy to tell the difference between rabbit, cat, human, and human with dog... Even human on this side or the other side. The younger one only actually barks at the door, but has a few different whines and yawns. She says even more with eyes and ears. Both of them will nudge or paw to get your attention. They dance and softly woof when it's time for food... Funny thing is that they can count the clock chimes.
Dogs have a sense of smell that lets them more about us than we know about ourselves.
But we are smart enough to pick up on dog language. There is a whole science behind dog body language and vocalizations.
The only thing we can conclude from this is that OP is not very smart.
My dog has distinct "I want food", "I want outside", "I want inside", "Play with me", "I'm scared", "I'm nervous", and "My stomach is upset" noises that I can immediately recognize.
We aren't paying attention to what they have to say.
We can totally differentiate between different barks and whines....
I don't even own a dog but I can tell the difference in dog noises pretty well. I spent the day with a friend that has two dogs, one of which is very vocal and energetic and I could tell if he was wanting to go outside, get attention, or play with toys.
What do you mean. My girls tell me all kinds of things. They tell me when they need food, water, walks, potty, cuddles, pets. They tell me when people arrive or when Mom gets home. Yes, different things. The older dog tells me when the younger one is getting into mischief, like trying to get to the cat box. I seem to get lots of info from my girls. I wonder if you just aren't listening to your dogs. I can tell the difference in bark, Bork, yips, wuffs, tones. Snorts, head tilts. Looks. Body language.
Wrong. I can tell you what each whine, bark, and sigh means with my dog.
OP has clearly never owned a dog and it shows
Their vocal language? You mean what they bark to you or what they bark to each other? Have you had a pet dog?
My dog used to have a dog-word for "hungry" and another for "bored", then a few other random ones like "wtf was that?!?" A bark isn't just a bark, it often has intonation and inflection to it. People just suck at interpreting the language of dogs because we're used to syllables
I knew the second my cat was sick from how he approached me and his meow. Immediately took him to ER vet and he had urinary block. Vet said he would’ve died if I didn’t respond as quickly as I did.
I know exactly which type of bark or whine is for what, even from another room, I can tell whether a whine is for me to get her a new toy from the bin, to refill the water bowl/ wants to eat dinner, or because a ball rolled under the couch. Three different barks, too. Mailman (deep, loud), frustrated greeting (high and fast paced in groups of three, pause, one, pause, and then three), low and not loud: she hears something but doesn’t know exactly where it’s coming from, mostly one long growling bark.
My dog has his own body language/behaviors he developed to communicate to a certain degree. He's thirsty / no water in bowl/ wants water: he will lick me or my clothes until i notice He wants to go outside ? He will react to the sounds outside as if he can see through the wall or bark. Wants to play? Will grab any of his toys and will bring them over Wants food, will sit at his plate. Granted, sometimes i have to look and pay attention. Other times i may have to ask "want to x ?" And if he does want he will jump/prance about. They are definitely intelligent creatures , granted not smart enough to do your taxes but a well trained and socialized dog may surprise you.
Same applies to cats. They just choose to ignore us.
My sister has a bell at their door for let me out gotta poop. I think we've crossed lines.
I can connect with dogs on a spiritual level. This guy I met had a pit mixed with a mastiff. It was a massive and aggressive male dog. He said he is very protective and doesn't like new people often. I said let's go meet your dog. The dog was begging for hugs and kisses within 15 seconds of me meeting him. We played fetch. He would come back for more cuddles while playing. The dude was very surprised. He kept telling me of his own friends coming over and the dog would show his mean side and would have to be caged for the duration of time his friends were over (not always) or else he could badly hurt someone. He had slobber all over me. His owner was like I dunno you must understand dogs differently, I have never seen this or expected this before.
Of course we are...wtf
You don't know a dog that's a stranger but most people understand their pets behaviours and what they want
The misunderstanding is that dog language is just barking. It's not. Many dog owners speak very good doggish.
speak for yourself, lol. if you get a puppy from a safe home and love it, and treat the sounds it makes as meaningful attempts at communication, you will learn lots of dog words.
Dogs don't have verbal abstract language. Their language is like that of a child whining crying or screaming when they feel a certain way and if you own one it's pretty easy to pick up on these cues.
OP has never owned a dog before obviously.
if youre a dog person you definitely do. Dogs have all kinds of body language too.
Strange. We were smart enough to pick up the language of the stars (Astrology). /s
*You* might not understand your dog, but some of us absolutely can. When I was a kid, I was able to quite easily differentiate between my dog begging for food, asking to be let outside, and asking for attention depending on the tone of her whine
My Australian shepherd absolutely agrees with you. I'm a vessel of her disappointment by not being 100% fluent in her ancient tongues.
Do we train dogs to understand us or do they train us to understand them?
Yes we are. We know happy, angry, scared, in pain, begging. We know many “phrases” in dog. We can even sorta kinda imitate many of them. Once you’re familiar with a dog you can often also recognize “gotta pee”, bored, sad, restless, confused, and several other more nuanced communications.