My Dog Talks, Does Yours?

Scientific American has an article discussing the fact or fiction of dogs talking. The scientific answer, of course, is no, dogs don't talk. Dogs imitate, sometimes... like Scooby - we all know he can talk but...it's not real speech. It's cartoon speech which just sounds like talking.

Thing is, the question isn't can dogs talk; the question is, do they speak English (or German or French or whatever language you speak)? Isn't it?

Emily, our Treewalker Hound Dog, talks all the time. Mind you... she doesn't yet speak English...and may never be able to master English (hey, it's tough even for those of us who use it every day)...but she speaks dog and she desperately wishes we understood 'dog.'

How do I know she's talking? Well, she only talks when she really, really, really wants our attention. She looks straight at us and barks a message. Her goal is to get us to do something, usually it's to take her for a walk. Once in awhile it's to feed her - usually because Chester wants dinner. Yes, she helps Chester out that way. [cartoon from the New Yorker - click on the image]

I am convinced Emily wants to be a person. She doesn't just want to be with us and love us and hear us call her family, she wants to be family. To that end, she tries to talk to us...her language isn't the language we're used to, though. We have to pay attention to her actions to figure out what she's saysing. Which is exactly what she does with us, of course. She understands the common words and phrases, "Good dog!" and, "walk... lie down...sit...stop it!..." She also understands commands she pretends she doesn't understand.

But, I can see her sidelong glance, her looking at us with those big yes, her turning her head as if she can't hear us...and I know she's not only paying attention, she knows exactly what we want. She chooses not to give it to us.

So, to the scientific community I say, "My dog talks. I'm sorry if your dog doesn't talk. No, my dog doesn't speak English and may never speak English, to the level I do. But, she talks to me in her own voice, in her own way, and I am learning to understand her. After all, you wouldn't say Russian people can't talk...just because you don't understand what noises are coming out of their mouths, would you? Well, would you?"

There is more to this than meets the ear, folks. 

Does your dog talk? Just look at th is face and tell me at least her eyes are talking. That's our Emily!

Comments

[Helen McMullin]

All of our dogs have talked, to one degree or another, but none as much as Maggie, our bull terrier. She had a variety of vocal sounds that left no doubt about what she wanted, or felt, even if you were in the living room and couldn't see she was leaning against the oven (on) trying to see inside. She could spell, too. I'm sure there's a perfectly good scientific explanation how "dumb" animals read our body language and voice inflections, but I prefer to think that we just need to work on our translation skills.