Thursday, July 7, 2016

Do You Talk To Your Pet?

   How many times a day do you have this conversation?
Your spouse/child: “Did you say something?” 
You: “I was talking to the dog.” 
   I am not ashamed to say that this scenario is played out between Bentley, Pierre, my husband Skipper, and myself several times a day. We both speak to the dogs just like we talk to each other. No squeaky voices, no baby words. We speak to them as we would any other member of the family. Does that make us weird? I don’t think so, but then again, I’m the one carrying on conversations with a Basset Hound and a Westie.
The question is, “Do our dogs communicate with us?”  We offer the following proof.
M. K. Clinton with her Basset Hound Bentley
Bentley: “Excuse me, Mom? Are you seriously going to write a post about whether I communicate with you? Let me ask you something, how do you know when I need to use the outdoor facilities?
Me: “You go to the back door and whack the blinds. I’ve been meaning to ask you why you won’t ring the bells. That’s what they are hanging there for, you know.”
Bentley: “Yeah, I know. The bells are Pierre’s thing. I find making the blinds sound like someone is busting through the door to be more effective for me. It’s a personal choice and it is communicating. How do you know when I am hungry?”
Me: “If I happen to be a few minutes late in serving your meal, you climb on me, making it impossible for me to work, and at times, difficult to breath.”
Bentley: “Does it relay the message to you that I am on the brink of starvation? Once I allow you to breath, don’t you go fetch my dinner? That’s communication!
Me: “You don’t leave me much of a choice. It is hard to ignore you when you’re on top of me.”
Bentley Basset Hound with leash on Let's walk meme
Bentley: “Let’s say I want to go for my walk. How do you know that is what I want?”
Me: “That’s easy! You go stick your head in the leash box and then give me ‘the look.’ Dad said that you told him where your ball was the other day.”
Bentley: “Oh my gosh! That was an epic example of communication skills! He had gotten down on the floor to play a game of tug-o-war. However, I had recently gotten a fresh sniff of my long-lost 'Basset' ball, which had rolled under your chest of drawers. This was my chance to have dad grab it. That’s a problem with having these short arms; I just don’t have the reach.”
Me: “He said that you crawled over and stuck your nose under the dresser.”
Bentley Basset Hound with basketball in his mouth
Bentley: “That’s right. I knew he’d be curious when I didn’t immediately jump on the game of tug. I stuck my nose under the opening and then gave him ‘the look.’ It was all very dramatic. I may have whined and pawed like Lassie whenever Timmy fell into the well. *He didn’t, but he loves to embellish. Dad quickly came over to see what I was trying to show him.”
Me: “That’s when I walked in to see what y’all were doing. I saw Dad pull the 'Basset' ball out and your tail was swishing like a metronome. That’s when your dad told me, “He just asked me to get his ball out from under the dresser!” You tell us stuff everyday but this was different. When you show us something out of the ordinary, it lets us know that you understand the art of communicating. It’s very impressive.”
Bentley sitting up at my desk
Bentley: “All animals communicate; it is up to you humans to learn our languages. Dogs communicate to anyone that knows how to listen. I believe this is a ground-breaking discovery. Do you think this makes me eligible for a Nobel Prize of some sort?"
Me: “You probably shouldn't work on an acceptance speech just yet.”
Bentley: “Well, I can't be expected to ad-lib a showstopping speech. Just sayin'. Anyway, if you’d please move your laptop, I need to cut off your air supply until you feed me.”
Me: “I think that we've proven our point. You should be talking to your dog. They really get it!”
Do you talk to your dog or cat in your regular voice or a baby voice?




28 comments :

  1. I talk with Easy every day... about politics, what to wear and about all girl-stuff things... I get no answer but sometimes he rolls his eyes... think that means something LOL

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  2. Mom does talk to us quite a bit and in a normal voice, except when we are snuggling or receiving praise, then it is more of a baby voice. When we are working or our walking, she tries not to talk to us as human jibber jabber disrupts a dog's thought process. We heard this and have tested the idea and it seems to hold true!

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  3. Claire and Momo talk to us all the time, and we answer ! We talk to them too : they know the difference between our meows (I'm hungry, let's play, I'm going to puke, I feel alone, where is my brofur/sisfur, ...), and are pretty good at reading our body language. Sometimes they use baby talk, sometimes they use regular talk with us. Purrs

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  4. I talk to Schooner and Skipper everyday. No baby talk normal voice. They know when it is time to eat, go to bed, walk, or it's time to get off the couch and walk me outside to watch me pee and help you water the flowers for you. (We have a doggie door they can go in and out whenever they need to.) Schooner loves to smell the flowers while he is watering. So glad I am not the only one talking to my dogs. I always tell them mommy will be back soon I am going to the store or work and to be good. Schooner is very vocal and it sounds like he is talking if we don't jump up and do want he wants. Our lives with our dogs are very interesting and they are family.

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  5. I talk to Rooney every single day. I always tell him when I leave for work "Have a good Rooney day!" and I ask him when I get home "How was your day Rooney?", etc. etc. Rooney and I have long conversations :)

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  6. Our mom YAKS and YAKS at us all the time... MOSTLY BORING STUFFS, though. Except fur when she says SNACKS SUPPER PEE PEE time Let's go Beddie bye SNACKS go get your BALL SNACKS
    we are going Bye Bye SNACKS or SQUIRREL.

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  7. Haha, Sam and I converse non-stop about the complexities of life. But apparently I'm not very good at Doglish 101 according to Sam. :)

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  8. Mom holds more conversations with us than people
    Lily & Edward

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  9. I think our peeps talk to us more dan dey do each other! Well eggscept my momma and Crockett's momma - dey is ALWAYS talking. We get da regular voice a lot, but we get da baby voice when we is gettin speshul pets or somefin.

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  10. Our mom talks to us all the time! She uses her regular voice cuz that is how we learned English.

    Your Pals,

    Murphy & Stanley

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  11. Fabulous! I laughed out loud at that last picture. I think it's marvelous how our dogs communicate with us, and feel I could move right in and talk to yours since is the same here. DH often turns to me and asks, "what does he want?" about Cole who then turns to look at me and send thought waves. I always know...
    LeeAnna

    ps whaat is thoughtless thursday? A party? I went to her blog but nothing for today

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    1. Hi there! Thoughtless Thursday is a weekly blog hop that I co-host with Ruckus the Eskie and Love is being owned by a Husky. We did not have a code for this week to link. Sorry. ☺

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  12. OMD how CUTE is this? Love it! Ohhhh yesss I talk to both of my boys....most times I talk in a normal voice, but there ARE times I talk to them in a baby voice too (sorry!!!) I am ALWAYS saying to my husband "I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to Dakota" :)
    DakotasDen

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  13. Oh golly yes! Mom & Dad both talk to us both ways - mostly normal voices. And we are very good at communicating too. When it gets to be about 8:30 -9:00pm we let them know it is time for dessert!
    hugs
    Mr Bailey, Hazel & Mabel

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  14. Yes, "I was talking to the dog" is a sentence often heard around here too! Like Emma said, I talk in a normal voice except sometimes when we're snuggling or I'm giving praise I do use a baby voice.
    Luke uses his paws just like Bentley does to get his point across, sometimes when he's hungry, and also when he's telling us he wants some attention (specifically a belly rub). :)
    Jan, Wag 'n Woof Pets

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  15. The mom talks to us like we're regular people. And sometimes we even answer her back! But in cat...not in English, of course. ;)

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  16. Mom talks to me like I'm just another human in the house. I understand every word she says. I do not have a lot of communication skills. I mostly wait for things to happen. I am not much of a problem solver. That's what I have Mom for...

    Love and licks,
    Cupcake

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  17. I talk in a normal voice to Laika, and admittedly it's a lot more than might be considered "average" lol.

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  18. Both my mom and dad talk to me and I love the attention!!! ;)

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  19. We talk with Gracie and Zoe all the time. And they talk right back ... especially Zoe!

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  20. We soooo talk to our pack. Most of the time in regular voices!

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  21. Girl I talk to these pugs all day! I have no life! Lol

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  22. Loved this post! We both talk to the dogs constantly and usually in our regular voices. We also run into the "I was talking to the dog" at least a couple of times per day!

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  23. Our mom AND dad BOTH talk weird to us. Except for Allie, because for some WEIRD reason, THEY think she's, like, MATURE and stuffs. *eyeroll* ~ Faraday

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  24. Oh definitely, I always have discussions with my dogs! Usually in baby talk, they love that. We're amazed at how well our dogs not only communicate with us but I swear they can read our minds!
    Love & biscuits,
    Dogs Luv Us and We Luv Them

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  25. Hahaha. When I am explaining to my dog that the sooner she poops the sooner we can go in out of the rain, and a neighbor comes around the corner and catches me, I somehow feel like talking to a dog is not a grown-up thing to do.
    With love Petbounce care

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