Why we say “Good dog!” to our pooches
We often say the same sweet, nonsensical things to our dogs that we say to our babies—and in almost the same slow, high-pitched voice. Now, scientists have shown that puppies find our pooch-directed speech exciting, whereas older dogs are somewhat indifferent. The findings show, for the first time, that young dogs respond to this way of talking, and that it may help them learn words—as such talk does with human babies.
To find out how dogs reacted to human speech, Nicolas Mathevon, a bioacoustician at the University of Lyon in Saint Étienne, France, and his colleagues first recorded the voices of 30 women as they looked at a dogs photograph and read from a script, “Hi! Hello cutie! Whos a good boy? Come here! Good boy! Yes! Come here sweetie pie! What a good boy!” (The scientists were afraid the women would ad lib if they spoke to a real dog.) The women also repeated the passage to a person.
When the scientists compared the human- and dog-directed speech, they found that, as expected, the women spoke in distinctive, high-pitched, sing-song tones to the pooches—but not the humans. “It didnt matter if it was a puppy or an adult dog,” Mathevon says. But the women did speak at an even higher pitch when looking at puppy photos.
Next, the researchers played these recordings in short trials with 10 puppies and 10 adult dogs at a New York City animal shelter and videotaped their responses. Nine of the puppies reacted strongly, barking and running toward the loudspeaker even when the recording had been made for an older dog, the team reports today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Some even bent toward the loudspeaker in a play bow, a pose meant to initiate horseplay, suggesting they may regard dog-directed speech as “an invitation to play,” Mathevon says. The puppies were less interested in the recordings of the women speaking to the person. And the adult dogs? “They didnt care at all,” Mathevon says. It made no difference if they heard speech directed at puppies, older dogs, or humans. “They had a quick look at the speaker, and then ignored it.”
A dog listening to puppy talk.
Mario Gallego-Abenza
The scientists arent sure why the adult dogs were so disinterested. It may be that they need to interact with an actual person, not a disembodied voice, or that they need to hear a familiar voice, Mathevon says. But for the puppies, the womens exaggerated, high-pitched, dog-directed speech served a purpose: “It got their attention,” says Mathevon, who thinks this way of talking may help them learn words, just as our baby talk helps human infants learn language. Other research, however, disputes this idea.
Still, the study shows that even in our speech “we care for and treat dogs of all ages like human infants,” which is likely “an important part of their success in human environments,” says Monique Udell, an animal behaviorist at Oregon State University in Corvallis who was not involved with the work.
The scientists dont yet know whether puppies have an innate response to dog-directed speech or whether it is something they learn. It will also take further study to figure out whether the words in dog-directed speech mean something more to the puppies, or whether it helps them learn words. In the meantime, when you speak doggy to your puppy, be sure youre ready to play.
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If dogs had a super power, it would be hearing
If you’re a dog owner who enjoys talking to your dog, have you ever wondered how much he really understands? We all know that dogs have a keen sense of hearing and hear better than we do. Dogs hear nearly twice as many frequencies as humans. They can also hear sounds four times further away — so what human ears can hear from 20 feet away; our dogs can hear from 80 feet away.
Even though our dogs can hear better than we can, do they understand what they’re hearing?
Two studies, one published in the journal Current Biology and the other in Science, conclude that the answer is yes! Your dog might not understand everything you say, but he listens and pays attention similar to the way humans do. The researchers discovered that dogs — like humans — respond not only to the words we say to them, but also to the emotional tone of our voices.
So, why do dogs hear better than humans? The ears of dogs are controlled by up to 18 muscles while humans are equipped with only six and can only move their ears slightly, if at all. Thus dogs can tilt and rotate their ears to funnel the sound into the inner ear more efficiently. In addition, the shape of some dog breeds ears are such that they amplify the sound. The canine ear canal is considerably longer than in humans. Muscles allow it to finely tune the position of this ear canal so that it can localise a sound, hear it more accurately and from farther away.
Dogs have much more sensitive hearing than humans, hearing sounds four times farther away than we can. They can hear higher frequency sounds, can more easily differentiate sounds (e.g. they may recognise the sound of your car) and they can pinpoint the exact location of the sound.
Dogs can hear sounds of up to 50,000 vibrations per second (50,000Hz). A dog whistle usually creates a sound at greater than 20,000 Hz which explains why dogs respond to a dog whistle while it appears silent to us.
But, before you get carried away in awe of your canine friend, a cat’s hearing is even better. Cats are equipped with 30 ear muscles and are especially adapted to differentiate different sounds. So yes, they do know when you have opened the cupboard door which contains their food even if they’re in the sitting room at the time. And, this explains how you can summon a cat just by shaking their treat bag, even if they’re three doors down hanging out in your neighbour’s backyard.
If you suspect you are suffering from hearing loss, or are interested in trialling hearing aids, give us a call on 8331 8047 to book a FREE appointment.