May 2008 Weddings
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? for animal parents
I got this crazy idea for a paper. I want to write a paper about communication between owners and their pets. So far my topic includes: animal training, whether animals actually are communicating with us, and how people just randomly talk to their animals like its another person (well I do at least).
Can you think of any other reasons you talk to your furbaby? If you talk to them like they're humans, what situation do you do it in?
My prof is way into his dog and I think he'll actually like this topic if I can make it good.
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Updated 9-2-12
Re: ? for animal parents
Oh gees, we talk to Bretta all the time. Sometimes we talk to her because she knows what specific words mean. Examples:
Do you want to go for a walk?
Do you need to go out? (if we're at another house that doesn't have a dog door she'll go to the door to be let out to do her business)
Are you hungry?- Clearly this one doesn't matter since we feed her twice a day at the same times but she gets excited and runs around the house when she knows it's coming and we think its cute
Do you want a treat? (she runs over to the cabinet where we keep the treats)
Other times are if she is sitting by herself (she sits with or on us about 90% of the time we're home so if she's not around us its strange.) We also just talk to her randomly, point things out (look the baby's moving!) and ask her how her day was.
Now I feel nuts! Hahaha
Tell me that isn't communication LOL.
yes, this is a real thing, they communicate all the time. We talk to pearl (me especially) like she's "a people" (as we say it).
I think it's more the way we say certain things, the tone, etc. She communicates with her paw up (i call it punching)- or doing the sittin' pretty trick - both say "hey pay attention to me!!"
"wanna go outside? or wanna potty?" her ears pop up at attention, and when she's curious they go back.....etc etc.
She also does a grunting/moan thing when she's laying down and bored...like "hey guys, let's do something!" and of course she wines when one of us leaves....and runs to the door when we get her leash, she'll jump up on dad when he has the leash (cuz she knows he's too lazy to bend over)...when we say "get in your cage" she goes right in, plus if she sees me at my vanity she'll go in her cage cuz she knows i'm getting ready to leave soon...smarty pants....
Pets are full of non-verbal communication...that's what makes us love them so much! This seems like a really fun paper to write. I'm sure you can find a ton online to back up your theory!
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Not only do we talk to our cats, but we talk as them so they'll "talk" back to us or each other.
The thing that I think is left off this list is talking to a pet when it's done something wrong. We are forever yelling at Jackson to leave his sister alone. We yell at him WAY more than I'd ever yell at a kid b/c he seems to be unaffected unless you yell really loudly right in his face. (We're trying to replace it with clapping - it seems to be working b/c it scares him out of attacking her).
I definitely think that pets communicate with us. I'm trying to fit it into a stricter definition of what is called verbal behavior. Definition: "behavior which is effective only through mediation of other persons." Which I feel like most of the examples you guys gave fits that definition.
I'll definitely include talking to them when they've done something wrong. Both Herc and Sunny respond to me yelling "get down!" when one is in trouble. That probably falls under animal training.
I dont always think its the words they understand but the tone of voice combined with body language. For instance when I come home and Raven is all happy to see me I can ask her " Have you been a bad girl today?" in an upbeat baby talk voice and she will just continue to lick away. Or I can saw it with me hands on my hips, voice raised in a stern voice and she will run and cower. However on the other side of this I can be talking on the phone and say " I went to see grandmom yesterday" and she will spring off her dog bed and be bouncing at the front door b/c she thinks my mom is coming over.
We do this too and Bruno is totally a potty mouth
We talk to Bruno all the time (especially me). When I am home alone or in the room alone with him I will just ramble on to him. He loves it when I talk to him. He definitely understands certain things we say to him. He is a bit of a grumpy old man sometimes so when we tell him "Tell him/her about it" or "Let him/her know"when he is upset he will grumble away at us or bark. He also knows what breakfast and dinner mean and gets super excited when we say those words.
Bruno is also fairly weird that he makes a lot of grunting noises. When we rub his ears or pet him he will have a specific low grunt. It is almost like a cat purring sometimes. When he is in another room and can't get to us he also grunts really loud and deep to let us know that he is out there and upset that he isn't with us. On top of that he effectively communicates with us with huffing. When we aren't paying attention to him and he wants us too he will come running up to us excited and if that doesn't work to get us to abandon what we are doing he will huff loudly at us and either throw himself down to the floor or storm out of the room. Basically he is little drama queen.
Can you think of any other reasons you talk to your furbaby? If you talk to them like they're humans, what situation do you do it in?
In addition to the reasons listed (and, yes, I talk to her all the time, like she's human), I add:
I talk to her during stressful situations (stressful for her) to calm her down-- like at the vet or during a really severe thunderstorm. I'll also give her little pats to calm her and help her feel safe/secure (at least that's what I think/hope it does).
I also talk/sing to her for "fun". She loves upbeat music. Seriously. I swear. If I put Single Ladies on, she'll stop what she's doing and wag her tail. Same thing for pretty much any dance music-- even '70s. It's funny b/c I don't dance and/or particularly like dance music (H, who likes both, has a huge collection). Anyway, I'll put it on and 'talk'/'sing' to her and, often, dance with her too (she'll jump up-- a rarity-- she NEVER jumps).
H does this all the time with Raven. She thinks its a game. They rock out to Bruce Springsteen all the time.
Already got the tone of voice thing covered as well! I thought of that today while at work.
Talking to your pets when you're stressed or just need to talk doesn't fall into the technical definition of what I'm writing about. Its self-talk and falls into a different category.There's so many things to think about on what actually is considered verbal behavior and what isn't. It hurts my head!
I'm sorry, I meant talking to the dog when the dog is stressed out in order to calm/relax the dog (you know, like during a storm or something). Not trying to clam myself down
, but actually trying to communicate to her that she's safe/secure and doesn't need to be afraid of the thunder (or the vet's office or whatever).
Really cool topic though! GL!