Understand what dog saying by carefully listening to the barking
A few days ago I heard a very interesting story on public radio about dogs "talking" through their barking. The man being interviewed claimed he could understand what his dog was saying by carefully listening to the barking. Do you know about this? Have you any information? Do you know of any books on this topic?
Dogs have their own language in which they communicate using eye contact, facial gestures, body postures and vocalizations. They vocalize in different tones and volumes specific to various triggers, which possibly could be interpreted correctly by someone who really knew dogs in general and the individual dogs doing the vocalizing in particular. Perhaps this man is interpreting tones of barking and relating them to different types of stress or stimuli to which the dogs are reacting, such as territoriality, greeting, separation, excitement, etc., and he's not putting actual human "words" in dogs' mouths. If he claims they actually are "speaking" to him, using words, I immediately wonder in what language the dogs speak. And how old are these dogs when they bark their first words? Who teaches them the word associations they would need in order to use human language? Do they have good grammar?
I heard a story about a pet "psychic" who was thinking about buying a horse but was hesitant because it was a stallion (not gelded or neutered), and she had a mare (female) at home. As she was walking away sadly, the horse called out to her in English, in true "Mr. Ed" form, "You could (neigh) have me gelded (snort)!"
Sorry, but I seriously doubt this animal, if it could speak words (which I am totally doubting), would be suggesting and volunteering for castration; maybe "I promise (nicker), I'll leave her alone (whinny)," but gelding?—not any of the stallions I've ever observed!
As you probably can gather without being psychic, I'm skeptical. And I'd remain skeptical until I could test the man's abilities by placing dogs out of his sight but within hearing range, giving them some stimulus the man couldn't see to trigger barking and then asking him what the dogs were saying. If he was correct, I'd be less skeptical.
I do know of a few books on the subject of animal communication; one is "Barks, Roars, and Siren Songs," by Michael Bright, Carol Publishing Group, 1990. Another is "Psychic Animals," by Dennis Bardens, Barnes & Noble Books, 1987. A third book, and the one I recommend, is "The Body Language and Emotions of Dogs," by Myrna M. Milani, D.V.M., William Morrow and Co. Inc., 1986.
Many people look for themselves in their dogs' eyes and expressions, rather than listening and learning about what dogs "say" as dogs. I think it is best for people who want to figure out how different species communicate and learn what is being said at the animal's level, to learn how they respond to each other and to us, to study them without putting words in their mouths and to respect the fact there are other ways to communicate besides our own.
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