Do you talk to your dog?

sporina

Went for a walk this eve with a mate and her lovely doggie..

When ever we pass another dog, he more often than not wants to play with them.. so starts barking, running etc...

My mate always stops and talks to him - berating him.. "now stop that.. thats bold.. your a naughty doggie etc".. she actually stops walking and looks at him - finger pointing an' all..

I don't see any other dog owners doing this.. when ever their dog does the same they just walk on or chat to dog owner or what ever..

What to other dog owners on here think?

I find it kinda amusing but also annoying.. but I feel sorry for him... like, its not like he can understand her apart from stop, sit etc.. and also, he's a dog - isn't that what dogs do?

I don't own a dog at the mo but I did for years and years and I would just greet/chat to the other dog owner when ever this happened..

PS She totally loves this dog.. she's not mis treating him etc..

con747

He is not just a dog, he's a member of the family. Dogs don't just need to be told to sit and stop etc,, so I always talk to my dog when I have one.

gmisk

I always chat away to mine pretty normal I would say :)

Dial Hard

I talk to mine all the time. I'd find it more strange for a dog owner *not* to talk to their dog, tbh.

Paulyh

Paulyh

I do that all the time......even the finger wagging. He know he's done bad when he gets a finger wag :) and i chat to him around the house. Like above, I think pretty much all dog owners would do this

whippet

Some of the best conversations I have are with my dogs !!

Over time dogs do understand what you are saying in certain circumstances .... obviously it is based on sounds and conditioning.

for instance .. 'how about the beach' with send my collie in to meltdown - as this is what I have been saying for years before heading to the beach for a run. My Lab who is 15 has had all those years to understand some statements. He could be sitting in his bed and even if I whisper 'is mammy home yet?' .. he will get up and head for the front window to see if herself is coming home.

My Collie also responds to commands when out for a walk - on the beach I have a number of commands that he listens to and responds to .. 'stop' 'wait' ... and then if I whistle and point left / right he will move left / right if there are other people coming towards us.

If I say 'lets go home' he will turn on his heels and head back home.

The obvious ones like 'anyone want dinner' will almost teleport the three dogs to their food bowls.

And ofter I'll find my kids curled up on the couch with the lab having full blown conversations

They are all part of the family

cml387

You should see the effect the word "sausages" has on our two. Of course we talk to them.

Getting a dog is like being exposed to a whole new parallel world that you never knew existed. It's like a free pass to stop and chat with the most random of folks. I actually love hearing snippets of conversations people have with their dogs when out and about. Saw a big golden retriever rolling in the mucky puddles in St Anne's park one day. The obviously-at-the-end-of-their-tether owner was standing there dejected, saying "C'mon Roxy.......we've TALKED about this....."

So yes, we all talk to our dogs. It would be rather weird if you didn't.

goldenmick

OF COURSE they understand what you're saying....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGeKSiCQkPw

sporina

mayb its the giving out to him I have a prob with - berating him like he's a bold dog - grr he's just being a dog

we had a dog all our youth and had one for years up till recently - but I never spoke to it at the rate she does... sure - I talked to it - but its endless with her... spends half of our walks talking to the dog.. giving out to it more like... stop that, blah blah.. ffs... mayb if she was saying "good doggie etc" it wouldn't annoy me as much

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118544342#Comment_118544342

Did you walk past me trying to get my dog in the car yesterday? 🤣

Obviously I talk to the dog. Working from home she's probably sick of the site of me. :P At lunchtime I'll point towards my room and she runs in and we have a little play/wrestle on the bed. All day she's fine but from 4pm on if she hears me on a call she's in looking for attention. She knows "spin", "walk" and if you put any gibberish in the right tone she'll also lose her ****. 😅 She'll sit and wait for anyone with treats, very food motivated. The word "treat" in any tone or context has her jumping and spinning. She knows "bed" in different contexts. Sternly or just pointing at her bed she does the sulky slow walk into her bed. Happy or with a jerk of the head towards my room and she's jumps up and stretches and heads in.

Obviously they understand physical cues and probably tone more than words as such but they understand plenty. I think their ability to read body language is amazing, I was sat parked in the car the other evening and saw some kids starting something resembling a water fight. As soon as she saw people chasing around and mock anger she was fully up, tail up, barking. People she'd never seen before but recognised "conflict" instantly.

Irish_wolf

Dogs don't understand english exactly, just as we dont understand dog. In training a dog, it learns to associate sounds and tone with particular behaviour and results (cause and effect) and likewise in training the dog we as humans pick up on their version of language, body language and behaviour. If my dog wants a walk she will stand at the door and shake herself vigorously to get my attention, she might paw at me first if I've headphones on. She only does this when she wants a walk. When I say "You want to go for a walk?" she responds by crouching down and then leaping about the place spinning, a complicated action denoting a whirlwind of emotions that can be roughly translated as "yes please". When I want to go for a walk I let her know by a simple cock of my head and a motion towards the door, she learned that one super quick. If I tell her to 'be gentle' she will accept treats more gently, no snapping (great one for having her around children*). If I tell her to 'be careful' she will mind her step, this was a hard one to train but she got the message after stepping into a gorse thicket for the third time. So yeah I talk to my dog and my dog in turn talks to me, it's not english and it's not dog, it's doglish. A hybrid language that the two of us communicate through. So yeah the more language she hears, the better she gets at distinguishing our irrelevant noises and noises meant for her.

I've tried to teach the dog concepts like 'later', 'soon', and 'Conceptualisation' but she has yet to grasp these concepts. Probably because the treat based positive reinforcing is hard to time so they understand what it was for.

*She understands my signal for this food is spicy, cause she fuckin loves spicy food and no amount of 'be gentle's will stop her whipping that piece of cajun chicken from your hands if she knows it's coming with a whack of cayenne pepper. She's a fiend for the aul jalfrezi as well.

Jequ0n

Not only do I talk to my dog a lot, I also made a conscious decision to converse mostly in English instead of my native language. I couldn’t care less if anyone thinks it’s strange.

gmisk

Key words to my dog.

"Are you coming?"

"Chicken"

"Squirrel"

"What did you do?" (This is when he wants to play his tail goes mad...and he only had a tiny tail)

"Cat!!!"

"Present" and he goes and brings you one of his toys

HeidiHeidi

Absolutely!

I don't even own a dog, but I walk my sisters' dogs often, and have whole conversations with them.

One in particular knows well from the tone of my voice whether he needs to pay attention, or I'm just wittering on at him. And if I sound too urgent/ stressed (like trying to keep him out of the muddiest part of the river), he'll pay no attention whatsoever! Keep it casual, though, and he's a pudding.

VonVix

People should talk to their dogs more, I don't think we are aware of how much they understand and take in. They learn to associate everything you say with something. Keeping in mind dogs have been with humans for so long.

My Shelties listen for individual words I say. They'll know things like upstairs, bed time, lets go and hello for a few very small examples. But if I said anything longer, it might go over their heads a bit! They really live in the moment.

My German Shepherd... he's another story. You can say things like, go outside and go to the toilet, then bring in your toy and go upstairs to bed. He will follow through with every single thing. Or if I ask him to bring in one of the Shelties (if they've gone off for a wander in the garden). He listens to full on sentences while making intense eye contact as I say them. GSDs are a weird breed, they can be a little creepy lol.

gmisk

https://news.sky.com/story/whos-a-clever-boy-dogs-know-up-to-215-words-and-phrases-study-finds-12489835

They are pretty decent at understanding words interesting article

sporina

like i said - there's talking to your dog and then berating it for every little doggie behaviour he exhibits.. its silly imo.. and I do not see other dog walkers we meet doing it - they just salute/chat to us when their's does the same.. ie: starts barking - makes moves to play with your dog or others etc

dashoonage

I think I should be paying my dog €100 an hour as a therapist to be honest.

Jequ0n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118545005#Comment_118545005

Maybe your friend prefers talking to her dog than to you. It’s not that uncommon.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118545022#Comment_118545022

Most therapists don't lick your face if you tear up though.

silver2020

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118545268#Comment_118545268

And neither do they snuggle up to you 😁

zedhead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118545005#Comment_118545005

If the dog is barking and getting overexcited at every dog it sees, then it may be reactive and she is trying to train the behaviour out of the dog. A dog should not be allowed to greet and initiate play with every dog it sees on a walk, so it seems she is being responsible by trying to curb that behaviour.

goldenmick

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118545268#Comment_118545268

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118545328#Comment_118545328

And they don't leave a big jobbie where you least expect it.

em_cat

Talking to/with your dog & giving out are two entirely different things. I’d say your more put off by the berating, I use to be guilty of doing that to our Yorki, who is extremely neurotic on the best of days, however it was very much out of frustration & embarrassment of myself. So now he has learned that if I say rude, that’s it, we've been taught thru some extremely long term help and training to contextualise that rude means stop, sit, look at me and focus.

i can say it any way I want, whisper, short, long, high pitched whatever and he knows it's meaning. It was necessary to do this bc he is a reactive little fella along with being neurotic.

Esmae is a totally different dog, we chat, play and can get lost on our outdoor pursuits mainly bc she and I have a bond different to the one I have with Mr C.

c.p.w.g.w

No dogs, but have 2 cats...

I talk to all manner of animals, weather my own or someone else's, many dog walkers think I'm a tad strange...

Padre_Pio

I love talking to my dog.

Especially cool when ye barks for a "yes"

SamStonesArm

I always talk Tim, not a bother to him.

He's some man for holding in the secrets. Ive been asking him about 12 years now "whose a good boy?" and he still wont tell me.

micah537

I have full on conversations at times. They even respond vocally to certain words and phrases.

Some breeds understand a lot of words. I can ask one of mine does she want a treat, egg or fish and she will look at whichever press, two times for whatever she wants.

Ask her if she wants a brush and you get screamed in the face, tell her you'll walk her in a few minutes and she sits at the door with the lead after letting out a loud huff, tell her we are going walking now she will bring the lead to me and sit at my knee.

She understands relax, paw, the other paw, die, show me your belly, going to the groomers, ignore it or be gentle depending on what dog or human approaches her etc.

The recent addition (same breed) doesn't really understand much. He needs more time.

anewme

My little man has kept me sane the past year.

While they understand words, they also understand emotions, he knows if I am feeling low and will come and give me an aul snuggle.

He also knows when 'Im at the computer that its work time and leaves me to it, but the best bit is when kids on the road are coming home from school, he hears me at the window speaking out to them and will fly in from the other room to be picked up, and held out the window to be petted and fussed over.

As for the brush, he sees that being picked up and he's gone missing - all you can see is a big fluffy tail sticking out under the coffee table and when I say....where is the dog gone.....he stays completely still.

He's just brilliant.