FIVE THINGS ABOUT TALKING DOGS

Do you talk terrier? Parlez-vous puppy? According to researchers, our dogs are in constant dialogue with us. But are we translating their barks, growls and yowls correctly?

1 STUDY

According to scientists at Eotvos Lorand University in Hungary, man’s best friend calls upon a rich lexicon of sounds to convey fear and fun, aggression and pleasure, and more often than not we understand. A new study, featuring 40 volunteers listening to different growls recorded from 18 dogs, revealed that in 63 per cent of cases, humans were able to identify whether the animal was guarding food, facing up to a threatening stranger or playing tug-of-war.

2 WOMEN TOPS

Dr. Tamas Farago and his team wrote: “Participants associated the correct contexts with the growls above chance. Moreover, women and participants experienced with dogs scored higher.”

3 NOT IMPRESSED

However, Ade Howe, author of Dog Training Without Treats, who was not involved in the study, is not impressed with it. “This new research is over-simplistic, because dogs express a whole range of emotions that owners often cannot read.”

4 TONE

According to Howe, the tone of barks and growls is crucial; a higher pitch indicates excitement, while a lower timbre indicates aggression or fear. “If you want to praise a dog, you should use a high tone,” he advises. “To tell a dog off, you need to drop your voice and emit something short and sharp, like a bark.”

5 IT’S ON US

But is it more important that we understand our dogs or that they understand us? “Dogs can learn a certain amount, but they haven’t got the capability of learning our language, so we have to learn theirs,” is the verdict of Nigel Reed, a dog psychologist.