I know my guy’s barks pretty well.
He’s super vocal though so I’ve had time to learn.
He’s got a kind of honk that’s for initiating play.
A polite “buf” that’s an attention/request noise (though it can intensify with agitation).
And then a smorgasbord of stress or demand barks that can blur together a bit but often can be worked out in combination with frequency and body language.
Plus also the manic “that’s my purse. I don’t know you.” He reserves for when he hears anything like a dog near our house.
I don’t understand any dog barks
That’s obviously false. Any dog owner knows when their dog is begging for help getting something out of reach or being let in/out of a gate, which barks mean “hey someone’s at the door” or “squirrel” and which yelps mean pain. Beyond that, growls and body language can communicate quite a bit, too.
Exactly! Barking isn’t some sort of language in and of itself, it’s only a minor part of how dogs communicate.
Humans can’t even comprehend everything by speech alone. “I’m fine” and the need to add /s on the internet for examples.
My dog realised if I was working and he tried to get attention from me I would usually just ignore him or give him a quick pet and go back to work. So he started yelping like hurt himself and giving me a sad look so I would actually come over and make a fuss over him.
My toddler understands several words. I dont understand any of his babbling. He may be smarter than me.
Reportedly, establishing a rudimentary signing language helps in communication until the child has proper motor skills for speech. However, it’s important to not overly rely on signing to the detriment of language development.
I dont actually have a toddler, but thanks for the tip.
I speak dog. It’s mostly expressions and context really, but it’s very easy to tell exactly what they’re thinking, and they can read human expressions so you just have to exaggerate them the way you do for kids
It’s more about trying to understand them than anything else. Most people don’t make the effort
Shout out to dogs for losing some of their thinking skills in order to understand humans better. Y’all are real af
For real. Trying to second-guess what others are thinking or implying is a whole separate skillset. And some of us do that professionally…
