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Do our dog really communicate with us?
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It is no mystery that our dogs communicate with us constantly. They bark, whimper, whine, growl, and sigh, in order to relay how they are feeling or precisely what it is they are thinking. We know they depend on us for all of their needs – food, water, shelter, care, affection – but it doesn’t seem so far-fetched that they often use our love as a tool to manipulate us into doing exactly what it is they want us to do – resulting in an ever-so-subtle and improper shift in leadership command. Perhaps we are just that easy to manipulate…or perhaps they are just that intelligent!
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It is considered that only researchers who religiously study animal behavior and communication will make the determination about whether or not there is any real confirmation that a dog’s bark, as he stares at the door, means, “I’d like to come inside”, or that his relentless whimper as he lies on the floor next to the dinner table, means, “Please let a piece of steak fall down here for me”, or that his relentless mantra of uninterrupted barking as an opposite sex dog passes by, being leash-walked by her owner, really means, “Hey, your cute…come here… I want to meet you!”.
Some argue that dogs do not communicate in the same manner as we interpret their ‘words’ to be, and that they just bark, growl and whine randomly, simply to hear their own voices.
Others contend that every sound made by a dog has an objective.
While it does seem rational that if a dog barks while he is staring at the door, followed by his unhesitant, dauntless entry into the house at the very moment the door is ajar, is undisputedly the exact message that was intended - “I’d like to come inside”, it is still debatable whether or not his reflexive-type lunge toward the piece of food that fell off the table, is a result of his intended message, “Please let a piece of steak fall down here for me”, or if it was simply his response to the instinctive reaction, ‘food has fallen within my reach – I am a dog – thus I will scarf it up!’
Animals in their natural habitat have been studied, as they communicate to one another, alerting predator danger (animal and/or man) or environmental changes requiring temporary or permanent relocation. In the wild canine family alone, coyotes clearly communicate through incessant howling, that danger is lurking or to inform one another of territory rights. Young coy pups will make numerous different sounds as they learn to communicate with their parents and siblings – sounds that echo, and are heard for miles.
Before we can ever differentiate precisely between these varying interpretations, canine behaviorists will really need to determine (scientifically), if dogs are really capable of such multifaceted vocalizations that we in turn translate into a variety of sounds, each different to our own ears.
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