Most pet owners claim to understand their pets

Discussion in 'Human Science' started by mikenostic, Dec 19, 2008.

  1. mikenostic Stop pretending you're smart! Registered Senior Member

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    Talk about stating the obvious:
    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28278412/?gt1=43001

    True, but the article fails to mention that dogs don't necessarily key in on the words you are saying, but the tone of voice itself.

    That's funny. I bet I understand my dogs way more than most women understand theirs.
    That whole paragraph made me think of women with their little fu fu dogs who spoil the crap out of them. Spoiling your dog, and not disciplining them and letting them run all over the place doing whatever they want, is not my idea of being able to understand your dog. Part of understanding pets, is knowing how to train/discipline/raise them in 'their language'.
     
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  3. phlogistician Banned Banned

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    I sometimes say random words to my dogs in an excited fashion to test the intonation thing. One falls for it, 'cos she's excitable (part collie) and the other two look at me like I've lost it. If I do say the word 'park' or 'walkies' in any tone, I get wagging tails, they definitely know those words.


    I don't think I 'understand' mine, as they do stuff that has me scratching my head quite often (playing I guess), but I know what they like, and they do get discipline (I'm pack leader, Cesar Milan would be proud of me), exercise, and affection, and lots of nice things to eat. They also get to laze around licking their balls, the lucky guys.
     
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  5. EntropyAlwaysWins TANSTAAFL. Registered Senior Member

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    My understanding was that dogs listen to the tone of voice but are also capable of learning to recognise a few dozen, perhaps even a hundred words. They certainly seem to be able to learn to recognise some words regardless of tone, e.g., 'food'.
     
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  7. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    Dogs have been trained to understand more than one hundred words. Although the average household dog, without a rigorous training program, won't come close to that, most of them pick up a dozen or so. If we realize that to their ears our speech comes out as, "Blah blah blah Sparky blah blah blah Walk blah blah blah Biscuit blah blah blah Ride In Car...," we can vastly improve our communication.

    Dogs are highly sound-oriented so they learn to interpret the nuances in our tone of voice, often more expertly than we do with each other. The breeds with the keenest eyesight such as poodles and Maltese (which is still only about 20/100 on the human scale) will also learn to read our body language and facial expressions. After all dogs are pack-social animals like humans and many other primates, so it's instinctive to be able to judge a pack-mate's mood and intentions by their posture and expression. Finally, with their far more powerful olfactory receptors, dogs can detect and interpret the pheromones we exude which we barely sense unconsciously, if at all. This allows them to read many of our moods, such as fear, anger and (perhaps) submission to the alpha of the pack. This can explain why it may be you who are yelling at them but they'll look to your spouse for confirmation--or to a bigger dog.
    An overgeneralization. Men can be just as bad at spoiling their dogs, out of guilt or cluelessness, just as they can be with their children. Being a dog breeder, I know quite a few women who take no nonsense from their packs, even "fou-fou" dogs like teacup Maltese. Not to mention being the undisputed alpha over a pack of 120-pound Anatolians.
    Humans and dogs have spent about fifteen thousand years creating a multi-species community. As the members with the higher IQ, the opposable thumbs, the speech center in our brains, and all that keen stuff, it falls to us to make the rules. Dogs have an instinctive disposition to accept us as the alphas: the wolves (they're all a single species) who didn't feel that way were culled from the gene pool way back in the Stone Age, or simply didn't join us in the first place and remained wild.

    It's up to us to exercise the authority they instinctively grant us. Only about one dog in a hundred has a strong alpha instinct and might argue over who's the leader of the pack. The rest are much more comfortable to have someone else telling them what to do and giving them noogies for getting it right. Dogs without strong leadership can become nervous and ill at ease, and, just as in humans, emotional distress can give rise to some terribly inappropriate or even destructive behavior. This is why it's so often a terrible idea to leave a single dog at home all alone. They're not comfortable without some semblance of a pack structure.

    (This is not quite 100% true. Our breed, the Lhasa Apso, was developed to be a temple watchdog with a strong sense of autonomy. Along with their legendary comfort with solitude, this makes them perfect "dogs for cat people.")
     
  8. mikenostic Stop pretending you're smart! Registered Senior Member

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    While I won't disagree, I can ask my dogs, 'are you hungry?' in an excited tone, and they immediately go ape shit. But whenever I say the same thing in a slow monotonous tone, they do look at me like 'I'm not sure, but did you say what I think you said', but they don't go ape shit like they do if I ask it in an exciting tone.

    Could not have said it better myself.

    True but generally (and there are exceptions such as you) I see most guys that have dogs, they are bigger breeds, like border collies, labs etc. For some reason, people tend to be a bit more disciplinarian towards bigger dogs, simply because of the fact that they can cause more damage if they become unruly than say, a Lhasa Apso or Chihuahua.


    I have too, but I don't meet many of them like that. Of all the dog classes I've taken my Dobe and Boxer too, there are always women in the class with little fu fu dogs that do not know how to raise them. I personally think it's because the women think the fu fu dogs are so cute that they can't possibly bring themselves to discipline their dogs.

    We seem to think very similarly and have similar knowledge, as I could not have said that better myself either.


    Exactly. Whenever I see an aggressive dog in someone's yard/house,etc. I always assume that its owner does not assume the alpha, so the dog has, which stresses them out and makes them more edgy.
    Dogs were 'designed' to be a pack species. Even with wolves, the subordinates depend on the alpha for their (and the whole pack's) well being, the amount of food they get, and the pack's safety.
     
  9. Baron Max Registered Senior Member

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    Well, yeah, but I can honestly say that I understand my dog far easier than I ever understood any woman I've ever known!

    My dog and I have simply formed a bond. He knows when I'm "supposed" to do things, and he'll even let me know if I miss the time. He knows that when I watch the evening news, he's not supposed to bother me.

    By the same token, I understand what he wants most of the time ...to go out, to get a treat, to play, or to get brushed.

    I'm definitely the alpha, but it's not beyond him to try to exert a little dominance of his own on some occasions.

    No, animals are far easier to understand than women!

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    Baron Max
     
  10. mikenostic Stop pretending you're smart! Registered Senior Member

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    That's why I have three dogs and no wives.

    Yeah, that doesn't seem to work with my dogs, as more or less everytime I go sit in my chair, within 30 seconds I either have a Boxer's head or a Doberman's head or both in my lap or up against my shoulder/chest wanting to be petted.

    My dogs always only want one or more of the following three things:
    -to be petted
    -to be fed (meals or treats/snacks)
    -to be let outside to go run around or poop
    I wish my needs were that simple.

    Try owning a Doberman. I'm almost always having to remind him who's boss. He'd rather ask for forgiveness than permission.

    100% concurrence.

    *sits back and waits for self and Baron to be labelled misogynists. LOL
     
  11. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    I really don't think that Dragon understood his pet at all!

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  12. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    I have an older cat and a younger one. I can tell when the older one is trying to tell me something, but not always what, I have to get up and look around to figure it out. The younger one meows sometimes and I can't figure out why, I'm teaching him this behavior is useless by ignoring it. My older cat has a specific meow for saying it just caught something and brought it inside. There's another one for "feed me", another one for "there's something I would like to catch outside", another one for "you are late".
     
  13. RubiksMaster Real eyes realize real lies Registered Senior Member

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    I don't really understand my dogs any more than the basics. Sometimes when one of them has a toy, he will pace around the house whining. I will think he's asking me to play, but then he has no interest.

    But my dogs understand me pretty well. They have a keen situational awareness, but I can't tell how. Every time we take them out for a walk, they can tell ahead of time, and they get really excited and stand by their leashes. This happens every time.
     
  14. takethewarhome midnatt klarhet Registered Senior Member

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    I believe that humans and animals can communicate, although this is ultimately subjective.
     
  15. visceral_instinct Monkey see, monkey denigrate Valued Senior Member

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    I'm a female, but I know how you feel. I find men as confusing as you guys find women.

    Whereas with a dog, you just have to treat them gently and kindly, make some necessary rules, and you're fine.
     

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