by Danette M. Scott

Created on: December 06, 2007

Talking dogs: How dogs communicate in human-like ways. Dogs can communicate by showing us what they want. Since they lack vocal cords and a mouth that would enable them to form words or make sounds similar to humans they attempt to adapt their way of communicating to a humans. Their goal is to communicate simple messages that "humans" can understand.

For instance, a person trains their dog to go outside when it needs to use the toilet. The human doesn't teach the dog how to communicate that it needs to go outside to the owner. The dog can and does develop a language to express its desire to go outside to use the toilet. The dog may whine or scratch at the door to indicate its desire to go out. This language is then reinforced when the human reacts in a way the dog desires, for example, letting the dog out.

Common communication methods used by dogs are; whining, scratching at a door, person or other object, running to and fro, nudging with the nose and barking.

Here's a true story about my childhood pet Snowball that best exemplifies the way dogs can communicate to their owners. One day my dog Snowball came running up to me while I was in the yard. She was barking and running very fast. She jumped up on me, barked and ran away. She then suddenly stopped, turned around and barked at me. She kept repeating it until I got the idea to follow her. She led the way. Finally, we reached a yard about a half block away and there sat a poodle chewing on a rawhide bone. Snowball, ran over to the dog and back to me. She again repeated this until I once again figured out that the dog had her bone.

The elderly woman who was sitting on the porch watching her dog, the poodle, leaned over and said,"now you know that's not yours give it back." The woman gave me permission to give Snowball the bone. Snowball snatched up the bone and ran the half block toward home. When I got back to my house I told my mother what had happened. I explained to her that Snowball was upset because the other dog had taken her bone. My mother informed me that she never bought Snowball that bone and that she had no idea where it came from. I was dumbfounded. Snowball, had bamboozled me for sure.

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