Dog Laughter???

[susiestar]

I always knew the dog I grew up with laughed. Apparently researchers have now defined what dog laughter is - an breathy exhalation while they are playing. Researchers have shown that it can help calm tense dogs.

I have been watching Dog Town on netflix. The episode about saving Micheal Vick's dogs showed them using a recording of dog laughter to help a dog through some stressful situations. I am posting about it here because I know several of y'all have dogs that are high strung and/or have other challenges. This might be a tool tha could help.

Here is the website about laughing dogs - http://www.petalk.org/LaughingDog.html . They sell a 45min cd of dog laughter for about $25 shipped - and proceeds go to the animal shelters in Spokane.

Just like with gfgkids, it helps to know about possible tools to help them cope, in my opinion.

 

[donna723]

How cool! Mine make all kinds of noises but I've only had one that genuinely laughed like what it shows here. I have Bostons and the first one I had, Rudy, the one we had when the kids were young, was very ticklish. We'd tickle her sides and she'd roll on her back, kick her legs, and make the same sounds that they describe here.

Of the three that I have now, I haven't heard any of them make that same sound but they certainly do smile and have all kinds of different facial expressions. Bostons have those rubbery little faces and can have almost any facial expression that a human does. And they make the facial expressions at appropriate times too. Just look at them and you can tell exactly how they're feeling ... happy, sad, angry, worried, mischevious.

 

[Hound dog]

All 3 of mine "laugh" I guess. Makes sense when all 3 of them also grin or can give me a cheesy smile. They talk to me too. They also have emotions.

I always have to laugh when researcher find something miraculous that people who've spent their lives close to animals have always known. lol

 

[susiestar]

I have always known that dogs have emotions - and that most researchers on topics like this are mostly stating the obvious. I posted because I thought that maybe Steely and some of the others who have dog issues might find it helpful to try out the cd or think about it. Apparently hearing the cd really can help when a dog is stressed.

 

[Steely]

I think it is pretty fascinating, although I still can't say I have ever really heard mine laugh like this. I would be curious to try it, and see what it evokes in Tesla. She can't even have Animal Planet on without being glued to it - she is very in tune to sound, especially animal sounds. I have also heard the ones with whales talking - so cool.

by the way Tesla is doing MUCH better. The move out here where she has a yard, has reduced her need to go, go, go all the time. And it all it took for Diesel and Steele to start to love her and not eat her was 3 days smashed in a car together. LOL. Diesel and Steele come up to visit with Matt on the weekends, and now they could not be closer. Yesterday all 3 of them jumped off the dock and into this swamp/pond by our house - OMG I wish I had had my phone and been able to take a video - FUNNY. I was sure they must be laughing - I probably just didn't listen close enough

 

[MuM_of_OCD_kiddo]

My two girls here in the office thought it was interesting - but more along the thinking of "there is a strange dog in the house - where is it", not as they usually care much about another one in the house - we got plenty that keep getting switched around and in and out for fairness reasons. It did create excitement and then happy tailwagging.

I listened to the sound bite and had a hard time identifying it, as it was so short and also repetitious, and I have heard pretty much all the sounds dogs make - from talking, whining, crying, boredom barking, wuffing, howling, to the big wide variety of bickering and calling alarms. Anybody who says dogs don't have emotions or facial expressions obviously hasn't lived with one in a life time. They range the entire gambole of human emotions and then some more that are usually not mentioned in polite company, LOL.

 

[Steely]

You know what I heard from Tesla though - that I have NEVER heard from a dog - a purr. A long guttural purr like a mountain lion would make. I almost fell over - I was toweling her off from a bath and she just sunk into my arms and purred. Amazing stuff.

 

[Mamaof5]

My dogs laugh & smile! The husky smile is the most awesome smile to ever behold. *grins*

 

[Suz]

Steely, my first dog, Brandy, used to have a dog purr. She was a big shep/doberman mix. She would sit facing me and I would pet her and rub my face on hers and talk lovingly and quietly to her and she would make a low snorting/purring sound and her eyes would go soft. I've had other dogs who loved being loved on but no one who ever responded like Brandy. So dear.

All of my dogs have smiled and laughed.

Suz

 

[Steely]

Gosh I am out of the doggie loop - I need to listen better to my dogs "laughing". I will do that TODAY - haha.

I have Tesla who is an American Dingo - and their vocal range has 27 different sounds it can make. I do know she has ALL of them! LOL! I just have yet to determine what they all mean. When she tries to *tell* you something she has this hilarious sound she makes that sounds like a revving car engine.....

 

[donna723]

I think most people underestimate a dogs' ability to think. I have one that plays tricks on her siblings, one that problem-solves, and another one that is addicted to watching TV. My mixed breed, Freebie, sits in front of the TV like a little kid and will watch for hours, and not just the programs with animals on them. If she's in her crate, the crate has to be where she can see the TV. My first Boston, Rudy, had dozens of toys, all with names, and you could ask her to get the (whatever) and she would dig through her toy box till she found the right one. She was also smart enough to trick the other dogs into getting up if they were in the chair she wanted to sit in. My son loves to give Katy little "challenges" and problems to solve, just to watch her trying different approaches. If she can't figure something out right away she'll go off for a while, then come back to it and do whatever it was perfectly! She thought about it and figured it out! And she tries her darndest to speak to me in "human". If she is communicating with the other dogs, she barks, speaking in "dog". If she's trying to tell me something, it's completely different. She will sometimes use her growly voice. And if she's really trying to make me understand her, she will look right at me and make these quiet little "woo-woo-woo" sounds with different inflections that sound remarkably like human speech. And they do seem to have the whole range of human emotions too, they feel everything that we do. Except that they don't have all the worriest that we do, don't have all the responsibilities that we do, don't fret over the future like we do. Dogs live strictly in the present, in the here and now. They're just here to have a good time, to keep us company, to look out for us, and to make us smile at their antics.

 

[Suz]

My little Chloe is my first foray into having a small, white, yappy-dog. I remind her daily that I hate yappy dogs and we are always working on that part of her personality but....sigh.....that is Chloe. She has the prettiest face imaginable- I fell in love with her online on the rescue site and had to go get her. I knew she was beautiful but had no idea she was nuts. lol

She is the only pup I've had who is afraid of everything. Poor honey gets herself all worked up over everything. Even parked cars terrify her. I'm not kidding. If we are all peaceful and cuddled up watching tv and I catch my breath over something surprising or scary on tv, she bolts up like she got stung by a BB gun and runs for cover.

Anyway, I could talk about her complexities forever but my main point is that as goofy as she is, she is also very smart, clever, and adorable (I just wish Rufus and I weren't the only beings to see it). She knows how to distract Rufus so she can steal his toys. She is like the bratty little sister who is so cute she does all kinds of funny, outrageous things. And laughs? OMG, she is giggling the whole time she has his toy in his mouth, running to hide it in her special stash place.

If Rufus and I are snuggling and she wants in, she just comes right up and lies on top of him so he will move. Thank goodness Rufus is so good natured about her antics. Watching them love each other and play and interact is wonderful.

Suz

 

[flutterby]

Jewel laughs. It sounds a bit different, almost like a sneeze, and she is smiling when she does it. If I want to get her playful, I make sneeze sounds "Choooo" and my 10 year old girl acts like a puppy.

 

[Mamaof5]

I used to have a dog (coyote\husky mix) that could say I love you and I want it ...


...until the b@st@rd bit my 5 yr old daughter and gave her 12 stitches earlier this year. girlfriend didn't give me the history on the dang dog (abused and starved as a puppy by her brother and his young kids). *sigh*

 

[Star*]

You should live in THIS house..........

They talk, laugh, howl........and snitch Dad out all the time. No one believed me until DF did things and I got reports that NO ONE IN THE WORLD could have known about unless old Snitch actually told me........Now DF watches what he does and says.......cause DOGS TELL THEIR MOTHERS EVERYTHING........especially Pooties.

 

[DDD]

Sorry, somehow I missed your post and started one about dog smarts. Ace doesn't smile or laugh (that I've ever identified) but about once a month when he is sound assleep he starts to howl like a wolf. Boy that wakes me up with a start every single time. Guess it comes from his family tree? DDD

 

[flutterby]

Sometimes Jewel makes this sound when she's sleeping/dreaming....I don't know how to explain it. The first time I heard it I thought it was the tornado siren and couldn't figure out why 1) it was so loud inside the house, and 2) why the tornado siren would be going off in the first place. LOL