Why can’t we speak to animals?

[lalalagarden]

We can learn other languages so why can’t we speak to animals? Or understand their communication

That dog’s on antidepressants now because of all the human language he was learning. He ended up having an existential crisis, kept asking ‘why dog’!

The owner has explained many times that she - the dog- was on antianxiety meds before the language training began. The 'why dog' phase was very short lived, but caught the imagination of social media and was the source of much discussion for a while.

I've followed them daily for years, and Bunny seems a healthy happy dog, particularly outside. There is a lot more to their interactions than 'why dog', not least months of discussing poop! You can't watch them for long, or other animals who also use those buttons, to see how they can be used effectively by some, though not all. There are quite a few that never get past the 'treat' stage!

Oddly, this topic has come up in various parts of my life recently.. Michael Morpurgo's book 'A Song of Gladness' was inspired by his communication with a bird.. the post script is fascinating.

I have had a few bird encounters too weird to describe on Mumsnet as the logic people will tell me it is a coincidence. I was with someone, gently listening to pleasant evening birdsong through the open window, thinking about something I was reluctant to say as it would break the mood, a crow squawked loudly, so I took that as a cue to speak my thoughts and when I had finished, the gentle soothing bird song returned.

And a friend of mine was talking about a course she followed about animals communicate with us all the time - but we are too caught up in our own world to notice or too constrained by our own thinking and beliefs to allow ourselves to understand ... I must ask her more about it!

I also think there is a reason why there are so many stories written about communication between humans and animals.... I don't think it is total fantasy.

I am also reading a fascinating book about language and it's power and how the resonance of different languages can make different patterns and chanting or singing in different languages can have different impacts on our states of consciousness... I could go on.. the book is Thirty Two Words for Field...

😆 🤣

I can communicate very effectively with cats and dogs. Some of it is verbal.

They're not really talking like we can though. They may be communicating basic things but they're not talking about philosophy or such.

House cow?!! Can’t believe nobody has commented on this. Is this real?

Cats could do it. They just don’t want to.

I've seen a video of a dog called Bunny on Instagram using buttons to communicate, I can't work out if it's a good thing or if it is just making the poor dog massively anxious in it's attempts to communicate that the cat is upstairs or that it needs the toilet.

Obviously animals with tiny brains are not going to be able communicate on the same level as us but many animals are very clever and figure out ways to communicate with us. My cat even copies the sound of hello in a meow and uses it ever time he comes through the cat flap....I felt he won't stop until he gets a response. So he has clearly adopted it as some sort of greeting. He only does it to us though. Just hisses at other cats.

I talk to my dog all the time. He rarely responds. He is a dog of few words. And little brain, tbh.

A sparrow lands in my garden, I have filled up the fat balls and he shouts loudly to announce the news, lots more sparrows arrive

How do you have a house cow? Does she live in your back garden?

I was lying in my garden as a teen decades ago, just revising dosing off when there was a commotion on the roof between some sparrows.
It genuinely sounded like heated debate and in my head I imagined they were arguing about disposing of a body. I'd probably been watching too much Midsomer Murders.

Anyway it went on for a few minutes. At the end of the few minutes there was a light thud and the chirping went back to normal. And a dead sparrow was on the patio.

It was pure coincidence, groups of sparrows always sound like they're arguing about something, and my mind filled in the blanks with it's own plot.

I talk to my cat everyday.

She has different mews, well more like a screech, for when when wants food or to go out.

Monty Roberts could communicate with horses. Thanks to him he made many horses lives immeasurable better.

Yes....more information is definitely needed 🐮

I've been able to have a limited verbal exchange with all the cats I have lived with.
They make different noises depending on what they want.
If they don't need you for anything they just ignore you - that's a cat for you.

Dogs can understand your tone of voice but not the words. They can respond to their name. Even so I used to spell out the words V-E-T otherwise they went into hiding, and W-A-L-K otherwise they would go barmy.

A couple of male blackbirds around here have incorporated what sounds like mobile phone ringtones into their songs. No doubt updating one’s song to keep it on trend helps to impress the ladies.

There is definite communication between me and my dog but is is largely nonverbal. It is arrogant to expect animals to ‘learn’ verbal communication - even using aids - when they lack the physiology to do so whilst we humans can more easily learn nonverbal body language so we can share a communication system. He reads me, I read him. Obviously for control it helps that he has learnt responses to verbal commands but that is not communication.

Also he is a stubborn bastard (Doberman) so is selectively deaf to verbal commands!

But he senses when I am sad and cuddles up close on the sofa, licking my face and placing his head on my shoulder so close that we are face to face. That kind of interspecies communication feels special.

Cats have learned verbal communication with humans - they vocalise with us because they know it's how we communicate, they have accents depending upon common pitches, tone and rhythm in the language of their humans, some sounds definitely mimic the words, they change the tones of their purring to hit the frequencies of human babies crying to get us to get out of bed and get them food - and more to the point, it is obviously intentional communication because if we don't respond or understand, they get louder or paw at us/jump/go and then repeat or try to get us to follow once they have our attention again.

My cat sits by her toy box / the back door / the treat drawer depending on what she wants, & stares at me, then shouts if I don’t respond.

She’s learned that if I’m still asleep & she wants breakfast, meows & kisses work much better than attacking my feet.

I don’t think she’s ever heard a human baby crying, definitely not here & probably not in her previous life as a pub ratter, but she definitely has a range of meows.

The dog has seen my post and is concerned lest the photograph of his indignant rage at losing his fun-plums be the only impression of him left dormant in your mind. This is him generally...

He joins me in wishing you joy of your weekend. x

House cow just means she provides milk for our house 😂 not that she lives in it.
we rent a nearby field.

I speak to my chickens and they understand. I also know what certain clucks mean.

my sheep understand too.

don’t underestimate animals!

AGuyandagolden on Facebook and Instagram is hilarious. Well worth a look.