To think people wouldn’t like dogs if they could talk

[DonnaBanana]

I am not a dog person. But I know lots of people who are and they commonly say the thing they love about dogs (as compared to children, for example) is how their love is unconditional and they don’t speak or share their opinions with you like people do.

That seemed a bit sad to me. It seems like saying having a dog is mostly good because it can’t talk or share its opinions (and as a sentient animal it surely has some) but if it could, it would become annoying and undesirable.

Would you still have a dog if it spoke its mind?

And yes I agree dogs do communicate pretty well but it's a bit like babies I guess, them communicating could mean a number of things so its trying to figure out which one they want. I would love to read their minds at times, another thing I would like to know is why pup is obsessed with chewing our cushions this week

One of my dogs could actually talk.

Nothing too deep mind

I’d love it if my boy could talk! After seeing them on social media I bought the recordable buttons and trained my dog to use them. He hits the ‘out’ button when he wants to play in the garden and the ‘biscuit’ button when he wants a snack. Adorable 😊

It's sad that you don't have an appreciation of how animals communicate with humans. I like them because it's so easy to understand their opinions and feelings - and if all the animals I have ever met are anything to go by, they spend their entire existence letting you know exactly what their opinions are on everything from the weather, the catering service, the furnishings and of people.

I may be biased because I was informed at 8.05am today that it was late, I should be up and whilst it's very nice to steal some heat from me and from the sun coming in through the window, I'm overdue for my morning bathroom visit when I'll be gently encouraged to follow them into the kitchen to provide their first breakfast (as the one DP gave them an hour beforehand clearly didn't count).

good lord

Instagram has a lot of videos of dogs who've been trained to use floor mats fitted with sound button. Dog chooses button and presses it and recording of owners voice says the associated word. Then the dog learns to do sentences. Out Walk Fun Mummy ...

@Rocklobstershell I think we share the same cat ! The most spoken sentence in our house is ' have you fed the cat ?' 😂

I know loads of dog lovers and I’ve never, ever heard anyone say they love dogs because they ‘can’t talk or share their opinions’. Who is saying this?

Besides, my dog manages to communicate his ‘opinions’ to me perfectly without being able to talk!

My dog used to 'talk' - we learned what his different noises meant.

I love dogs, but reckon if the could talk it would be relentless, food food food food walk play food food food play walk walk food food food.

I agree with the poster that that is definitely how cats would talk.

Indeed. My dog (a 7 year old rescue who was horrible abused before the dog warden seized her) spends all day wanting to get as close as possible to us. If we go out and leave her for a while, her joy when we return is a sight to behold.

Theres a dog on FB called Bunny (some kind of poodly thing) who had been taught to 'speak' using sound buttons. I was sceptical at first because it could be just a pavlovian type response. However she has 10s of words and puts them together in simple sentences that seem to make sense. She mostly talks about walks/park/friends & family, and poo. She likes to categorise things into dog/cat/human/bird etc. She uses words like friend, stranger, sound, smell and can use some pronouns and conjunctions. When she farted she put together the words 'play' 'poo' (so they had to give her a fart button).
Basically it seems to be toddler level conversation. Quite fascinating (in a very American fashion)

@Saisong bunny was taught using the method set out by the language therapist at hungerforwords.com who explains the science behind it in her blog

I could never imagine a relationship of any kind with a human who had a negative or non existant relationship with animals. Smacks of denial that humans are also animals and a lack of imagination and empathy.

Dogs communicate in so many ways though.From the obvious "Tail wagging" happy days (Although a Vet we know ,says it can also mean they are unsure as well apparently) to sitting by your side if you are unhappy. They leave messages for their doggy chums in their urine ,and are happy sniffing a bum or two (human and canine!)

If dogs could talk they would constantly tell you how much they love you and ask you when are the next snacks coming please. People are far more fickle about the love thing.

My dogs communicate pretty damn well without talking. My younger dog is very noisy and kinda does talk. She's a noisy so and so! I can distinguish between a scared bark and an excited bark for example.

My lab would just ask for food and fuss constantly and whinge if she didn't get it 🙄🤣

Would you still have a dog if it spoke its mind?
MIne very definitely already does. It doesn't need to be in English to know exactly what he is saying. You just have to "listen".

I've always found people who love dogs are the nicest most decent people. I wouldn't want tinned friends with anyone that doesn't like dogs they wouldn't be a person I would like

If cats could talk, everybody would hate them.

I’d love it if dogs could talk, in fact all animals.

Maybe we wouldn’t exploit them like we do now as they could tell us they don’t consent to being constantly impregnated to make cute pups, and farm animals could tell us how miserable they are being bred as food.

Much easier for people to treat animals like shit when they don’t speak.

I do wish my dogs could speak in English so they could tell me if they are in pain or if they feel ill, preferably before they barf on the floor, but they are both very effective communicators and can make their opinions extremely clear.
While I get that some people don’t like dogs, cats or other animals, I do judge those people accordingly🤷🏻‍♀️

My dogs talk. I give them adorable voices and they tell me they love me every day🤣

This 100%

😃