I am under no illusions about canine intelligence. its just that I find my dog to be a most attentive listener. I will talk to him about my conderns, and he exhibits human-like expresseins-his ears will perk up, eyebrows will perk up, sometimes his forehead skin will furrow-as if he is pondering a difficult point. In short, he looks like many humans when you talk to them. Have dogs learned these expressions from us? Or do they puzzle over their humans, when we talk to them? Dogs learn a few command, like their names, walks, food, go out etc. What do they make of us when we send longs strings of words their way?
Of course. When it’s just me and the dog alone in the house, it’s nice to have someone to talk to. I know she listens, because she looks at me, and I see thoughtful, measured agreement in her expression.
Or not.
At any rate, I talk to the dog because of that sappy bit of prose:
Speak to me often, for your voice is the world’s sweetest music, as you must know by the fierce wagging of my tail when your footsteps falls upon my waiting ear.
Yes, I talk to my dogs. Nothing wrong with that. The problem is when you think they are talking back.
I talk to my cat. Does that count? Sometimes she’ll chime in with a “meow!” but it’s hard to tell if she’s agreeing with me or telling me I’m an idiot.
Dogs do tend to be better listeners. When I had a dog he’d definitely pay attention to me when I started a conversation with him, but my cat tends to ignore me for the most part.
Sort of. I don’t tell him about my day or anything, but do find myself explaining things when they concern him. For example, the other day he wanted to go for a walk (I know this because he brought his leash to me) and I told him we couldn’t go right then, because [what ever the reason was], so he’d have to wait. Afterward, I felt silly about it, but still slip into doing this every so often.
I talk to my dog all the time. She attentively listens to whatever I say, tilting her head from side to side. I figure as long as I know that I’m talking to the dog, I’m okay…
Brendon Small
I talk to my dog all the time. He generally completely ignores me.
Yes, I do. And like others have said, my dog will listen attentively. It’s to the point where if I say anything at all when we are alone, she assumes that I’m talking to her. I learned that the hard way when the 'Riders won the Grey Cup (Canadian football national championship for the unknowing) and I was shouting at the tv. It was causing a lot of canine anxiety.
Like many dogs she associates some words with specific meanings, such as “up”, “out”, “walk”, “ride”, “treat”, “food”, and “puppy” (which actually is her plush stuffed squeaky toy), “shake a paw” and “sit” and will react appropriately to the word.
I sure do.
How many of you talk THROUGH your dog? (“Tell mommy to let you out!” “Tell daddy it’s cold in here!” “Tell mommy I hate her!”)
And how many of you answer for your dog? 
What, not everyone does this? I talk to all of my pets…the dog, cats, horses, even the fish and snakes, occasionally.
And while I don’t talk through my pets, I do talk for my pets.
Ana the Arabian tends to “say” things like, “Whaaat’s that? Will it eat me?” and “GRR GRR give me my food! Feed me!” ::I give an unimpressed angry glare:: “Oohh, sorry, sorry, didn’t mean it…please may I have my bucket of joy now?”
Firefly the mini “says” things like, “Back off, bitch!” “I can take you!” and “Feed me, dammit!” But really, she’s very sweet when you get to know her. 
And it goes on from there, with all of our animals personalities inspiring the “conversations.”
She’s probably just asking you for some pot and/or expressing her irritation at not getting the good stuff. Cats can tell, you know.
When I had them, I did.
Though when I am at my friends house who has 5 dogs, you might catch me talking or doing baby talk to one of them. They are cute.
Hey, that was my roommate’s cat. Er, imaginary, that is. The cat, not the roommate.
Exactly. Your cat is jealous. Meanie. 
Yes, constantly. I have found though, that the chatter has caused her to tune into language a bit more than most dogs. She can follow commands easily enough, but also can execute two, three, and four part sequences that your run of the mill house dog doesn’t normally perform. For example: “Sienna, get down of the bed, go get Boo-Boo, (A toy), Bring him here, and put him in your toy basket”. She will be able to do this correctly in order about 85% of the time. I attribute this to the fact that she was bottle raised and didn’t have the “litter-mates and nursing mother” experience and imprinted on humans as “mommy” from roughly 3 days old.
Heck, yeah, I talk to my animals. Isn’t that the reason to have them? So you can basically talk to your self without anybody sending you to the funny farm?
Yeah, I talk to my critters. The dog listens attentively, and the cats…well, sometimes they “talk” back, sometimes they ignore me.
Do I talk to my dog? Uh … yeah, sometimes. Er … shifty eyes Why? What has she been telling you?
My dog talks to me; he tells me who is out to get me and what I should do about it.