Our pets have always been talked to. They recognize the “talking to animals” tone of voice. Currently we have 2 adult cats, a kitten and a middle-aged Pekingese. If I start talking to one, (“Aw, who’s a sweetie kitten? Luci is a good girl…”) pretty soon there’s another, and another, and another animal showing up wanting some attention, too.
Many years ago, I was in the back yard hanging up clothes, and one of the cats came wandering by (this was back in the day when we permitted cats to go outside) and, being Siamese, she yammered at me, so of course I answered back and we had a little conversation. My daughter and a friend were inside but could hear me. “Who is your Mom talking to?!” asked the friend. “The cat,” says Daughter. “She’s talking to the CAT???”
Our dear departed Rocky the cat knew quite a number of words, no matter how casually uttered. No sooner would my husband request a tuna fish sandwich, than Rocky would be in the kitchen waiting for his saucer of drained-out tuna juice.
OTOH, we’ve also noticed that if we say anything at all in a loving tone of voice, a dog becomes ecstatic. “Are you a dumb, ugly mutt? Are you a stupid dog? Oh, what a stupid dog you are!” is responded to with vigorous tail wagging, tongue-lolling, as if to say, “Yeah, I am!”
I talk to my dog. Then I have a special voice in which I talk when I wish to convey that I am speaking words for him – TobySpeak, if you will. We have perfectly lovely conversations that are not weird at all.
My black lab Dickens (okay you guys have given me two threads in one night where I can brag about a dog who has been gone 10 years-so sue me) knew at least 50 words. Yeah I’d try to fool him by saying something like, “Do you want to go to the…dinosaur?” [Instead of “French fry”, as in french fry place/McDonald’s, as he loved French fries] If I said “French fry”, he’d start barking like mad, but if I said “dinosaur” he’d just cock his head quizzically as if to say, “Hey John that’s not the word I was thinking of, what you trying to pull?”
Yet I would tell people this, and they wouldn’t believe me. Well he did.
Absolutely. I talk to them all the time, and even say “excuse me” when they’re in the way. Believe it or not, they listen. Even the cat. Well, the cat will listen to my foot, moreso than my words, but that’s another story (kidding!)
You bet. I even make up songs to sing to him. Our latest song was, “Don’t eat the feet, don’t eat the feet. Feet are kinda smelly and really ain’t that sweet.” (He was chewing on his paw.)
Cassie is basically deaf so I signal to her more than talk. Hanna thinks everything you say to her equalls “outside” and Queenie will sit and listen as long as you want.
Bob is my kitty talker.
Me: Did you have a nice time outside?
Bob: MEOW = Yeah
Me: Oh your fur is cold.
Bob: Meow = I know
Me: You want some Num Nums?
Bob: MEOOOW = Damn straight!
I, too, talk to all of my animals, even the fish. Silly stuff, mostly. One of our cats likes to sprawl out on the bathroom rug while I’m getting ready for work in the morning. I talk to her, and ask questions like, “So, what are you going to do today, Fuzz?” It makes her purr. Then, when I come home from work, she has a LOT of things to tell me. I suspect she’s saying, “Bitch, where have you been all damn day,” or “Scritches! Now! Scritches! Now!”
I don’t usually speak through my animals, but sometimes my husband and I tell each other that one of the cats or the dog told us something, such as “Buggy told me you might need a spanking,” or “Buddy said I should keep an eye on you.” At which point we either point out that the animal is a dirty liar or just plain doesn’t speak English.
I talk and sing to my cats. I talk to the dogs that I take care of at the shelter. I talk to other people’s dogs on the street. I talk to squirrels I see outside. I talk to stray cats.
I’ve also discovered that if I’m angry at my husband and expressing this through a raised voice (i.e., yelling at him), “my” cat will displace her anxiety onto the other cats by chasing them down and swatting the hell out of them.
My new dog LOVES being talked to. He’ll look right in your eyes and appear to be taking in every word you say. I guess he likes the attention and finds it soothing.
The very first dog I had as an adult very much wanted to understand what we were saying and I remember him trying so hard to figure out what those sounds coming out of our mouths meant. Poor guy. He did end up learning what a lot of words and short phrases meant though. And he learned to spell w-a-l-k, too.
I talk to all dogs and cats that I meet. Horses, too.
How would you feel if you were snubbed socially?
You wouldn’t like it.
This might belong in that thread about why people think you’re crazy…
Of course I talk to my pets. The dog will pay attention, if I’ve just eaten sausage. The cat is more along the lines of “Boring…losing…consciousness…must eat…your skull…”
I talk to our dogs a lot. One of them (Clancy, now gone) had a pretty extnensive vocabulary. I knew it’s limits, but it was enough to convince many people that he understood every word I said. I worked pretty hard to always use the same words, and to choose words that sounded dfferent. It was “outside” and “house” rather than “inside”. I gave each of his toys a simple name, and each room of the house a name. He’d also make a huge variety of different sounds…nothing that sounded at all like words mind you, but I could distinguish if he was telling me the water dish was dry vs. wanting to be let out.
The other two dogs not so much. I got Clancy as a very young puppy, and talked to him all the time. The other dogs were adopted at much later stage in life, I think that has a lot to do with it. The little one is more eager to please than Clancy ever was, but she just barely gets the idea that those sounds I make are intended as communication.
