Yeah, yeah, I know this sounds like a crazy question to some but if you have dogs, then you’ll understand my curiosity.
I have a beautiful, smart black and silver female miniature schnauzer. She’s 10 years old and the love of my life. Again, if you have dogs you’ll understand my deep feelings for her.
Back to my question - she’s always been rather talkative but for the past year or so, she really seems to have a lot to say. When we go for walks to the beach, the moment we encounter anyone, she trots up to them, looks up into their face and starts to do this sing song bark/howl as if she’s saying “Hellooooooo”. It startles some people because they aren’t experienced with dogs and think she’s being aggressive. I explain that I think she’s greeting them and then they relax and speak to her. Dog experienced people bend down and speak back to her. When they do this, she really gets going, giving these barking howls and literally bouncing up and down on her little front feet in excitement. As long as they continue to talk to her, she keeps this up. I finally have to pull her away to go on with our walk. Then we encounter the next person and it starts all over again.
She’ll greet other dogs with the nose/tail sniff thing but doesn’t ever “speak” to them like she does to humans. It’s the funniest and cutest thing! I wonder what she’s really saying? Hello, how are you? You look funny in those shorts? I really wish I knew !!!
My mother’s cocker spaniel does the same thing… especially when in the car and nearing any familiar territory, such as (his) home, my house, the grocery store, or Nikki’s house, (Nikki being the Yorkie belonging to my parent’s best friends.) It’s not barking, or howling. It’s this noise he makes in the back of his throat and some chuffing sounds. Maybe a small yip here and there.
Bosco is mostly human, so this behavior does not suprise me. My mother talks to him like a person, and I remember reading somewhere that dogs have the same memory for vocabulary as a 4 year old does, which is why I believe he try’s to talk back to us.
He also talks when he gets agitated. Squirrel in the yard?.. talks a blue streak while staring out the window. If my mom tells him that I’m coming to visit, again, he’s streaking around the house, making all sorts of sounds. He’ll be 10 this summer and he’s done this for as long as I can remember.
Our mini schnauzer only does this when it’s playtime and he’s trying to get attention (or when I say “sing!”). He’s not very social with other people/dogs - just barks and barks and his hackles get about 3 feet tall.
[Told this story here already]I had a very on-the-ball black lab whom had a vocabulary of dozens of words-once he was being more of a pain than usual, so I looked him straight in the eyes and said, “Dickens, you are a real asshole!” And he glared at me out of the corner of his eye and made the kind of sound described above. Yes I am absolutely convinced he knew I was mock-insulting him, and simply gave as well as he got, as it were, as was his usual idiom anyway.
I do talk to her a lot so she definitely has a pretty large vocabulary and recognizes body language/hand gestures.
She is the sweetest little thing and I tell her all the time that if all of the human population could learn from her how to treat each other, this world would be a much happier place! She loves everybody and has never ever growled or been grumpy to man or dog in all of her 10 years. When I’m out walking with her and someone stops to pet her, I like to tell them that I would be more likely to bite them than she would!
My dog Sancho makes that same sound, a sort of “Awoowoowoowoowoo” when he’s greeting members of his “family”. He only does it with us though, not strangers. And he only does it when he first sees us, for greetings.
Well, if that’s what she’s feeling, I have to agree with her that she’s definitely superior to some humans I’ve known and seen in this weird world we live in! Way more class and style!
Merneith, “Awoowoowoowoowoo” is exactly what she does but it’s very drawn out, breaking only for her to take a breath. She’s got a lot to say…
I’ve seen several videos of dogs where their owners are trying to get them to say Hello, even one where the owner was trying to get their dog to say Hamburger. It even seemed like the dog was sounding out the syllables. Too cute!
I’ve had different breeds of dogs all of my life and worked for two vets and never encountered one before that “talked” as much as my Schnauzer does. The smartest dog I ever had was a Wire Haired Fox Terrier. She was scary smart and could learn commands in mere moments. One of the funny things she did was to get furious if you tried to sneak up on her in the house. Once she heard you behind her,( I would always laugh) she would freeze for a couple of seconds and then slowly turn her head to look at you, growling very quietly. I knew I better run for my life and then she would chase me around the house until she could grab my pants leg or jump on me if I sat down. I miss her terribly.
I have seen several people’s dogs do this. It almost universally means:“Can you please help me? I am stuck with this loser, and you look like nice people. Please rescue me.”
Our 4-yr-old mini schnauzer will do this, very occasionally. Usually when we aren’t moving fast enough for him. I imagine he’s saying; “hurry up, dammit! Let’s go get in the car, now!”
A co-worker of mine years ago had a beautiful Doberman. When she came up to you and did her awroooowraaeooroooo, you simply said, “Well, go get it!” and she would bring her favorite toy for you to throw. You really had to throw it too, she gave ya hell if she couldn’t reach top speed chasing it down. Had a real growly tone under it when she was scolding you for not throwing it hard enough.
