I read recently about an Italian scientist, who analyzed the tail wagging of dogs, and concluded that dogs communicate information based upon tail angle, speed of wagging, etc. Suppose you had a supercomputer anaylzed dog’s tail positions, facial expressions, vocalizations, ear positions, etc.-could you connect these gestures to human words? then you could translate human words into "dogspeak’. Would two-way communication then be possible?
Two-way communication is possible now. If you’ve owned a dog (or cat), you know – you don’t need a supercomputer to analyze those barks, head tilts, and tail wags. You’re gonna need people to calibrate that computer, anyway.
I’m reminded of the Gary Larsen cartoon where the guy invents the “Dog-to-Human Translator”. So he takes it out and finds out that every bark is translate as “Hey!”
Wasn’t there one where the guy is scolding the dog and then we see that all the dog is hearing is blah, blah, blah FIDO blah, blah, blah FIDO?
Anyways, I’m with you - dogs are really pretty good at telegraphing what they are feeling / thinking. My dog can “say” - feed me, play with me, walk me, leave me alone, I’m tired, where’s my chewtoy, I want to poop here, I’m interested in chasing that cat, I want this stupid bouncy dog to leave me alone, put me in my crate, let me clean that up for you, yes I know that was bad, I don’t care what you want me to do right now, etc. And they’re genetically brilliant at figuring out what we are trying to tell them, even if they don’t want to do it.
Besides, most of the time they’re just trying to say “My favorite thing!”
I dunno. I have cats. And they walk into the room and “Meeeeww”. And I say “you’re living in America, speak English!” And they say “Meeeeeeewwww”.
Full food dish, full water bowl (with an ice cube because I’m just that wonderful) getting petted which is more than I’ve been getting. WHAT DO YOU WANT???
I guess they could be saying “Hey, hey, hey” but really, I expect more from cats.
Bacon.
Yup, that’s it. The most perfect human-dog communication system ever. My dogs appear to not understand English most of the time. But if I’m holding a piece of bacon they understand EVERYTHING I say. Sit, stay, recite Pi to the 50th digit, etc. etc. Bacon is the key.
Maybe we just have very communicative cats. We can tell when they want “Ham” (any sliced lunch meat is “Ham”) Midnight even SAYS “Ham!”
Or to go out (“Out!” says Midnight)
Or “Pet me” Or “I want Vaseline” Or “Go Away!”
Maggie (of beloved memory) communicated perfectly, despite almost never vocalizing. She could meet you in the hallways as you were tending to guests and stare at you in a way that instantly said “Aren’t they EVER going to LEAVE?”
Yes, and then the other half of the cartoon is with a cat; a man scolds the cat, and the cat hears :
Nothing.