You don’t have to understand dog barks to be closer to your furry friend (although that can help). According to researchers, speaking to your dog the same way you talk to babies will draw him closer to you. Do you do dog communication this way?
Psychologists at the University of York conducted experiments that found people who used a high-pitched tone in dog talks earned more attention and preference from the canine participants.
“Infant-directed speech (IDS) is a special speech register thought to aid language acquisition and improve affiliation in human infants,” said Dr. Katie Slocombe, one of the authors of the study. “This form of speech is known to share some similarities with the way in which humans talk to their pet dogs, known as dog-directed speech (DDS).”
She further explained that this type of speech is common amongst people interacting with dogs. However, there is insufficient research on whether this produces the same enhanced bonding effect with hounds as with babies. And that is the question that the study aimed to answer.
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How the Dog Talk Tests Were Done
In past experiments, humans were tasked to carry out dog talk over a loudspeaker without being in the same room as the pooch. That is not the case with this study.
Both human and canine participants were in the same room throughout the tests, thus making the setting natural for the animals.
Adult dogs were made to listen to a person doing dog talk about dog-related topics. Statements like “you’re a good dog” and other phrases relevant to the dog were used.
The researchers also set up another scenario where another human performs dog talk but in the form of adult-directed speech and with content unrelated to dogs. An example of that is, “I went to the cinema last night.”
The human participants also spoke to the dogs in dog-directed speech using irrelevant words. They also tried speaking to them using adult-directed speech with dog-relevant words. This helped the authors of the study learn whether it was the tone or the words that attracted the dogs.
The psychologists then recorded the participating canines’ behaviour during the dog talk tests. Then, they let the hounds select which speaker to engage with.
The Dog Talk Results Revealed
According to Alex Benjamin, the study’s co-author, the dogs were “more likely to want to interact and spend time with the speaker that used dog-directed speech with dog-directed content.”
He also said the dogs did not show a preference for any speakers in the scenario where the speech and content were mixed up.
The researchers concluded that adult dogs want to listen to dog-relevant words that are spoken using a high-pitched, emotional voice.
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More Supporting Evidence
In August 2023, Hungarian researchers published a study about the canine brain’s processing and response to acoustic properties of speech.
What makes their research more interesting is the presence of neural evidence during their dog talk experiment, which other studies did not provide.
Researchers used a function of magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan on fully awake trained family dogs during the experiment. This apparatus tracks blood flow and oxygenation changes to map out brain activity.
The participating canines listened to 3 types of audio: dog-, infant-, and adult-directed speech, which were recordings collected from 12 women and 12 men. Whilst they listened to the audio, the fMRI measured their brain activity.
Results show that the auditory brain regions of canines exhibited more reaction to dog talks using canine- and infant-directed speech. These responses become significantly noticeable upon hearing the record of women’s voices.
According to researchers, the responsiveness of pooches to canine- and infant-directed speech is because their brains are highly sensitive to women’s intensely modulated voice pitch.
Experts believe that this neural preference of pooches in dog talk is a product of domestication since the voice tone patterns women use in canine-directed speech are not commonly applied in dog-dog communication.
Moreover, evidence indicates that women are more likely to be effective in communicating with dogs because they tend to speak in more exaggerated patterns of rhythm and sound compared to men.
How These Dog Talk Results Help
If you’ve been using “baby talk” in speaking to your dogs, the findings of this recent study encourage you to carry on proudly. You may even want to consider moving on to the fine art of understanding dog barks!
If you have issues with getting your dog to pay attention or establishing a better bond with a new canine companion, try speaking to him in a higher tone moving forward. According to a 2017 research presented in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, talking to a puppy in an even higher pitch helps him pay more attention to you.
Further, using hand gestures alongside high-pitched tones can increase the effectiveness of puppy training and dog training.
That’s because dogs can understand the intentions of human gestures in certain situations, unlike chimpanzees or wolves. This is interesting considering wolves are the closest relatives to our canine pals.
FAQs About Dog Communication
1. Do Dogs Like When Humans Talk to Them?
Multiple studies we have presented in this article show that dogs like it when humans talk to them. They are particularly highly responsive to dog- and infant-directed speech. These types of dog talk can help strengthen your relationship with your dog.
1. Do Dogs Understand Baby Talk?
Dogs do not understand baby talk, but many of them like hearing it. There is neural evidence that their brain activity yields a positive response upon listening to infant-directed speech, especially coming from women.
1. What Voice Do Dogs Prefer?
As the 2023 research suggests, dogs are more likely to prefer the voice tone patterns of women compared to men. This could mean there is a high chance that women can communicate more effectively with their canine companions.
1. Is It Good to Talk to Your Dog Like a Baby?
Dog talk in the form of infant-directed speech is good. He will likely enjoy listening to it compared to adult-directed speech.
However, do not make the mistake of using baby talk to coddle him when he is facing scary experiences during training and socialisation.
Otherwise, it will support his view that the world is an intimidating place that he needs to be constantly protected from.
Conclusion
Many people find baby talk as a part of owner–dog communication an odd thing. However, this judgment should not stop dog owners from speaking to their pets this way. Scientific evidence shows that it is good for the canine brain and also aids in fostering a strong relationship with dogs.
Although your dog is unlikely to speak back to you, he has other ways to effectively communicate with you such as body language. Learning it will make you more attuned to the range of feelings and emotions he experiences daily.