I apologize for the dumb laugh tracks. Here's a wonderful dog named Mishka:
Of course almost everything Mishka "says" sounds almost identical, but I can definitely hear "I love you" and "thank you" more clearly than anything else. My favorite part, though, is when they ask her if she's stupid and she says "Noooooo!"
I do not believe that these dogs are actually talking or communicating. I do believe, however, that they are great at mimicking the sounds we make, especially if there is positive reinforcement involved (you can practically see Mishka and the other dogs staring at the treats that are being held off-camera).
In this terrible quality excerpt from America's Cutest Dogs, they briefly mention this. Dogs do have their own voices and different ways of making sounds and communicating (for example, whining, barking, and howling). All of these different sounds have different meanings. Not only do they make different sounds, but there are different intonations and such that can help show what a dog is trying to communicate. However, while it may sounds like Mishka is really telling us that she loves us, all she is doing is copying the sound she hears her owner make, and being conditioned through treats to keep mimicking him.
According to Gary Lucas, a psychology scholar at Indiana University Bloomington, dogs vocalize with each other to convey emotion. One way they do this is varying their tone. This makes dogs sensitive to the different tonal patterns in our speech, and this is why it is so easy for them to copy or mimic the sounds that we make.
Apparently scientists have actually been researching and studying why when dogs mimic or speech, it sounds so funny compared to the way we say it. This is because dogs do not use their tongue or lips very well, and so they have poor pronunciation and tend to completely botch consonants.
So while it looks like Fido is saying "I love you" or "Hello," all he's really saying is "Give me that treat, dammit!" What is really happening is the dog hears us make a sound, he repeats it, we give him a treat, and the cycle is continued until he knows how to say it without repeating.
However, even though dogs can't directly speak to us, they are able to communicate and understand what we are saying. They are a species that relies heavily on body language and can tell what we're feeling by studying our posture, how we move, or where we are pointing. They can also decipher things from the tone of our voice.
An article titled What Do Those Barks Mean? discusses the different meanings behind the different sounds that canines make. According to the article, dogs always bark for a reason, even if we humans can't see that reason. Howling, for example, is something evolved from wolves (who used howling as a way to communicate to other wolves that were far away, saying "Here I am!"). Barks, whimpers, and growls were obviously evolved from wolves as well, but the meanings changed. Wolves used them simply as warnings, either to their pack or to enemies.
With dogs, however, more meanings have evolved. Sure, there are the same basic primal barks. But now barks show different emotions such as loneliness, fear, distress, stress, and pleasure. Barks are also ways to alert other dogs (and their owners) to changing external circumstances.
There are also different types of barks. "Noisy" barks, for example, are used as defensive and offensive threats, to show physical distress, or even social insecurity. "Harmonic" barks, on the other hand, are more friendly barks and are used in situations like when the dog wants to play. They also have different barks when addressing different dogs (or even species of animals).
Like I said earlier, dogs rely heavily on body language and they can easily read ours. Their language is not just a series of sounds, but a combination of barks and different body signals (such as staring, raised haunches, the position of the tail, pinned-back ears, and defensive or submissive postures).
Additionally, dogs have an impressive ability to learn and understand human words. A border collie named Rico has learned the names of more than 200 objects. Rico even used learning techniques that small children used. When a new item was introduced to Rico, he learned what it was called by associating the unknown word with the unknown item. This puts Rico on par with a three-year-old. His ability also outranks the ability of chimpanzees, who can not do what Rico does.
Something else that I think is incredibly fascinating is that dogs tend to take on regional accents. The longer that dogs live with their owners (and the closer the bonds they have), the more likely they are to adopt their accent. According to a study, dogs who lived in Liverpool had a higher pitched voice than dogs from Scotland. The study had owners record their voices as well as their dogs. Then the pitch of their voices were compared, as well as the tone, volume, and length of the sounds.
Dogs really must be man's best friend. Not only are they incredibly faithful companions, but they also like to mimic us and sound like us. If that's not dedication, I don't know what is.
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