a question for pet owners

daisy dukes


Joined: 06/09/2008
Posts: 3815

Message Posted:
25/09/2009 18:36

Do you think dogs recognise facial expressions? My male dog Ted doesn't recognise anything uness it's food attached...but Poppy, well, i did a little experiment and i found when i smiled at her, her tail would wag, and when i bared my teeth she laid down all submissive. Has anyone else noticed that their dogs recognise and act upon facial expressions, or is Poppy just real special...?





DD

Vidal


Joined: 14/05/2009
Posts: 867

Message Posted:
25/09/2009 19:05

Dont know about dogs, but I do know that cats close their eyes at you as a sign of trust. You can try it. Next time the cat is on your lap, close your eyes at her/him in a slightly 'screwed up against the sun' kind of way..and they do it back. Brilliant.

daisy dukes


Joined: 06/09/2008
Posts: 3815

Message Posted:
25/09/2009 19:11

wow!! As a non-cat person i wouldn't know this, but my neighbour has cats, so i will definitely try this out!



DD

AlexF065


Joined: 07/09/2009
Posts: 271

Message Posted:
25/09/2009 20:47

DD

Ted is a bit behind his sister to put it kindly lol

lots of dogs can tell what you are thinking with expression and they never fail to amaze me at how perceptive they are

when my father passed away my 2 dogs never left my mother side for the week she stayed with us they were not told to but seemed to know their nan was upset and I had their dad to help me

Lilli



Joined: 21/07/2008
Posts: 13081

Message Posted:
26/09/2009 00:49

My staffi knows wjhen Im upset, I dont know if my tone of voice changes then but he licks the face off me. They get tuned to our moods I guess. When Im upset they wont leave my side xxxxx

proger1



Joined: 18/04/2009
Posts: 2919

Message Posted:
26/09/2009 01:34

Here is another interesting one to try but it only works with your own dog and if you know the words in another language.

Try giving your dog commands in a different language and around 50% of the time they will do as commanded and no they are not bilingual.

Your words might chage but your tone and facial/body actions will be the same, that's what the dog understands.

The ironic thing is that the 50% the dog doesn't follow is probably your fault for being unsure how to pronounce the word so it is not natural.



In some cases, I am guessing that DC's dogs probably can, dogs actually follow the commands in several languages but that will be habit if Hans uses more than one language with them.



Pretty cool really.