# Can dogs talk ?



## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

I told you sometime back Shade could no longer jump in the car.
Hans made a special step to clip onto the towbar fitting which works very well, easy to carry in the car. He is now making something for the Motorhome. We have an extra step at the moment, he can get in quite easily with that in front of the normal step (see picture), but himself wants to make something better, as usual.


For the last few days Shade has been telling me when he thinks he´s walked far enough by walking beside me and pushing his head against my leg. Today I thought I´d test this to see if I am reading him right. Now you must concentrate on what I am saying —— he did the head pressing on leg bit, I stroked him and continued to walk on, he walked with me, put his head in front of my legs to stop me going forward and kept pushing trying to turn me round, who says dogs can´t talk, you just have to know what they are saying.:grin2:
Jan


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## Wilmannie (Feb 7, 2010)

I'm quite sure dogs can communicate to us........the problem seems to be that we're
not always listening.


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## vicdicdoc (May 14, 2005)

I once heard of a dog who could say "Sausages"


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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

Oh bless him!


Of course they can communicate - we just need to be listening 


We found acupuncture very effective for pain relief in our old dog. It can only be given by a vet though.


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

patp said:


> Oh bless him!
> 
> Of course they can communicate - we just need to be listening
> 
> We found acupuncture very effective for pain relief in our old dog. It can only be given by a vet though.


Shade is not in any pain, he would soon shout if he was, he still loves to play, its running and jumping he can no longer manage.

We have experience of acupuncture for dogs with one of our GSD´s who had a problem with a very long name, chronic degenerative reticular myelitis, he survived an extra happy 18 months by having acupuncture.
Jan
http://scholar.google.pl/scholar?q=...ved=0ahUKEwj6mu7nhpvNAhVIXhQKHTWsAlcQgQMIJTAA​


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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

Is that another GSD thing? They seem to get so many problems now. They are my favourite breed but we gave up keeping them after losing our third one at an untimely age due to one or other of the many problems they seem to suffer from. We have now got a good old mongrel. He is black and tan though


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

patp said:


> Is that another GSD thing? They seem to get so many problems now. They are my favourite breed but we gave up keeping them after losing our third one at an untimely age due to one or other of the many problems they seem to suffer from. We have now got a good old mongrel. He is black and tan though


Its not only GSD´s it effects :-
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/n...e_diseases_of_the_spinal_column_and_cord.html
Our vet believed because Reece had been in a car accident when he was 3 years old it came from that, he lived to be almost 12.
What will we do when Shade goes, we have to think about it unfortunately, a Jack Russel little terror, or a Westie, some small dog with character because it will have to compete with Motley the Sheltie who has so much energy and is very intelligent.
Jan.


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

vicdicdoc said:


> I once heard of a dog who could say "Sausages"


But he didn´t say if he liked them, wanted one or hated them.
Esther had difficulty saying sausages.


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## MyGalSal (Dec 8, 2008)

JanHank said:


> Its not only GSD´s it effects :-
> http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/n...e_diseases_of_the_spinal_column_and_cord.html
> Our vet believed because Reece had been in a car accident when he was 3 years old it came from that, he lived to be almost 12.
> What will we do when Shade goes, we have to think about it unfortunately, a Jack Russel little terror, or a Westie, some small dog with character because it will have to compete with Motley the Sheltie who has so much energy and is very intelligent.
> Jan.


Dogs can indeed talk, very eloquently: the intelligence and communication in those eyes alone is huge, add that to very expressive body language, and their recognition of words as well as tone of voice completes the big picture. I remember having to avoid asking my husband if he fancied going for a walk because then the dog was up fetching her lead. We started to spell it out but she recognised that very quickly too. My parents had GSDs then my husband and I had GSDs, after we lost the last one we couldn't bear the thought of what to do next then a friend asked me to give a home to this stray wee Jack Russell, he was only a tiny pup. I hesitated, thinking I don't like little dogs but couldn't resist the poor wee thing. Turned out all for the best. He was so different, funny, very intelligent - to a scary degree. Sadly he has gone too now. We are dogless. I would love another, and would go again for a Jack Russell but a dog wouldn't fit with our current lifestyle and it wouldn't be fair to the dog.

Enjoy your muts.

Sal


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## Spacerunner (Mar 18, 2006)

Dogs are the only canine species that bark.
Some experts believe that dogs have only started barking after they were domesticated from wild species and it could be their way of talking to us.


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

Unfortunately I have a dog who does talk

He's very vocal , noisy bugger 

Best in a morning once albert gets up 

He's allowed briefly on the bed

And then it starts 
he just won't shut up till I say 

Ok I'm getting up now 

He knows at six he wants his meal

He knows following that he wants his chew

But the worse is he will sit and stare at his lead when he wants to go out, casting back his view 

Before his intestines fell out he sat and stared at me with those big brown eyes

And I did t understand that things were wrong, so wrong 

I thought he was a wimp

He is a wimp but a brave wimp
If he'd stop attacking anyone who comes near the motorhome

Stop barking when we approach a crossing, a petrol station a camp site

He would be about perfect
Well almost

Sandra


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## gramor (Oct 24, 2010)

If they could talk, am sure they would plead not to be left in a Moho when its 27 deg C outside, such as the two collies we saw in Fort William carpark on Monday.
We claim to be a nation of dog lovers, but many appear to be totally ignorant of how quickly dogs can overheat in a vehicle, if you must take them shopping, at least consider options to leash them outside the shop, not leave them cooking even for a few minutes.


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

Well we have air con
Strictly for him

No not really I need it too

If it's hot we move onto a campsite with elec

And him and me relax in the cool

Doesn't stop him talking though

This is one dog who loves to vocalise his concerns

Likes to determine what needs to be done

And why is it I understand ?

Just what he is telling me
Sandra


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

gramor said:


> If they could talk, am sure they would plead not to be left in a Moho when its 27 deg C outside, such as the two collies we saw in Fort William carpark on Monday.
> We claim to be a nation of dog lovers, but many appear to be totally ignorant of how quickly dogs can overheat in a vehicle, if you must take them shopping, at least consider options to leash them outside the shop, not leave them cooking even for a few minutes.


Something we have always been concious of with all our dogs, they have never been left in a car when its hot, in the caravan and now the motorhome they´re not left alone if its hot or not, except on one occasion and that was in the evening when it was not too hot :smile2:. Who would leave a child alone? If the dogs can´t go then we don´t go.


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

We have to leave him occasionally in the van, at supermarkets etc

And he's not a friendly dog in places where there are a lot of people, not over keen on towns etc where there is a lot of bustle 

We get around that with aircon or leaving all top windows open in the van, closing all lower blinds 

Not everywhere welcomes large black hounds in crowded conditions 

It's a question of balance, he has a good walk, then we have a couple of hrs to do what we want to do, visit a town or chateaux etc

We rarely eat out or leave him in the evenings

Sandra


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

aldra said:


> We have to leave him occasionally in the van, at supermarkets etc
> 
> And he's not a friendly dog in places where there are a lot of people, not over keen on towns etc where there is a lot of bustle
> 
> ...


I don´t think we are talking about 20 - 30 mins in a supermarket are we?
We would do the same as you Sandra, the Shade, like Shadow, would scare anyone away with one bark or ten, Motley keeps watch out of the window if the blinds are down (ours go up to keep sun out, stupid things) thats the only time they are left alone. They are well behaved in resaurants and admired by the other customers, but visits to eating places are quite rare.
As I said before, if they can´t go neither do we, visiting towns and places of interest (to others) we did years ago when we could walk and the dogs were at home in England with my Dad looking after them (before 2000). These days we are interested in the countryside and nice places to walk a little bit and a patch of grass to play tennis with the dogs like this place here :-


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## Easyriders (May 16, 2011)

Our dog Barney adopted us in Portugal, so he is bilingual. He understands both English and Portuguese, but only when he wants to!

he can't talk, but he can sing! If he hears a dog howling, a cat meowing, or a baby crying, he howls, quite musically.


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

For shadow it's the ambulances if they have their siren on he sits in the garden and howls when they pass

Sandra


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