Communication Systems of Dogs

This paper will look at one of the communication systems of dogs - sound. It will look at how dogs communicate in the wild, and how they communicate with man in captivity. It will deal with spoken language as a means of communication animal-to-animal and animal-to-man.

In human language, the actual sounds that make up the words we hear have no intrinsic relation to the meaning of the words themselves. However, in animal vocalizations, this is not so. It is almost a universal law of animal communication that low sounds (growls) indicate aggression and high sounds (whines) indicate fear or appeasement (Budiansky, 1995). Big things generally make low sounds and small things make high sounds. Whines and growls therefore take advantage of both the laws of acoustics and eons of evolved experience: it pays to recognize and avoid big things and not to fear small things. Humans also respond to these same rules in that they speak in a soft, high-pitched voice to a baby, and in a rough low tone to some one when they are angry.

Domesticated dogs do not have the same concept of self as higher apes and humans do (Budiansky, 1995). A chimp looking in a mirror quickly understands that it is seeing and image of itself. If you paint a dot on the chimps head, it will try to wipe it off. A dog fails these tests. It will often try to attack its own image in the mirror, thinking it is another dog.

Barking in dogs does not usually follow this rule. A Bark monitored on an oscillos

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if you say "sit" or "sip" or "sick" or even "hit" or "lit" to your dog, it will sit. A word spoken softly or high-pitched will be taken as positive, whereas one in a low tone will be recognized as chastisement, and the dog will behave appropriately. Dogs probably do not really recognize their name, but rather they recognize that when they hear that particular sound, they should turn and look at the speaker. The most common withdrawal sound of the dog is the yelp. All dog owners understand that it means either distress or actual pain. Pleasure sounds in dogs include moans and infantile high-pitched whimpers. Again, the dog learns that these sounds have a positive affect for them when used with humans. They never make these sounds at another dog. This is again a learned behavior in domesticated dogs. Wolves differ from dogs in that the voice of the wolf in the wild is the only aspect of the animal most people know (Steinhart, 1995). Because this sound lodges in the older, less- tutored part of the mind, it is the most emotional point of contact we have with them. Wolves spend their nights howling. The response to these howls gives them some idea of whether they're breeding and how many are out there. Usually the pups

Category: Psychology - C