Yes, You Can Talk to Your Pets
August 8, 2010 by LaBecs
Filed under Featured Articles
All animal lovers believe that their pets understand most of what they say to them, but it is a proven fact that both dogs and cats are capable of learning human language, not to the extent a child does, of course, but enough to be able to communicate. Your pets will never have the same extensive vocabulary as people, but they are capable of learning dozens if not hundreds of words. Yes, you can talk to pets.
Your pets love to interact with you, and talking to them often gives them the chance to be a part of your world and feel a lot closer to you.
Your pets crave the sound of your voice. They enjoy the attention you are giving them when you talk to them. The natural rhythm of conversation soothes them and pets detect the love and affection in your voice.
People tend to change their tone and use very simple words when they speak to their pets, just like they do when they speak to children. However, there is no need to restrict your vocabulary since they are very good at understanding what you are saying. Obviously, they don’t understand the words immediately, they need a little coaching to be able to understand what you’re saying. They need to be taught a little.
At first, talk to them with simple and short words, but you don’t have to use only childish vocabulary. The more extensive vocabulary you use, the more words your pets will learn, and they will also learn to understand your voice inflections a lot better, so there’s no need to talk with an overly infantile voice as we tend to do…. you know: “Who’s momma’s baby? Who’s the baby?” Our tone of voice is important, however. If we use a high pitched, happy voice, it will get them excited. If we lower our pitch and speak calmly, we’ll be able to sooth them, if we use s stern and harsh tone, they will know they did something wrong. Keep in mind that even though pets are capable of understanding words and phrases, they can’t relate them to something that they can’t see. You can’t scold your cat for something he did 10 minutes ago, but he will understand if you scold him at the very moment he’s caught doing the bad deed.
One thing that’s important is that both dogs and cats need to hear the same words and phrases repeatedly to learn them. Just like when you say to your family “Dinner’s ready”, somehow they know what’s coming because they have experienced that whenever you say that phrase, food’s on the table. This means that in order for them to really understand the meaning of a word or phrase, it has to be followed by an action. If you tell your cat “come here”, he won’t know what you’re talking about unless you coach him to come to you in 
some way. It’s very important that the first word you use when you talk to your pets is their name, that’s the way to get their attention, but once you get their attention, you need to follow up with some action so that they won’t start tuning out knowing that nothing happens when they turn to see you.
You can also use hand signals and body language to communicate with your dog or cat. For instance, when you want him to stop, stand still and give them a palm-out signal. If you want them to come to you, bend down and pat your knees.
Another thing you can do to communicate is learn their language. With dogs it’s a little harder. If you try to bark or growl they’ll just look at you as if you’re crazy, dog language has a very distinctive accent, you might say. But your cats are a different story. If you approach a cat using cat language, look at her sideways and blink your eyes to give a peaceful greeting. If you want her to relax, purr, or if you want to scold her, hiss.
Whatever language you decide to use, whether it’s body language, hand signals, cat language dog language or human language, it’s important that you communicate with your pets. It will definitely deepen your bond and make your life together a lot more interesting.
