Dogs have the capacity for speech!

My parents were very accomplished vetinarians and I've had enormous experience with animals yet I always wondered why it was only certain types of birds that had could even mimic human speech. This became an obsession for me and so I trained my pet dog, Lewy, in order to make him talk.

Over 5 years I have been making steady progress and I believe I have finally taught Lewy to mimic a few english words. They sound as a low growl but to the trained ears are quite clear words.

I'm going to continue training until I can get him to form phrases.

I'll report back......

P.s. I'd prefer it if Lewy didn't recieve any media exposure as I've seen it's effect on many animals and it only stresses them out. Therefore I will not be making any videos or anything that may attract unwanted attention

I read that dogs lacked the vocal qualities that make speech possible, as in vocal cords, and also that dogs have different communication needs as other animals, they get their point across by means of touch and dog vocalizations.
But in reality, I've seen dogs that almost behave like children.

I'm sure its all in the stimuli they receive, I`m a big fan of Dr. Penny Patterson, and other researchers that follow her uncommon approach.

Intelligence manifests in many other ways than just self awareness.
Intelligence can take many different routes, just as life does.

I`m interested in your research, and your techniques, keep us updated!

I tried once to teach my dog the ABC's by showing a picture and she would do a trick, but I ran out of tricks and gave up. I know she has the capacity, but I would rather try to understand her language now than make her understand mine.

Originally posted by fusedhyperion
P.s. I'd prefer it if Lewy didn't recieve any media exposure as I've seen it's effect on many animals and it only stresses them out. Therefore I will not be making any videos or anything that may attract unwanted attention

What? Really, what. Don’t let the animal watch u-tube, and post the video.

reply to post by TheOneEyedProphet


I see you are interested in my techniques. Well the main focus is rewards. If you show the dog that it will get a reward if it does a certain action then it will be more willing to perform that action.

As a basis I say the word I want Lewy to say right up to his face so he can see my mouth movements, my tongue movements etc. Then I eat a doggy treat right in front of him.

I have to repeat this many times. Then when he starts trying to form the word i get a treat and as he gets closer and closer to mimicking the word the treat gets closer to him.

I've done this many of thousands of times over the years but with each word learnt the process becomes quicker.

I hope you find this of interest.

Originally posted by fusedhyperion

P.s. I'd prefer it if Lewy didn't recieve any media exposure as I've seen it's effect on many animals and it only stresses them out. Therefore I will not be making any videos or anything that may attract unwanted attention

im going to hazard a guess and say that youre not going to post youtube videos of your 'talking' dog because you are talking utter tripe and that it has nothing to do with your dogs stress levels.

besides, just dont let it watch youtube, and film away

might even get you taken seriously if it comes out with anything other than an indistinct low growl... which, btw is totally impossible since they dont have any means to produce human-esque sounds through lack of a proper set of human like vocal cords

and before you go off on one, birds that mimic humans actually do have vocal cords that work very similar to those in us. Which is why they can do it.

Originally posted by fusedhyperion
This became an obsession for me

There- in lies the truth, you are an obsessive person with a delusional complex. Wooof woof

[edit on 31-10-2008 by Circle]

Bring on 'That's Life' !
Sausages !!!

Dogs have the capacity to speak.

NO THEY DON'T!!!

Originally posted by NeoSocialist
Bring on 'That's Life' !
Sausages !!!

Dogs have the capacity to speak.

NO THEY DON'T!!!

LOL

im an ex-pat living in the US and i remember seeing that episode as a kid. Crazy. your comment brought it back in a second and im now giggling in front of my computer.

sausages, indeed!!

reply to post by johnDoe21


my dog can talk. one time when i was tripping he told me to burn my neighbours house down. obvioulsy i obliged as i feared my dogs wrath.

Has anybody managed to get their dog to belch "Archbishop Makarios"?

That was a common task, difficult even for humans, when I was a kid.

It loses favour in polite society though... just a warning...