Mommy Loves Her Pookie Puppies

Dave was watching a hilarious video about two dog owners and their Corgi. I'm sure you've seen the video; it went viral on social media. Basically, the two owners talked to their dog in baby talk, referred to themselves as the dog's parents, and scheduled their lives around the dog's well-being.  Dave turned to me and said, "That's you!"  No kidding. Sound familiar to you too?

I'm actually not embarrassed by this at all.  Researchers found that dogs were more responsive to and favored speakers that spoke to them in a high-pitched/baby-talk style voices as compared to a normal adult's voice. In the study, this kind of interaction was referred to as "dog-directed speech," basically high-pitched voices and exaggerated emotions, like those used with babies and small children. The researchers also found that the dogs in the study preferred speech with dog-related content.  Well, no kidding.  When I talk to my dogs about my day, they are less interested in the price of gas and more interested in the snacks I picked up for them and when we will be going for our walkies.

If you'd like to see a summary of this study's results which were originally published in the scientific journal "Animal Cognition," here's a link:

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/05/dogs-animals-pets-baby-talk/

So, don't feel bad if you, too, speak to your pets like they are babies.  They actually enjoy it.

Gotta run. It's time for mommy to feed her collie boys their snickety-snacks!