Dog Laugh

[minkee]

Here is a post from a dog behaviour observation group on facebook. I know some of you are already a member but for those who are not here's the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1351059 ... 810698529/ It's a really great group that makes you focus on LOOKING and not assuming. For those who can't see the content, here it is:

Here's an experiment to try:
With your dog facing away from you or in a nearby room, give three or four loud hard well-spaced pants. Observe what occurs and report back here.

Today while out with a client I was explaining that panting is kind of like laughing in dogs and that it can help to calm a stressed dog in mild to moderate stressful situations. I demo'd for her what the pant sounds like, and as I did so, her dog (who was facing away on leash) whipped around and offered me a half play bow.

My own dogs will run from another room to play when they hear either me or the other dog making the sound. They also offer it while they are playing with me or other other dog. I have it on video and will be making a video to see and hear. The key seems to be the correct loudness, pattern (gap between each pant) and the number of (only 3 or 4) pants. I experimented with my own dogs to see what worked best over several sessions.

Below is a link to a sound recording and the study that discovered this use of sound in dogs.

http://www.petalk.org/petalk.org/DogLaughSpect.html

I tried it out and both dogs came bounding to me straight away, Breeze ran between my legs as is his wont and then they tumbled around playing with each other

[Nettle]

FB link not public.

The hard panting ("Ha Ha") is part of an invitation for friendly interaction. I sometimes use it with puppies if the mood is getting too stressy.

I knew a pet fox that would use it too - she'd run towards you wagging her brush and Ha Ha at you.

[gwd]

baby girl goes absolutely mental when I laugh..............I mean mental. she jumps on my head, does an Olympic swim quality flip turn off of my stomach, play bows, shoves toys at my mouth..........all the while her little butt and nubblet (docked tail) is going 100 miles an hour. if I have a serious case of the giggles she's beside herself.

but yes, the ha ha pant works too........on both dogs.

boy dog is less affected by my laughter but of course he gets in the game in response to babygirl's antics.

[minkee]

Our lodger has a Breeze problem The problem being that Breeze can be lying down, asleep even, busy eating, doesn't matter... if he so much as sniggers then Breeze is ontop of him licking his ears We try to watch as many comedies as possible

[Ari_RR]

I tried with Ari today when he was in some kind of deep thought, looking out the window. Didn't work. He looked at me with mild surprise -"is there anything wrong with you?" - then turned away and just kept thinking and looking out the window...

[rnor1120]

I played it for Chance and he immediately started humping Cricket

[james79]

I tried it with Murphy a couple of times and he mostly didn't respond or just looked at me like "not sure what you are doing but can you stop so we can play rope toy?" He does sometimes make a "heh heh heh" noise (not sure how best to explain it) and if we imitate him he'll get all riled up but the panting did nothing for him.

[Wes]

Got Sam to play bow! Remy just looks interested but doesn't do anything. He's not really a playful dog as it is.

[K9Steve]

I tried that and all of my dogs charged at me, knocking me down!