Do you ever sometimes wish you could have real conversations with your dog? You know, instead of just verbalizing at each other in different languages? Some pet parents swear their dog’s woofs sound human. When you see this video of a French Bulldog puppy talking to his person, you might just have to agree.
You may have even already seen this video, given that it has over 13.8 million views. First of all, let me just say how cute this puppy looks in his little sweater. I’ve yet to see one that doesn’t, but that’s beside the point.
This looks like a young pup, so not surprisingly the little guy likes to make noise. At the start, he’s just woofing and whimpering.
The woman holding the pup tells him she loves him. Without skipping a beat, the dog replies back “I love you.” Well, technically it’s more of a “rah rah roo,” but it does seem like a direct response to her expression of love.
Watch the entire priceless video below, because you simply must hear these “I love you”s for yourself.
I must admit, a large part of this video’s charm lies with the reactions of the people observing. They can’t handle the cuteness of this mimicking dog. If I had been present, I absolutely would have responded with this much excitement too.
Was This Puppy “Speaking?”
Dogs are known to imitate their humans’ behaviors, so it’s possible this little guy attempted to copy his person’s sounds. On the other hand, he might just have little woofs that sound like “I love you.” They really do, don’t they??
This “I love you” sounding bark has also been observed in Huskies, Pugs, Beagles, and some other breeds. So why do all these dogs woof this particular way?
Gary Lucas, a visiting scholar in psychology at Indiana University says this behavior is more imitation than it is “speaking.” For dogs, vocalization is a way to convey their emotions. They can accomplish this by varying their tones. As a result, they’re inclined to pay attention to vocal tone changes. That also makes them able to imitate their human’s vocal patterns. They can even pick up on rhythms and certain vowel sounds.
“The vocal skills of some of the dogs and cats on YouTube suggest that they might also have some selective tonal imitation skills.”
After all, dogs’ mouths and lips aren’t structured to pull off human speech. Imagine your dog trying to make a “P” sound. They can’t.
Of course, it’s not unfair to suggest we’re hearing what we want to hear. But hey, if you say your dog said I love you, I believe your dog said I love you!
H/T: I Love My Dog So Much
Featured Image: Screenshot, @WaggleTV/YouTube
Toledo, United States.
