Pets and Humans-The Bridge is Tone and Posture

Tyler Benson
Ms. Hughes
English 1101
September 3, 2009

As humans we tend to warp things with our imagination and minds in hopes of finding something, or creating in this sense, that we want to happen. We have a propensity to get so attached to things that we start to dream and imagine that it is able to communicate with us and let us know what it is truly thinking. Sadly, I am guilty of this as well, hoping that my pet would be able to actually tell me what it is thinking and what it understands. Our imaginations get the best of us and we start to trick ourselves into a false state of mind, ultimately causing real answers to warp into some sort of fantasy. Our pets are not able to understand what we are saying. The only thing that they can truly understand is the way their language is spoken, or barked in this case.
Dogs communicate to one another through growls, whines, barks, and moans. All of these are at different pitches and have many different tones and body postures to give off the message to anything that is near them. When a dog whines, we as humans say that the dog is in some sort of discomfort. We cannot understand that whine, all we can do is comprehend that the dog is upset by its body posture and tone of the whine. It’s the same way for them; they understand that we are in a certain mood because of the way our voices are produced and the way we are standing or moving. That’s why when you get a puppy it has no idea what is wrong and right until it sees you get made and produce a tone and give it some kind of disciplinary action. It will eventually comprehend that certain tones mean certain things, just as it would with other dogs. The question is still asking if a dog can truly understand what we are saying. A dog cannot understand the language of human beings; it can only read the tones and pitches of our voice and watch posture. It is doing the exact same thing as if we were just another dog.
I have actually done a little experiment with my own pet and was rather surprised by the results that he gave to me. Every time I take him outside to do his business I give off a certain tone and clap my hands for him to follow me. He abides by this and heads straight for the door to get an opportunity to excrete his wastes and get a treat. He doesn’t understand a word I say, all he knows is when that pitch is brought out its time to use the restroom and get a treat for it. Today, however, I changed my tone and instead of clapping my hands I snapped my fingers. I said exactly the same thing as I usually did only my voice was a little less audible and I snapped my fingers motioning for the door. He just sat there and looked at me; he had no idea what in the world I was trying to get across because he had never had that certain tone and gesture brought together. Arguments against this may be along the lines of, “Well he is not as smart as other dogs” or “It was just a onetime deal.” I did this over and over again, and he never once went to the door.
Communication between domesticated dogs and humans is limited to mimicry through tones and the way that species is postured. For example, if a dog is mad it will growl and probably lower into a pouncing position and show its teeth. As humans, we have no earthly idea what the dog is upset about unless you actually did something right then and there, all we know is that it is angry due to tone and body position. I’m not saying that we cannot comprehend things like dogs, I am just pointing out the fact that you can never fully understand thoughts of other species. As my first paragraph states; we tend to just imagine that we can understand them because we have grown attached to them, as they are pets.