They can't answer, so why keep asking?

Rubylove

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#1
Are there things you ask your dogs, as a matter of course, all the time, and then when you think about it you realise how ridiculous you sound?

At least, oh, say, 80 times a day, either Max or I will ask Ruby or Chester what they are doing. High-pitched silly voice, and never once, but maybe six or seven times in a row...`What are you doing? What are you doing? Hey? Puppy? What are you doing?' and usually in the throes of cuddles and love (which again, happen on average, about 80 times a day).

Recently I have started asking, `What's up puppycup?'

Now, clearly, they are not going to answer me. They never will. Why do I ask?
 

skyeboxer

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#2
I'm with Skye all day and talk to her a lot. But the nuttiest is probably first thing in the morning. Just before the kids come thundering down the hall I sing:

Hey Skyoooo,

Skyooo, Skyoooo,
Whatcha gonna do,
Whatcha going to do when they come for you!

Cue the kids... and pandamonium. :)
 

Doberluv

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#3
LOL! I'm chuckling...Yes, I am guilty of making a fool of myself all the time. I talk way too much to my dogs. If I see a pine needle on a dog, "Oh...let me get that off of you." Or if I see muddy footprints after they come inside. "Oooooo...look what you did. Now I have to get the mop." Like they could give a rip if I have to get the mop. "What's that in your eye. Let me see." "Who wants to be first to get your nails Dremelled?" LOL. It's just constant. It must be a primate thing for us to squak and yip and yap. Chimpanzees do that a lot too, don't they? LOL.
 

Rubylove

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#4
You know - you're right. Did you know that domestic cats only learned to meow because it was helpful to us? Cats rarely vocalise with each other, it's a learned trait, and even in colonies the only vocalising that is done is growling, hissing, snarling for either fighting, hunting and mating. Big wild cats do not meow, and neither do smaller wild cats such a ocelots and lynxes. Just domestic cats. With cats, it's all about scent and body language - the tilt of a tail or angle of whiskers speaks volumes between cats, but we would probably not notice. It's the same with dogs, too, but they were already barking before we came along... :D
 

Cassiepeia

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#5
LOL I talk to Jesse all the time. I constantly ask "Hey sweetie, how're you? Are you good? Yeah? You feeling ok? Awww...you wanna scratch? Do ya?" Hahahaha! Yes, that's all at once, not one at a time. :p

If I see him wandering around I have to ask "Whatcha doing? You hungry sweetie? You wanna have a cuddle?" Sadly...cuddling always gets a "hell no!" look. :p He's a bit of a grumble bum when it comes to being picked up and cuddled. ;)
No matter how many questions or how many times I ask I never feel stupid for some reason. lol

Cass.
 

Meggie

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#6
...............Chimpanzees do that a lot too, don't they? LOL.
*snort*, but the chimps understand each other.

I chatter away constantly to Quincy, he's a really good listener, LOL. Sure glad he can't answer because I'm sure I wouldn't want to ever hear, "Just cut with the gab and put the food in the darned bowl, will you? And while we're at it, you might want to consider using your words for a change! I'm three years old, "Who's Mommy's widdle baby boy?" is NOT a proper sentence!"
 
A

Angel Chicken

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#7
I often talk to Kona with one of those high-pitched voices.

My family are beginning to to wonder about my sanity!

"Kona... you wanna treat? OHHHHHHHHHHHH Kona, I gotta treat for her!! She gonna dance for the treat? What a good girl, she 's dancing!"
 

carlar

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#8
I constantly talk to my gang. I think it is part of the reason I get so much companionship from them. I spend the majority of my time alone here so if I didn't have them to talk to...
Sometimes I think I am being silly but most of the time I don't think about it, just do it and it seems right.
 

Brattina88

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#9
Oh, yea, all the time. I talked to them so naturally my friends don't really notice I'm talking to my dogs until someone points it out

"Hey, whachya doin?"
"How are you?"
"Did you miss me?"
"Do you need a bath"
"Did Cory feed you, or are you hungry?"

and my personal favorite:
"Do these (jeans, shirt, sweater, ect) make me look fat?"
:lol-sign:
 

rij73

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#10
This is cracking me up! Rubylove, you are a funny person...

Of course, I do the same. I even talk to my dog during walks, and I'm worried that people in the neighborhood think I am insane!

My most common questions to Hudson, which yes I understand he cannot answer are:

"Who's my perfect baby???"
"How you feeling today, Poochie-Woochie?"
"Are you hungry, boy?"
"You want your breakfast???"

LOL!
 

DanL

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#11
But they understand us! :) Here's an example. Our pug has exactly 2 toys that are his. One is a nasty old stuffed turtle that he treasures. We got him a new one just like it, he ignores it and plays with the old nasty one. Gunnar will take that toy, knowing that it's not his. He'll lay on the floor, not even playing with it, just holding it between his paws, with his mouth on it, and he'll do this faint high pitch whine that totally gives away the fact that he's touching Bruzer's toy. So my wife will say to him "Is that your toy? You know you aren't supposed to touch that!" And Gunnar will give you that puppy dog look, grumble a bit, and then stretch out on the floor in another direction, but still keeping the toy within reach. A little while later, same thing is repeated. It's so funny because he actually looks guilty when my wife reprimands him.
 

silverpawz

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#12
Oh yes, the conversation goes something like this:

Me: "Beeeear. Who's the most handsome pupper ever?"
Bear: *blank look*
Me: "It's you, that's who!"
Bear: *blank look*
Me: "Who wants a belly rub?"
Bear: *tail wag*
Me: *rubs belly with one hand and grabs remote with the other*
"What should we watch?"
*in between clicks* "No. No. Crap show. I hate that one. I thought that was cancled. Oooo! Animal Planet! You like that dont you?"
Bear: *Head tilt*
Me: "Of course you do"

Seriously, I had this conversation with him last night. And now that I read it over....I'm worried about me. :p
 

Meggie

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#13
Oh yes, the conversation goes something like this:

Me: "Beeeear. Who's the most handsome pupper ever?"
Bear: *blank look*
Me: "It's you, that's who!"
Bear: *blank look*
Me: "Who wants a belly rub?"
Bear: *tail wag*
Me: *rubs belly with one hand and grabs remote with the other*
"What should we watch?"
*in between clicks* "No. No. Crap show. I hate that one. I thought that was cancled. Oooo! Animal Planet! You like that dont you?"
Bear: *Head tilt*
Me: "Of course you do"

Seriously, I had this conversation with him last night. And now that I read it over....I'm worried about me. :p
No, no need to worry..... yet. It's when you leave Animal Planet on the bedroom Tv at night because, well, you may be ready to sleep but the dog's still watching. Then you wake up in the middle of the night and see him still up, watching some show about dogs, and have the fleeting thought, "Wonder if this is a dog's version of one of "those" late-night R-rated shows?"
 

Rubylove

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#14
Oh yes, the conversation goes something like this:

Me: "Beeeear. Who's the most handsome pupper ever?"
Bear: *blank look*
Me: "It's you, that's who!"
Bear: *blank look*
Me: "Who wants a belly rub?"
Bear: *tail wag*
Me: *rubs belly with one hand and grabs remote with the other*
"What should we watch?"
*in between clicks* "No. No. Crap show. I hate that one. I thought that was cancled. Oooo! Animal Planet! You like that dont you?"
Bear: *Head tilt*
Me: "Of course you do"

Seriously, I had this conversation with him last night. And now that I read it over....I'm worried about me. :p
ROFLOL! :D

The blank looks speak volumes, don't they? I could be saying `mulch mulch mulch mulch?' and it would probably mean the same thing to them, so long as I was doing it in the soppy voice one always assumes when addressing one's babies.

Often, when I'm asking the dogs what they're doing, Max will pipe up from wherever he is, and in his 1930's BBC accent, will say `Well, Mummy, I'm currently working on a cure for cancer, whilst pondering the rather lovely poodle bitch we passed on the way to the park this morning'...or some such other smart-a** comment. It cracks me up, but still receives the same rousing blank look from the puppers. Hehe.
 

Whisper

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#15
LOL! Yes, I have conversations with them! I tell them things and ask them questions all the time.
"Who's my baby girl??"
"Do you wanna go for a walk?"
"Sorry, it's only going to be a short one!"
"You want a treat?"
"You want some dinner don't you?"
"Do you forgive me?"
"I'm really sorry about this. . .but. . .bath time!"

I also talk to my dogs during walks. "Who are my good girls?" "Just ignore them!" "Excuse me!" "You must stop stepping in front of me!"
 

Doberluv

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#16
Whew! I'm glad I'm not the only neurotic chatterbox. LOL.

Ruby...yes, I heard that about cats' meowing being a learned behavior to work with us. Interesting. Dogs have come to understand a lot of our human type social signals too....over evolution....things that wolves don't do at all which indicate and reiterate that we have a really unique bond with domestic dogs...phenomenal really, which most dog owners know, but some don't realize just HOW phenomenal.

But how we talk to them sometimes????? LOL. I don't think they'll ever take all of that in. Who would blame them? Yup...."OK, OK....I'll humor you but really.... can't you just give me the food and shut up." "Oh! I heard that word, "bath" inbetween your sentence. You can't fool me." That is amazing too, to me, how they sometimes pick out words they know right out of the middle of a sentence. The other day I was on the phone with my daughter and said, "Hon...I gotta go... am taking the dogs on a hike on those trails behind Hill's." They heard the word, "hike" even in the middle of the sentence I think, because they right away started getting that look and that excitement they get when I tell them we're going on a hike. I've had to change from walk to spelling walk and recently I'm using the word, "hike" to throw them off. Well, that only worked for a little while. Now they know both words mean "woooopie!!! We're getting outta here!"
 

squirtsmom

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#17
LOL. In a high pitched fal setto voice, I will say loudly, "squirtle, urtle, urtle" she goes crazy and it is a good time for all. If I a m outside, I look like an idiot. Probably look like that on the inside to, but my kids are good and don't say anyth ing.
 

Doberluv

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#18
Probably look like that on the inside to, but my kids are good and don't say anyth ing.
LOL! Good kids!

My little girl Chi goes nutso and goes through the whole routine of spinning, jumping, darting in and back out and in again for the kill of a piece of kibble or tiny piece of wood or whatever.... tossing it in the air for herself to go fetch....the whole thing when I use a squeeky voice and say, "Git that toy Chi Chi" and repeat really stacatto (seperated and sharp and baby talk) LOL. She keeps looking back at me as if to see if I'm watching and then she goes in for the "cautious" stalk and attack, wagging her tail furiously. Then if she gets too excited, we need to stop because she can start having that breathing problem with the collapsing trachea. It's a bummer because she's having fun and it has to stop when she starts gasping for air. She calms down right away, but I can't let her get too riled up for too long or that happens.
 

Rubylove

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#19
Oh little Chi - that's no good for her!

Ruby picks out words from sentences too - by the road she has to `stop, sit, stay........go'. She's kind of incorporated in her mind all of these commands as one - so really even though we say the same words each time, to her just saying `stop' is enough for the first three. It's pretty handy, actually, I didn't mean to teach her that (lol) but now, if you say `stop' and she's within earshot, she'll do it. So, e.g., you could say to Max, `Could you stop doing that please?' and two minutes later you'll walk into the bedroom and Ruby will be sitting there, straight as you please. It took me ages to work it out and then I have to tell her to `go' and she'll start being normal again. So now we've modified it to `Ruby, stop' and so it doesn't keep catching her. There aren't many sentences I can think that `Ruby, stop' would be in, other than in the right context!
 

Doberluv

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#20
Ruby sounds like a real kick! What personality! They are just too clever. It could get scary! No secrets. LOL.

Yeah....poor Chihuahuas with that trachea problem. Luckily it only happens when she gets too riled up. She can run and go hiking, exert herself and that doesn't affect it....just when she gets overly silly...and not even every time. It's alarming, but so far as they know....not life threatening. Jose gets it too but less easily.
 

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