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The “Dog Voice” is backed by science

todayJanuary 16, 2025 9

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If you don’t speak to a dog in a high pitched voice, do you even have a soul!?

I don’t think it’s something I learnt from someone, it was just an instinct to talk that way…

And a lot of people will argue “Just talk to your dog with a normal voice, they don’t know they difference.”

Well! Time to tell those people to shut up!

“woof!”

Scientists at Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary, discovered something AMAZING about our fluffy dog friends!

When dogs hear high-pitched, melodic speech aka THAT voice we do, especially from women, their auditory cortex lights up the same way a human baby’s brain would! So what does this mean!?This amazing finding shows that our fluffy four-legged friends have actually evolved over time to be responsive to the way we talk to them.

Here’s the thing though… who has done the voice on a friend or neighbour’s dog, and you were met with nothing but the dog looking at you like “What the heck, dude!?”

Turns out, while puppies are especially attentive to us talking in that voice, adult dogs have instead learned to pay attention and focus more on familiar voices aka voices they trust.

But was it always this way? Would dogs ancestors aka the wolf respond the same!? Turns out, this has been tested and NO!!! Sensitivity to high-pitched voices is NOT found in wolves, which implies it was something that developed over time during domestication, as dogs became our closest animal companions. Can you imagine a caveman going “bunga” in a high pitched voice!

So, JUST TO CLARIFY!!! If you’re in the woods, surrounded by wolves, DO NOT waste time doing a high pitched voice! You’ll still get mauled, you’ll just sound foolish while it happens!

Something worth noting: 

  • This high pitched melodic way of talking to our dogs, actually strengthens our bond with them! It also makes communication more effective and meaningful! 

Written by: Jacques

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