A new report from American pet psychologists say they have evidence that dogs have their own sense of humour
A team of American psychologists has carried out research, which they say shows dogs do laugh.
Patricia Simonet told a meeting of the American Animal Behavior Society that dogs usually make their “laugh-pant” noise when they meet other dogs.
For her study, Patricia took a microphone into parks to record the excited noise dogs make when whey meet each other.
She then played tapes of the broad-frequency pants to 15 other dogs – mostly puppies – in an observation room. The puppies responded by picking up a toy or trotting towards a potential playmate.
When she tried to mimic the pant herself the dogs flocked to her. They did not respond when she broadcast growls.
Translating barks
In another development, Japanese scientists have come up with a gadget, which they claim is able to translate barks, growls and whines into common human emotions, such as frustration, menace, hunger, joy and sorrow.
The Bow-lingual – on sale in Japan next year for £60 – consists of a 2in microphone that is attached to the dog’s collar andtransmits sounds to a palm-sized console held by the animal’s owner. The console has a display that uses a 200-word vocabulary.
