Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Communicating and talking are two different things.
Even higher order primates can communicate fairly well with sign language, however, their brains do not have a section for syntax like humans do, and neither do dogs.
Like humans? No. They already communicate with us and read us like books, so they don't need to talk to us. In fact, that's what I like about them the most, no talking.
Or use sign language of some sort? I think that many of the bigger dogs have the intelligence to understand it. I think that it will take time for them to evolve though and progress vocally. Dogs with more vocal abilities like Huskies and Malamutes and much more are starting to improvise the way we talk. Realistically though, any dog could have the vocal abilities to talk like us or mimic us, but dogs genetically related more to wolves have more vocal abilities. I doubt a dog could be capable of having a full conversation using sign language though, but you never know. Only time will tell honestly.
Evolving involves adapting to survive in an ever changing environment. Increased intelligence and better communication abilities are only one possibility out of countless possibilities. Dinosaurs were here much longer than humans and they evolved in ways to become efficient killers or to become better at keeping predators away.
Besides, we may all be disappointed to hear what our dogs actually have to say anyway.
Wouldn't it be great to have one of those collars that the dogs wore in the movie "Up"? Loved those dogs.
But no, I don't think that dogs have the physiological ability to speak as we do. Not even great apes have the physiology to speak as we do.
However, my dogs are usually able to communicate their needs to us dumb humans. It might take a few tries to get the message across, but they make the effort.
Our old lab (sadly, now gone and terribly missed) was our family spokesman. He let us know what either he or our other dog needed via his woofs and Chewbacca-talk. Such a funny boy. Love him.
I have owned (been owned by) a German Shepherd who would copy human body language and facial expressions. She was a great communicator and could communicate with any human being, dog fancier or not.
If they didn't get it the first time, she would do it slower and more pronounced. A lot like people do when speaking to someone who only speaks a foreign language: louder and slower
Most of my dogs work hard to communicate, but the experience depends mostly upon my being able to interpret dog body language.
I suspect that dogs don't have the vocal cords to imitate human speech. The amount of work they put into communicating, I suspect that they would speak if they could.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
