“Chicken. Chicken. Chicken.” I wake up to my own voice looping like crazy. My half-asleep brain can’t understand what’s going on. What time is it now? Am I still dreaming? Then my dog Laika burst into my bedroom.
Laika is a good dog, at least that’s what I thought. I recently purchased a touchpad called FluentPet. It allows you to record your voice into a series of buttons that your pet can press to “speak” words. Laika can ask me to fill her water bowl, go to the park, or scratch her belly. The problem is that everything backfired and she started asking for treats 24/7. It made me question the extent of her mental abilities. Is her dog brain really smart enough to make me feel guilty and give me a treat? Speaking of which, does she know what snacks are?
Most dog owners, like me, have wondered about these deep questions, but will probably never get a completely satisfying answer. But thoughtful experiments and new technology are beginning to provide a clearer picture of what’s going on in dogs’ minds. So, with my Leica by my side (and a pocketful of treats), I set out to find out what’s really going on between a dog’s fluffy ears.
On some level, it’s amazing that dogs and humans can communicate at all. Our two species were separated on the evolutionary tree…
