As firework season rolls around, I am once again faced with the frustration of wanting to have a cooperative conversation with my dogs, called Pickle and Isla for those interested. But do they in fact actually understand my message… You may believe, as I very much do, that your dog is clever enough to understand you. Charles Darwin believed that the way humans outwardly express emotions evolved from animals. When it comes to body language, there is a vast amount of research supporting the point that our canine companions do understand the spectrum of emotions we may be feeling at one point in time. Some dogs even go so far as to seek out eye contact with humans, which the closely related wolf would never do. But when it comes to language, is this just a ‘jump up and down a lot’ by the dog, when a recognisable human signal suggests something pleasurable, like food, a walk or in my dogs case, cheese? Or is it more complex; are they actually following the conversations you have on the phone, amused by the excuses you seem to come up with on the spot?
Researchers from Sussex University carried out an experiment that concluded remarkable evidence suggesting that dogs’ brains function in the same way as humans; the left side of the brain used for understanding the meaning of the spoken word and the right side grasping the emotion. When sat in the middle of two speakers both playing commands, dogs turned their heads to the right side- suggesting they process verbal meaning in their left hemisphere. Similarly, when the speakers then played emotional, yet jumbled sounds, they turned their heads to the left suggesting that the right side of the brain is used to process emotional sounds.
Furthermore, Eötvös Loránd University’s lead researcher Dr. Attila Andics states, “Dogs not only tell apart what we say and how we say it, but they can also combine the two, for a correct interpretation of what those words really mean. This is very similar to what human brains do.” Through a series of MRI scans on 13 dogs, their experiment concluded that the reward centre of the dogs’ brain is only activated when praising words were said with the emotion to match. The same happiness was not reproduced when the words were simply said without the same emotion because the brain was not in agreement.
So how can this benefit our furry friends in the long, traumatic nights filled with sparklers and whizz, bang noises? A podcast specifically for dogs has been produced, narrated by the soothing tones of Simon Callow that surely has the ability to send anyone off into a peaceful doze! This has been proved to help with firework trauma by activating the part of the brain linked with happiness. Words such as ‘GOOD dog’, ‘SPECIAL dog’ and ‘GARDEN’ are emphasised through the course of a story. The idea is that the podcast is played in the nights leading up to Bonfire Night, creating a sense of routine and safety for the dog, so that when November 5th rolls around- the dog will just listen to the podcast and feel as safe as they do on any other night.
