Dogs Laughing

Did anybody see this on ABC this weekend? This makes me sad because Fenway doesn't pant much. Does this mean he doesn't laugh much? Is he sad? My poor little buddy.



Dec. 4, 2005 — Researchers at the Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service in Washington state say sometimes a bark is just a bark — but a long, loud panting sound has real meaning.

They say the long, loud pant is the sound of a dog laughing, and it has a direct impact on the behavior of other dogs.

"What we found is that it had a calming or soothing effect on the dogs," said Patricia Simonet, an animal behaviorist in Spokane who has studied everything from hamster culture to elephant self-recognition. "Now, we actually really weren't expecting that."

Nancy Hill, director of Spokane County Animal Protection, admits she was skeptical at first that this noise would affect the other dogs.

"I thought: Laughing dogs?" Hill said. "A sound that we're gonna isolate and play in the shelter? I was a real skeptic … until we played the recording here at the shelter."

When they played the sound of a dog panting over the loudspeaker, the gaggle of dogs at the shelter kept right on barking. But when they played the dog version of laughing, all 15 barking dogs went quiet within about a minute.

"It was a night-and-day difference," Hill said. "It was absolutely phenomenal."

Officials say it works every time, and researchers across the country are taking note.

"The laughing sound that they make is something that was not even considered a vocalization until this study was done," Simonet said.

Those who study dog behavior have varying opinions about exactly what Patricia Simonet's "dog laughing" sound really is. What they do agree on, however, is that to other dogs, it is at least a sound worth keeping quiet to listen to.

I saw that. I thought it was neat. I guess their laugh is not really a normal pant its more of a pant with the ck sound added to it, if that made sense.

When they played it over the loudspeaker at the shelter you really could see a big difference. That was really neat.

My dogs don't do that too often either. But they sure are happy.

My first dog laughed, you could tell right away what it was. :D I loved it.
Ginger doesn't laugh, but she is not as demonstrative as Peaches was in a lot of ways. At least she does smile though.

I saw that story too. It was a very neat story. :)

well mine laugh constantly then :rolleyes:

I already know they definatly have a sense of humor though, they make that *quite* obvious when it comes to mommy...

My RB Merlin laughed a lot I think usually at me. He also smiled a lot. Both the big monsters here smile.

How interesting! I missed the special, but maybe they'll play it again sometime. My RB Rosie panted (and laughed?) all the time. She was a very funny dog. Everything she did was funny, from how she walked, to her boundless zest for life. So I believe she laughed alot, and that makes me happy, too. :D

What a great story! They found out a few years ago that ratties laugh, so it doesn't surprise me that dogs so too!

I missed that story. Is there a place to view video or something? I'm really interested. I guess now I'll have to pay better attentions to my pups when they're playing together eh??

I got that bowlingual thing when I worked at PetCo cause they were on sale with the PALS card AND with my employee discount it was only like.. $12. It was fun to play with but got boring after awhile. AND Jamie chewed the antenna off the receiver...

I saw that too. I think that is so cool.
I don't see why dogs could not laugh. :)