Laughter test... Please help me out!

I'm conducting my own research as I am really interested in it.

Do dogs see laughter as:
a sign of Human Happiness
a sign of the dog being good.
does it make them nervous
other (please state what your dog does)

I want to see what the majority is, so I thought I would ask PT. I have made the poll multi-answer so that people with more then one dog can answer for them all.

For my dogs, Nova sees it as I am happy and Connor sees it as praise.

To test this theory out this is what I did.

Connor:

I took his favorite toy and threw it. When he returned with it I just laughed. I didn't pet him and I didn't play with him. I just laughed. His whole body began to wiggle and he made his "I've been good face" (he has extraordinary movement of his cheek bones) you could see I was "telling" him he was good.

Nova:

Nova doesn't really like to play, so she was laying on the ground and I started Laughing (insane I know). She started off wagging her tail. She then started getting really happy. Eventually she stood up, licked my face and sat on the couch with me. She gave me a distinct look and then started rubbing her face on the couch She rolled over on her back and started wiggling. I took this as Nova thought I was happy, so she decided she would be happy.

Both dogs have a distinct pattern of behavior they do when they think I'm happy and when they think they have been good. Since I know this I am able to say which pattern they were exhibiting. I may be wrong, but to the best of my knowledge this seemed to be what the dogs though.

So, if you could please test your dogs by either doing one of the experiments I suggested or coming up with your own. It would be REALLY appreciated.

Ashley

Interesting question and ideas. I'd say both of mine see it as happiness but also they take it as a cue that I'm playful and it's time to play. They both jump up, wag, Tommy grabs a toy and growls wagging, Tasha wags wildly and gives me kisses and sometimes will start nipping at my feet playfully. They seem to take it to mean the pack is joyful and it's time to play :)

It only let me vote once!
But I think Sierra sees it as me being happy, and Buddy sees it's him being good.

Both Smokey & Maggie don't react much to my laughter, they
just look at me. You should see them when I dance.:D They go
nuts jumping around & playing.:D

misty see's it as praise, the more I laugh at something she does the more she will do it lol she actually reacts better to laughter then to treats and praise lol only she is the one that keeps me laughing in the first place :p

Oggy & Flute see it as being good and a time for play.

Tia and Tango both get really hyper when someone laughs, I don't really know what they think lol. Echo wajs her tail and does her "whoooo" bark thing:D

both mine know were happy when were laughing:p :D lol.

Thanx everyone for replying!

I'm going to keep bumping this up for others to see.

I was also wondering, the person or persons who voted laughter makes there dogs nervous, I would like to know there reasons behind this. Was there a bad experince? Are your dogs naturally timid? What made you think it makes them nervous?

This is very interesting and I'm enjoying it alot!

Ashley

I voted "A sign of human hapiness" and "A sign of the dog being good", Because those are usually how Mackenzie and Zeus think of laughter. :)

We usually get no response from Muffin, except an occasional prance, tailwag, and sneeze. :p

Quote:

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Originally posted by Orangutango
Tia and Tango both get really hyper when someone laughs, I don't really know what they think lol. Echo wajs her tail and does her "whoooo" bark thing:D

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LOL, your dogs could not be near me then. :p Because I laugh at everything, thats why people say I'm hyper and thats where LEXI gets her hyperness from:rolleyes:

Lexi starts freaking out running around and doing zoomies sometimes, other times she'll come up and jump on you:D

Nala and Kiara wag their tail like crazy and think I want to play. Nala even did a play bow.


Simba just looked at me like i'm crazy. He must be part human.