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September 22, 2009

Back in 2005, researchers from the Animal Behavior Center in Spokane, Washington, and from the Spokane County Regional Animal Shelter published a study on the effects of the sounds of dog laughter on stress behavior in shelter dogs. It got a fair bit of media attention at the time, including this segment from ABC news. Over the weekend, I captured video of Lilly laughing as Tom roughhouses and tickles her tummy. Take a look and listen. Notice in the video that Tom makes the ah-ah-ah dog laughter sound back to Lilly, and she indeed seems to think it’s funny.

The study explains that dogs make various sounds howls to trigger canine gathering, whimpers to request care-taking from adults, and several noises during play (bark, growl, whine, and this sound believed to be dog laughter). The authors explain, “Although, most dogs will utter these four patterns of vocalization during play, only the laugh appears to be exclusively produced during play and friendly greetings, and not during other encounters.”

I began a discussion on Twitter recently by posting a note about how calling someone a “Dog Whisperer” is considered an insult in some circles, including mine, because of the total-crap training that’s become associated with the term. It’s a shame that canine intimidation has come to mean “whisper” since the truth is that actual whispers may just be a good thing.

The study’s authors go on to say, “Humans can initiate play with dogs by using whispers. Rooney et al. (2001) recently reported that whispering as a play signal by humans to dogs elicited a 56% success rate when used alone. When used in combination with other more overt play signals, such as a play-bow, the success of a human-canine invitation to play was augmented significantly. Perhaps, the whisper is a close approximation to the dog-laugh. When humans whisper they produce a pronounced forced breathy exhalation through the mouth.”

After testing the playback of dog laughter sounds in the shelter, researchers concluded the following:

“The young puppies (approximately 4-12 months of age) offered play-bows and dog-laugh vocalizations during the playback. Adult dogs offered responses of orienting and vocalizations of barks and dog-laughs during the playback. Dogs between 1 & 2 years of age oriented toward the sound in silence, usually wagging the tail in a medium pace back and forth at mid height. Dogs over 2 years of age oriented to the sound or the experimenter and assumed the down or sit position.”

And …

“This study suggests that the dog-laugh vocalization diffuses stress related behavior and initiates pro-social behavior in shelter dogs, thus potentially reducing residencies at the shelter before adoption.”

I may just have to add this sound to my repertoire of social encounter chatter. Instead of telling Lilly to “say Hello” or “be gentle,” I may try ah-ah-ah when she shows interest in engaging another dog socially. I’ll try it at home and with dogs we know first. I’d love to be able to condition “pro-social” behavior in my socially challenged, fearful girl.

If it works, I may have to invest in the dog laughter CD for use at home — both for general calming and for training purposes.

About the Author Roxanne Hawn

Trained as a traditional journalist and based in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, USA, I'm a full-time freelance writer for magazines, websites, and private clients. My areas of specialty include everything in the lifestyles arena, including health and home, personal finance and other consumer interests, relationships and trends, people and business profiles ... and, of course, all things pet related.

I don't just love dogs. I need them in my life. Seriously.

  1. HMMM, very interesting. My dad makes a sound like this to mimic Marge when she makes that sound, which I always thought was just a loud pant. Maybe I’m getting the two confused, but she does seem to like it when he does that.

  2. I’ve heard that sound many times but never thought of it as laughter. I’ll have to pay more attention to when my dogs make that sound – I’m not certain if it’s only when we rub their bellies or if it’s at other times as well. Very cool.

  3. I sent the link to Pat Miller, the trainer. She does a lot of shelter work (and required her apprentices to do the same, so I’m doing a lot of shelter work, too!), and her husband runs a shelter in Hagerstown, MD.

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