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‘Dog-speak’ important for human-canine relationship
The finding could help owners form close ties with their pets.
Study shows high-pitched emotional speech improves attention

‘Dog-speak’ is as important for the human-canine relationship as ‘baby-talk’ is for the bond between parent and child, according to a study by the University of York.

The study, published in the journal Animal Cognition, found that ‘dog-speak’ improves canine attention and could help humans form close ties with their pets. Scientists hope the research will be useful for pet owners interacting with their dogs, as well as for veterinary professionals and rescue workers.

Previous research into the human-canine bond found that talking in a high-pitched voice with exaggerated emotion improved puppy engagement, but made little difference to adult dogs. To test this theory, scientists at York designed new experiments to see if social bonding between animals and humans was influenced by this sort of communication.

Contrary to previous research, the scientists placed humans and adult dogs together in the same room, instead of playing human speech over a loudspeaker. This was a more natural set-up and helped the team assess the dog's motivation to spend time with the person that spoke to them.

The team conducted a series of tests, where the dogs were given the chance to listen to one person using dog-directed speech. This included phrases like ‘you’re a good dog’ and ‘shall we go for a walk’.  There was also another person using adult-directed speech with no dog-related content, such as ‘I went to the cinema last night’.

After being spoken to, the dogs were allowed to choose which speaker they physically interacted with. The speakers then mixed dog-directed speech with non-dog-related words, to allow the scientists to see if it was the high-pitched or emotional tone that dogs were attracted to, or the words themselves.

“We found that adult dogs were more likely to want to interact and spend time with the speaker that used dog-directed speech with dog-related content than they did those that used adult-directed speech with no dog-related content,” said PhD student Alex Benjamin from the University of York’s department of psychology.

“When we mixed-up the two types of speech and content, the dogs showed no preference for one speaker over the other. This suggests that adult dogs need to hear dog-relevant words spoken in a high-pitched emotional voice in order to find it relevant.”

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Vets to run marathon for World Animal Protection

News Story 1
 Two recently graduated veterinary surgeons will be running the London Marathon in April to raise money for the charity World Animal Protection.

Alex Bartlett and Maeve O'Neill plan to run the race together if they are given the same start times.

Dr O'Neill said: "You're always limited in what you can do to help animals, so it is nice to raise money for a charity that helps animals around the world."

Dr Bartlett added: "I have never run a marathon before and am excited to run my first one for such a good cause!"

Both Dr Bartlett and Dr O'Neill have fundraising pages online. 

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News Shorts
BSAVA releases new Guide to Procedures

The British Small Animal Veterinary Association (BSAVA) has published a new edition of its Guide to Procedures for Small Animal Practice.

It has added four new procedures; cystostomy tube placement, endotracheal intubation, point-of-care ultrasound and wet-to-dry dressings.

BSAVA says that it is an essential step-by-step guide to diagnostic and therapeutic procedures performed in practice. The textbook includes new images and illustrations, as well as high-definition videos for use prior to procedures.

Nick Bexfield and Julia Riggs, editors of the new edition, said: "We have built upon the success of the previous editions by responding to the feedback received from the BSAVA readership, and hope this new guide helps to further increase the confidence and accuracy with which these procedures are performed."

Print copies are available in the BSAVA store, with a digital version in the BSAVA library.