Look, we are all guilty of it. Whether its babies or dogs, we all resort to looking foolish when we talk to the little creatures in our lives! Did you know, however, that it is actually good to regularly talk to your pet? Regardless of if a dog understands you, science says to keep doing it!

Here are five reasons why you should keep talking to your pet!

Now you have an excuse to make baby noises to every dog you see!

1. Your tone and your content are important

We all know how a dog can learn certain words. We used to have to spell the word W.A.L.K when we were checking with our parents growing up because Snickers would lose his mind if he heard us talking about walks! In general, however, our pets don’t have much of a sense for the English language (or any other language for that matter).

A study showed some interesting results.

A study published in March of 2018 did research into Dog Directed Speech (DDS) and Adult Directed Speech (ADS) and found that adult dogs respond best to a mixture of tone and dog-related words (treat, fetch, play, ball, walk) gives the most reaction. In other words, your words and your tone are important!

2. It can help them associate

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CANqDGWA_nh/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

If you want to have your mind blown, Stella the Blue Heeler/Catahoula mix will mess you up. Stella can communicate unlike any other dog! Using imitation and some critical thinking skills, Stella strings together ideas to communicate a point.

It makes sense are her mom is a Speech-Language Pathologist.

Over the years, Stella has been taught to associate different words with certain buttons. When a button is tapped, it says the word. Some of the words are common like “water” and “mad” but can lead to thousands of combinations. Watch Stella talk in her own way below!

3. It’s good for the owner!

Talking to your dog can be incredibly relaxing. If you talk to yourself some might call you crazy but if you talk to your dog you are pretty normal! Talking to your pet can reduce stress and promote a sense of relaxation and calmness. There is a reason dogs are sometimes used for therapy!

4. Promotes a healthy relationship

If you want to have any successful relationship with a significant other, you better learn to talk! Talking is a gateway to intimacy in all relationships. When you talk, you get to know one another. For dogs, when you talk you are working on your bond. Even more, your dog can detect if you are happy, sad, or anxious and respond.

5. Your dog learns from it

Like Stella above, when you talk, your dog learns. Dogs don’t cry in a human sense. How do they know then that if you are crying that they need to come snuggle you? Repetition and understanding. Dogs are such intelligent creatures and talking to them is a great way to encourage their brain skills!

Get out there and talk to your pet!

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Source: Animal Channel, Springer