It’s devastating to see your beloved dog in pain, especially if you’re the one who caused it. But now, scientists claim to have discovered the best way to apologise to your pet when you’ve accidentally stepped on their paw or tail.
A study from Animal Cognition reveals that using a ‘baby voice’ – or what experts call ‘dog-directed speech (DDS)’ – can go a long way in calming your pet after an unfortunate mishap. This research involved analysing 37 pet dogs from willing volunteers, observing reactions to different vocal tones.
It turned out that ‘baby voice’ garnered more sustained attention than a regular tone of voice. One researcher detailed in the publication: « Overall, the results of this study suggest that naturalistic DDS, comprising of both dog-directed [speech patterns] and dog-relevant content words, improves dogs’ attention and may strengthen the affiliative bond between humans and their pets. »
But he advice doesn’t end with verbal communication, as checking for injuries and applying ice to any red or swollen areas is crucial. Furthermore, another study , published in The Royal Society, suggests dogs can understand human intentions through our emotional expressions.
« The perception of emotional expressions allows animals to evaluate the social intentions and motivations of each other, » says the study. « This usually takes place within species; however, in the case of domestic dogs, it might be advantageous to recognise the emotions of humans as well as other dogs. In this sense, the combination of visual and auditory cues to categorise others’ emotions facilitates the information processing and indicates high-level cognitive representations. »
The researchers used an innovative technique: « Using a cross-modal preferential looking paradigm, we presented dogs with either human or dog faces with different emotional valences (happy/playful versus angry/aggressive) paired with a single vocalisation from the same individual with either a positive or negative valence or Brownian noise. »
The results were telling: « Dogs looked significantly longer at the face whose expression was congruent to the valence of vocalisation, for both conspecifics and heterospecifics, an ability previously known only in humans. These results demonstrate that dogs can extract and integrate bimodal sensory emotional information, and discriminate between positive and negative emotions from both humans and dogs. »
Users on social media have been opening up about how they make amends with their furry friends, and the consensus is clear: kindness is key. One Reddit user shared their approach: « If you just talk nice to them and pet them and maybe give them a treat it’s fine. Dogs accidentally hurt each other when they are playing and they get over it right away. »
Echoing this sentiment, another user commented: « You just apologise the same way you would apologise to a child or when you hit someone by mistake. Petting him like crazy and talking with a comforting voice should be enough. Dogs understand mistakes. »
The conversation continued with a third adding: « You have effectively apologised, believe it or not. Dogs, cats, and pigs to I believe, are physically social animals and understand apologetic petting. They do it to each other all the time and they realise it’s a mistake once you do so. »
In case of an injury, however, it’s crucial to consult your vet immediately if you suspect your dog’s paw might be hurt after an accidental step.
