How Humans Talk is an SBS Audio podcast produced by Onomato People and SBS Audio. Follow on the SBS Audio App, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Listnr, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Credits:
Host: Rune Pedersen & Miles the Audio Dog
Producers: Rune Pedersen & Stefan Delatovic
Writers: Rune Pedersen
Artwork: Wendy Tang
Post production and sound design: Dom Evans and James Coster at EARSAY
SBS Audio team: Joel Supple, Max Gosford, Bernadette Phương Nam Nguyễn
Guests: Mia Cobb dog guardians and dogs
Transcript:
Announcer: How humans Talk is an SBS podcast recorded on Wurundjeri Country. We pay our respects to the custodians of this land, which has been shaped by stories and language and love for generations
Rune: You know, it's kind of fascinating how we talk to dogs. I mean, we, we baby talk them. We give them commands and sometimes we chat with them like they understand every word we say. Who is a good boy? Said, really? You think I should quit my job with this amount of savings?
Oh, Miles, I didn't realize you were here, buddy. Did any of that make sense to you? Come here. Yeah. Now I have to admit that Miles isn't a regular dog. He doesn't actually exist in the physical form. He's more like an audio doc, and that makes him a little sad sometimes, doesn't it, buddy? Ah, come on Miles.
You may be imaginary, but you bring so much life to the show and that wouldn't trade you for the real thing. But in this episode, we'll talk to humans who talk to their real dogs. And maybe we'll learn something. That's the spirit boy. Anyway. Welcome to this slightly odd. Stay with me. How humans talk to dogs.
Dog owner and dogs: [Collage of sounds]
Dog owner: My name's Georgina and my dog's name is Radar.
Rune: Could you give an example of how you would talk to Radar?
Dog owner: Oh God. Like just. Day to day? I don't know, I just kind of like, um, it's just the two of us a lot of the time, so I'm just kind of running commentary on my life and he's just listening to it.
Like, um, I don't know. What would an example be like I wake up and tell him what my dream was the night before. 'cause he's usually sitting on my chest when I wake up, so it's like, oh, Radar You know? We were just in South America and we were running down the river and I don't know, it's, it's, uh, silly, but I feel like he.
Likes hearing human voice.
Rune: So I think I already know that there is no end into the goofy chats we have with our dogs, but what I'm thinking is that the patterns might feel familiar. So to unpack those, I've sat down with an expert, a dog guardian, a seasoned poop scooper, and also a University of Melbourne scientists to help me with my mission to decode how we talk with dogs.
Mia: My name is Dr. Mia Cobb. I am the Chaser Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne. Uh, I'm based in the animal welfare science center there, and my focus is trying to understand how dogs can live their best lives with us.
Rune: Mia, how do we talk to animals? Uh, dogs in particular,
Mia: So, It's not a one size fits all, kind of, this is how we communicate with animals.
There's a real variation based on us and the animal that's involved. Um, I think different animals also respond differently to us. So dogs are really highly social mammals just like us. I think it's important to remember that people are animals too, and we have a lot of similarities and a long shared history together, um, sort of evolving together over tens of thousands of years.
So that's one of the reasons they're our most popular. Animal companion. But I guess other people have really strong relationships with their pet snakes or their parrots.
Rune: So why do you think that humans talk?
Mia: Why we fill that void?
Rune: Yeah.
Mia: Yeah. I think it says a lot more about us probably than it does about them.
And you know, in thinking about the different ways that people talk to dogs specifically, I came up with a list, like I had a little bit of a think, what are the different ways? I came up with about nine different ways.
Rune: Yeah, please. Well, if you have them, then please share them. Yeah. Yeah.
Mia: So I guess there's, um, just the classic one is dog directed speech, so that's when we're talking to a dog.
Um, it's quite, there's been studies that have been done looking at how we speak to dogs, and it's kind of similar to the way that, um, people will speak to infants. So you might have heard of something called motherese, which is like this gentler, softer. Kind of language that we'll use when we're speaking to him.
If it's like, oh, how are you? Oh, you're so gorgeous. Oh, what a good little one. You know, that kind of language. So it's meant to sort of appease and soothe and not be too grating. And we tend to do that to dogs as well. So we call that dog directed speech, or doggerel, some people will call it, I don't think anyone's called it 'dogerese' yet.
And so it tends to be higher pitch, um, perhaps exaggerated intonations, generally a little bit slower in speech. And we tend to repeat words, so we might say, oh, he's a good boy. You are such a good boy. Oh, he's a good boy. Like that kind of thing. Um. Generally it's to do with bonding. And that's the same when we use that kind of speech directed towards infants.
It's about making a connection and bonding with them. So we're forming an attachment. Yeah, so that dog directed speech, we actually have done some, um, imaging of dog's brains, and we know, like while they're hearing it so alive, um, some people have taught dogs to sit in a functional MRI machine. While they're having different things shown to them or said to them.
And so we know that their brain responds in a similar way to a human infants when they hear that kind of dog directed speech. And so we think likely the infants, it's really important for that social bonding and particularly puppies respond to it. So when you see a puppy, what's your instinctive thing to say?
Rune: Yeah, I mean, it's probably
Mia: not a hundred percent. Yeah. Yeah. And it's like it just evokes all that nurturing. Kind of feeling, right? Yeah. Like you want to take care of it.
Yeah. Yeah.
They've got all these, um. Prompts we call the baby schema. It's the same as human infants. So they've got quite rounded faces, big eyes.
They look vulnerable and that biologically gears you up to wanna take care of it.
Rune: Mm. Okay.
Mia: And dogs in particular have even evolved a special muscle in their eyebrows, but lets 'em do that. Puppy dog. Look, and that kind of like makes their eyes look bigger, makes 'em look more vulnerable, and provokes that nurturing response in us. Wolves don't have that.
Rune: Okay, so it's been part of the domestication process or a code? Yeah. Shared
Mia: journey because they've probably evolved it because it works for them. Because we care for them when they do it.
Rune: The first dog that realized this was like, I'm on, yeah. I'm onto something here.
Mia: Yeah, a hundred percent.
Rune: So it actually makes a ton of sense for us to talk to animals in this particular way.
Mia: Yeah. And then I guess, um, the other obvious way that we speak to dogs that springs to mind is using commands. So when we're, um, I guess obedient speech. So when we're some might say asking, some might say telling a dog to do something. And I think that's an important nuance as well. You know, 20 years ago when I had my first dog.
I thought being a good dog and I meant having an obedient dog and I thought my dog had to do things when I asked them to. Uh, I think that cultural change over those 20 years from then to now is really interesting because I don't feel that way about the relationship I have with my dogs Now. I'm happy to teach them things that I help think will help them fit in well to a human world, and I will ask them to do things, but if they choose not to.
That's okay. I don't expect a robotic response. So I guess with that command or obedience speech, that's really typical. So having short, clear, distinct phrases, so we think about calm or sit or lie down or drop or leave it on your bed is another one that's quite popular in my household. Um, so they're typically delivered in a more firm, lower pitched, um, authoritative tone.
We also have praise speech. So that tends to be to reward or encourage dogs. So thinking about like, good boy, yes. Uh, it's higher pitch, more excited in tone. And often that might be accompanied by some physical gestures 'cause we're primates and we like to get our hands involved in things. So it might be like a clap or it might be putting your hands up.
Um, or it might be gesturing, come over here. Like it's, it's that kind of a bit more excitable. Um, and dogs' closeup vision isn't as accurate as ours. So if we are a distance away from a dog and calling them to come to us, jumping around a bit can actually really help them see you and be able to differentiate, oh, that's my person compared to a tree or a pole or a, a bin, or something like that.
Rune: Okay.
Mia: We also have, I guess, that more. Corrective or disciplinary speech. And again, you know, you'd be familiar with this, with interacting with children too. So that's more like a no or leave it. Um, typically stern, lower pitched, more abrupt, um, a little bit different to a command. It's, it's more corrective in, in intention.
Um, and often the tone alone can be enough to signal displeasure. So like you could just be like, ah. No, like it's that kind of Ooh. The kind of thing that makes you flinch. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Then we have more conversational speech. So that might be chatting to the dog about what you are going to do in your day, or what they're going to do in their day.
Might be, how was your day today? You know, what did you get up to while I was at work? And just having a bit of a, a chat. I think we probably do that conversational chatting when we're coming or leaving the house or the room as well. It's a bit about reacquainting that bond, reestablishing that connection.
As well. Um, and then we have deliberately soothing speech. So, uh, that might be, there's a thunderstorm or something or you're at the vet and you can tell that the dog's nervous and you're trying to actively soothe them down. So it might be like, it's okay, buddy, or Shh, it's all right. Again, very similar to what we do with a child that might be scared or fearful.
Rune: Sh Don't worry buddy. It is just a bit of thunder. Come, come. You want a little snack? Maybe a little squeeze, mate. Not again. Get your hands off me.
Mia: So we also have playful and excited speech. That might be why you are saying, let's go for a walk, or that kind of, you know, higher energy might be exaggerated or sing songy kind of um, fast-paced speaking. And sometimes it can mimic baby talk a little bit or. You know, puppy talk, I guess we'll call it. Um, but it's normally used during play to increase energy.
So it might be like, let's go wish bowl, that kind of thing. Um, really sort of razzing them up, we would say, mm, here in Australia. Then there's also ventriloquism speech that's more of that speaking on behalf of an animal, maybe adopting their supposed voice or personality. So. Maybe you know that boxer you've just passed, you think is sounds a bit like a footy player when they'd be talking to you.
So you'd be like, oh, how are you? Well, yeah, I'm okay. That kind of thing. Talking back for them, sometimes people might use that and refer to themselves as like the dog, mom or dad. So we've seen a bit of a change. In the way that dogs live in our families now and often they are considered part of the family, not just a pet.
And particularly with younger adult generations, they're taking on the role of a pet parent, um, in the way they identify towards their dog. Mm. And that's sort of new over the last 20 years. So that, I guess, ventriloquism speech, um, helps create those bonds and reinforces the pet's role as. Part of the family.
Um, and it can also happen, I guess when you're playing a game as well. It might be like, oh, do you like that? No, I don't. That kind of thing. And then there's the last one that I was thinking about was, I don't know what to call it, I think I called it morph Issm. So that's more where we're trying to act like a dog.
So maybe you do a play bow or you try and mimic, you know, the behaviors that a dog is showing you. So you might get wiggly in your body. Yeah, yeah. As if you're wagging your tail. Um, you might. Growl or lift your lips and snarl, or you might make barking noises like that kind of mimicking dog behavior. And that's probably more likely to happen during playful interactions as well.
And it's, I guess, representing us attempting to adopt their communication style.
Rune: Do you know about different cultures within Australia or you know, across, do we have different relationships? With animals and also the way we communicate with them.
Mia: Yeah, absolutely. And there's, I mean, dogs are a great case study for that. Um, I think it's really important to note that 80% of the world's dogs don't live with people.
So we tend to think of them as being our most popular pet, but actually the majority of the dogs in the world are living adjacent to people. So free ranging. Alongside communities, but not as pets. So I think, yes, there are different cultural differences. Not every community or culture has had this sort of pet keeping thing that we see, you know, Australia or England or Canada or New Zealand or America, um, or parts of Europe.
There are other places where free ranging dogs are much more readily accepted. So in Australia we tend to have backyards. We tend to have fences. We tend to keep dogs inside of those areas. Parts of Europe you'll go and you'll see cats and dogs that are just far more readily accepted, roaming around even though they may be owned.
Um, so I think yes, there's definitely differences and I think. You know, there's a lot that we can learn from looking at how dogs live when they're not living with us, to understand what they value in life and what they're capable of in terms of independence and agency in their lives. Mm-hmm. They live really rich, full. Busy lives without us. Um, and I think that's really interesting.
Rune: So if you took your dogs overseas, would you have to give them a travel brochure so they could fit in?
Mia: It's kind of not. A silly thing to say and, and particularly there's a trend at the moment too, to rescue street dogs. And I, I use that rescue with, you know, inverted commas on either side of it because I don't know that the street dogs need rescuing.
I think they, some of them have got pretty good lives. They may not have such good parasite control and, you know, optimal nutrition. But in terms of environmental, social, sexual freedoms, they've got a lot over many of the dogs in our homes. Yeah. So yes, I think, um, we do know there's probably been more studies done in things like wolves.
So wolves actually have geographic dialects, so their house are different depending on where they live. Wow. So I think, I, I hope I'm getting this right, but I think American wolves tend to put a lot more emphasis on the first sound that they make, whereas European wolves more melodious in their house.
And so if you were to get wolves from different parts of the world and put them all together, they wouldn't necessarily. Be able to understand the vocalizations.
Rune: So are you telling me maybe that when you visit a Zoo and you have animals from different places but within the same species, they're like, I don't understand you bro, 'cause you're speaking a completely different dialect.
Mia: I think perhaps in things like the hows, but the how is still universal. So we know that when dogs and wolves, how often it's about social connection across distance. So. They may not understand, like they might understand, okay, you are seeking social connection. They may not understand the nuance of what's being conveyed in that how.
Rune: Mm.
Mia: And the other thing to remember too is with wolves that their primary mode of communication is their behavior. And similar to humans having these kind of universal expressions across different cultures, you know, we all understand what a smile is. We all understand that look of surprise. Dogs use their bodies in the same way?
Um, no, when or where We see them in the world and obviously they've got the hugest variation in body size and shape of any species too. We have, you know, the tiny teacup chihuahuas through to the biggest Great Danes. And amazingly they can all understand each other,
Rune: so, so, okay, so between breeds, they're, they understand.
Mia: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yep. I think there are some things we do to dogs that can confuse that. So tail docking, you know, where we cut the tail of dogs tail is really important in communication when we crop ears. So that's not seen in Australia, but in other countries. Um, those things can perhaps inhibit their communication with each other.
Um, but they still seem to manage even dogs in those situations. They maybe exaggerate other parts of what they're doing to compensate. You know, not everyone has had only good experiences with dogs. I think. Um, I think it touches on a really, I. Important thing actually that I, I really would like to say about, uh, interacting with dogs, which is that we shouldn't assume dogs want to interact with us.
So I think there's a real presumption when we're walking down the street, you know, I'm, I love dogs, um, and it breaks my heart when I meet a new one and I can tell it's really not into me. Mm. But I accept that, and I don't try and get in it space. I don't try and pat it, you know, you can. Dogs can smell really, really well.
That's their primary sense. So we are very visual. They're really olfactory based. So for them, they're smelling so many things. We don't need to put a hand out for them to smell us. They can smell us just fine with their hands by our sides. Um, so if you're meeting a dog for the first time, I think you don't need to get up in its face or its space.
You can just be there. You can talk to it and you'll know if that dog wants to interact with you, if they're leaning towards you, if they're inviting touch. That will be really obvious. If they're just standing there and looking at you, they're looking back to their person for support. That's a real sign that this dog's maybe not feeling completely comfortable, doesn't wanna be touched, is happy just to be in the circle of space.
Um, but doesn't need more than that. Can you imagine walking down the street and just saying, oh, I like the look of you, and going up and like, hi, how are you? And touching them on the face. Like you just, you wouldn't do it right. So taking a step back and thinking about what, right. Do I have to do that and I'm, you know, I'm not trying to be over the top.
But when you step back and look at it, like it is weird, right, that we do that and we think we have that domineering right to do that. Mm-hmm. Um, and so I think it's a great way to model to kids consent as well. So even if someone says, yeah, you can pat my dog, it's friendly and the dog saying, yes please.
Even teaching kids, well start off just patting them gently on their shoulder and then stop and wait and see what they do. Do they want more of that? And so you're teaching them to, when you interact with some someone else. Actually look at what response you're getting.
Rune: Mm-hmm.
Mia: Are you getting the behavioral cues that they want that to continue or are they saying, no, thank you, and then respond appropriately and like, that's a great life lesson to teach children.
Yeah. Not just for how they interact with animals, but how they interact with people.
Rune: So, yeah, I mean, that brings me to ask what can our communication with animals teach us about how we communicate?
Mia: So I guess we've, we've looked at all these different ways that we can talk with dogs and that really shines a light on our different relationships that we have with dogs, and I think that is the same.
We can also turn that lens to our different relationships with people in our lives. You know, you might speak differently to someone. You respect highly, maybe someone senior in your family or your workplace compared to how you joke around with, um, a buddy, um, or speak to your children. And we use different tones and we use different word choices as well.
Perhaps we're more formal in some settings, perhaps we swear lots with certain friends. Um, and I think that reflects that different level of attachment, that different relationship and what we're seeking from it. So I think. Looking at the way we talk to animals and dogs particularly gives us, I guess just another way of exploring that perhaps about ourselves.
Rune: So someone who doesn't have a dog. Uh, so I'm not part of a community of dog owners, but how do you talk to other people? I. About your dog and your dogs? Like, is is that a thing?
Mia: Oh, well, dogs are like the ultimate social lubricant. So there's, there's research that's done on this, and there's, there's actually a, a great study you'll love this.
I think it came out of France where there was a guy, um, who was soliciting phone numbers from women and they had him do it with and without a dog, and he was three times more likely to get their phone number with the dog. Wow. And anyone at a dog park, you know, it is, you will talk to people because you've got dogs.
It's just something in common and, and you do start to chat. And even if it's someone without a dog, if you're in a public space, like my big dog, he looks kind of like a womble cross with a Muppet. Like he's his really big gray shaggy, almost wolf like dog. People just wanna wrap their arms around him and talk about him. Yeah. Dogs are. What we call a social lubricant. They make having conversations really easy and that can be really helpful for people that might find it hard to start up conversations. Um, it can be really opening perhaps to people who have service animals as well. It lets. People start conversations with them, that can be annoying as well. Not everyone with a guide dog wants to chat about their guide dog.
Rune: Mm.
Mia: Um, so I think just being really mindful about that. But yeah, generally our response to dogs is that we wanna talk about them.
Rune: It might be really hard for people if, if you haven't grown up with an animal or a pet. Sometimes I think I. That some people might find it difficult to understand why we spend so much time and resources and put so much care into pet animals when we know other humans need support.
Mia: Hmm.
Rune: Do you have any thoughts on anyone who has sort of raised that concern?
Mia: I think that when we look at all the needs of the world. It doesn't have to be a competition. They can be complimentary and there is enough of us to advocate for everyone. And the more that I think about it, I, I really get behind these ideas of one health and one Welfare. And that shows, there's research that shows when we take care of people, when we take care of the natural environment and when we take care of animals, we all do better.
So if we just prioritize people. I dunno that that's a winning solution for a great sustainable future. So that's my take on it.
Rune: Mm.
Mia: Um, part of that's probably just to help me justify what I do for my work. Mm. Um, which feels really important to me, especially I guess over the last 50 years there's been a big change in societal attitudes.
Um, part of that's in response to the science that's come out showing us that sentient animals. Like mammals, like birds, emerging evidence about fish and some insects as well. Um. That, that sentience piece means that they have emotional experiences and social connections that matter to them. And although that might be a bit inconvenient for the way that we've been living with and using them.
Rune: Mm.
Mia: Um, we really need to change a lot of what we do and how we respond to that because it's not fair. It's, you know, from a, from a moral and ethical perspective to just exploit them in a way that causes suffering. Mm-hmm.
We know know. That because they're sentient, it matters to them to have positive experiences as well.
Not just an absence of cruelty, um, or suffering, but a provision of good experiences. So that's a feeling of safety, that's having social connection to others that matters to you. Those kind of things.
Rune: We like to talk to our, to our dogs. And we do it quite a bit, but do they actually understand the words or is it something else that they're reacting to?
Mia: Yeah, that's a really great question. Um, most dogs that were professionally trained or deliberately trained, um. Seemed to respond to more words and had a faster pace of learning words than dogs that weren't. That might also reflect those types of dogs. So the types of dogs you are more motivated to go and seek professional training for might just be higher energy, higher cognitive functioning kinds of dogs.
Now, there is one. Special dog that I should talk about. 'cause my research fellowship is named for her and that was Chaser the Border Collie. So Chaser grew up with a retired child psychologist, professor John Pilley, and he wanted to see would she learn words and oh boy did she learn words. So chaser ended up.
Able to identify over a thousand different toys by name, and she was able to infer the name of a new toy by excluding toys that she did know the names of. If she was presented with a lineup of five toys and was asked to pick the new name, she could say, well, it's not that one, that one and that one, so it must be this one.
And wow, he taught her that just through, um, repetition and play reward. It's a really beautiful story about a, a female achieving things that wasn't expected of her. And also, um, perhaps we have underestimated what dogs can learn and know. Um, she was also able to demonstrate an understanding of syntax so she could understand the difference between take the board to Frisbee and take Frisbee to the ball.
Rune: So, knowing that this happened, then, what does that make you think about? The potential of human to to dog communication?
Mia: Well, I think that shows us that dogs can understand words that are attached to things. I don't know that that is the same as saying. Dogs can use those words back to us necessarily.
You know, one thing I get in my role told a lot is I wish my dog could talk to me. And often I wanna say, I wish you would listen to what your dog is already telling you.
Rune: Yeah. Interesting. Because we, we, we almost, I. Yeah, we, we flipped the responsibility, but there is a constant stream of communication from the dog.
It's just not in the format that we are used to, which is talking. Right?
Mia: Yeah. So taking time to recognize that and maybe put a bit of effort into learning, um, what they're showing us all the time.
Rune: I decided to head over to a local park to ask a few dog owners how they talk to their dog. First up, we're meeting Sharyn with Enzo, then David and Buddy , Esin with Tank, and finally Cess with Bowie.
Dog owner: I most of the time I talk to him like he's another person. I think like conversational, I suppose, at home, definitely.
I'm quite conversational with him, you know, good morning, did you sleep well? That sort of thing. Uh, out in the park when I'm walking him, it's more, Enzo, come on, let, let's go. Yeah. Yeah.
Rune: You're so, you're aware a little bit. There's other people.
Dog owner: Yeah. Yeah. I call him puppy even though he is. Five years old. So he is certainly not a puppy, but I, okay.
This morning I would've said something like, good morning puppy. How are you? You know, did you have a good sleep if he comes over? I'm like, are you hungry? You're looking for something to eat? Um, yeah, it's very conversational and he, I suppose he's never answering back and he doesn't necessarily understand me, but it still feels, um, it still feels appropriate, I suppose, to the circumstances.
You know, when he's happy, his little tail wags and he smile. He actually smiles. Like he, I don't know if all dogs sort of, you can tell some dogs smile. He's a dog that opens his mouth and looks like he's smiling. So, and I, that makes me respond to that. So like, if he's smiling and his little tail's wagging, like, oh, you know, you are happy, like, I'll, I'll acknowledge that in the way I talk to him, I suppose.
Hi, yeah, my name's David and my dog is, uh, buddy. What, uh, what type of a breed is doggy? Uh, uh, buddy, but sorry buddy. Of course
Rune: I saw a doggy.
Dog owner: Uh, buddy is a mini puddel, so he is like a toy poodle and a golden retriever. Dunno how that was possible, but maybe with some help. How do you talk to your dog? Hey boy.
Come on. Come here buddy. Come here. Bye bud. He is not interested at the moment, buddy. Oh, good boy. Sit. Good boy buddy. Good boy. So my name is Esin and my dog's name is Tank. He is a seven and a half kilo beige, furry caboodle who has. Far too much attitude. Sometimes we refer to him as Tank Kington ii, you know, if you wanna be official.
Rune: I, I can see that when I look at the dog. There's definitely a little bit of royalty there.
Dog owner: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. He, uh, he carries himself in a very regal way, but he is a little bit of a, an asshole. Sorry if I don't, I don't know if I can swear. Yeah. He's a bit of an asshole sometimes, but a very loving asshole.
And I've had him for nine years, so we. I have quite a strong bond. I call him baby all the time. I say, hello, my love. Hello darling. And then when he is doing something a little bit annoying, I'll say, come on, don't do that. You know? So I speak to him like I would any other human really. It's been nine years we've been together
Rune: Are there any secrets you would tell Tank?
Dog owner: Oh my God. All the time I try and get him to talk to me. I'm like, no one's around. If you wanna say something, tell me something now. If you have anything to say, now is the time. Sometimes I also ask him to blink twice if he loves me. Sometimes it's blink once if he loves me, and then sometimes I go, okay, you're not in the mood.
That's fine. Whatever. Don't worry about it. My name is Cess and my dog's name is Bowie.
Rune: Bowie. Yeah. Cool. Name. Hi, Bowie. You got up in my face there.
Dog owner: For the most part, I talk to him like he's another human, and I, uh, need to remind myself that he actually can't respond. When I come home. I'll be like, how was your day?
Were you having sleep? Did you miss me? But then he's just like. No, I've been just chilling. Last month I went interstate and so before I go away, normally I'll say to him like, okay, I am going, I'm coming back. My sister's looking after you. You're gonna have so much fun. So I do try and explain some things because I did hear once that it helps, but um, yeah, no, I have lots of conversations with him on most days.
Last night we had a friend over and after she left, I found myself going to Bowie. Wasn't that so nice? Sarah came over. You had so much fun with her. And he's just like lying in bed like, okay, and, but I still do it
Rune: when people talk to their dogs, and I mean the people who really loves their dogs, they're not just talking to an animal, they're obviously talking to a family member, but also themselves. And I think within that, there's a level deeper. Talking to people. I think maybe they're speaking to the softest part of themselves.
Like, how can I put it? It's like a, a place of kindness
How Humans Talk is produced and written by Stephen Delatovic and by me Rune Pedersen from Onomato People. Post-production and sound design for the series was done by Dom Evans and James Coster at EARSAY. The SBS team is Joel Supple and Max Gosford, and our artwork is by Wendy Tang. Thank you to everyone who took part in this episode through interviews and snippets, Mia Cobb, and of course, all the dogs and the guardians alike.
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