As the title really. I don’t mean giving it a command but do you chat to your dog while out? Today while walking through local woods that (are normally quiet or deserted) I realised I was talking to the dog – quite unconsciously chatting about the mycelium. Don’t think the dog was interested and thankfully nobody was about.

Anyone who has ever owned, looked after, or spent any time with a dog has done this.

I rarely talk to anyone else.

Out of the whole family, I think the dog listens to me the most!😀

All day, every day…good thing, she never answers back

@supernova yeah I think that might be a big part of it. Currently working from home alone quite a bit.

@gingerbllr good to know I’m not alone then.😀 The dog is newish to us. My partners really. First dog and she’s great.

yes, and mine talks back in her own dog voice.

All the time. From the occasional one liners (he doesn’t find them funny for some reason) to proper discussions.

All the time, I like to think she understands some of it.

Same here but I’m not sure if he could really care less. Doesn’t bother me, he puts up with it.

Not only talk, but I dance to my dog. Nobody but my dog witnesses it.
He loves it if I’m honest.
He likes a double hand clap.

I only have a cat to talk to ☹️ Worse yet it’s the wife’s cat and I think it understands most of the names I’ve called it in the past.

Nonetheless I try chatting to it most mornings when I’m padding about at 5am, I think I can recognise its “Good morning but I’m not getting out of my basket” meow if nothing else

All the time, I like to think she understands some of it.

Yes, I’m rather hoping that the extensive monologues I’ve been giving her on woodland as a singular organism will one day be transcribed by the dog in the form of comprehensive notes. I always forget what I’ve been thinking of not long after.

I only have a cat to talk to ☹️ Worse yet it’s the wife’s cat and I think it understands most of the names I’ve called it in the past.

You want to watch cats. They’re in it for themselves. Our cat has suddenly turned all cuddly with everyone. Funny that up till the dog came along he regularly took himself off and at one time was a proper six dinner Sid (that’s a great book by the way if you have younger children).

Not whilst out and about with him – he’s a serious independent strong willed hunting dog that snaps into ‘working mode’ as soon as we leave the house but I love having a chat with him when he’s curled up on the sofa with me.

woodland as a singular organism

I approve of this as a conversation.

Even more crazily, I talk to the big dog like she speaks perfect English, but to the smaller dog like it’s a one year old.

I don’t have a dog but I talk to other people’s. Nobody seems to mind.

I talk to her, way too much. However, I also talk for her through my own version of her inner monologue, it’s embarrassing.

I work from home, I spend too much time with her..

Mine’s been dead 2 years and I still talk to her

I talk to my cats – each mealtime is like this:

Me: “Say sausages”
Cats: “Miaow!”
Me: “Sausages”
Cats: “Miaow!”
Me: “Sausages”
etc

My neighbours must think that I’m daft.

Always talk to my dog, and without fail comment on her on her big yawns and stretches.

She loves it .

Maybe.

I talk to all animals that I encounter as I go about my day to day business. Humans I’m a bit more cagey about.

Friends of ours have a couple of chihuahuas, both adorably friendly but one has unfortunate bulging crossed eyes. I make a point of telling her that she’s a beautiful doggie, because she is.

I got the dog so that I wasn’t talking to myself when I started working freelance.

She’s a great expert on walking and cycling infrastructure but I think she’s less interested in transport data and mobility as a service.

Anyone talk to their dogs

Obvs. The old, beautiful, spaniel who’s recently left us understood every word but picked and chose what she’d pay attention to. The lab who is very handsome but has only two brain cells to rub together doesn’t listen but understands the world doesn’t end at waist height.

They’re funny buggers and frequently trouble but I can’t imagine life without a dog now.

I talk to all animals that I encounter as I go about my day to day business. Humans I’m a bit more cagey about.

Me too. Dogs, cats, a horse or cow leaning over a gate, whatever. I will always attempt to stroke them and will talk to them.
I tlak to my girlfriend’s cat and my neighbour’s dog.
.
I did laugh at myself when I found myself pulling a face at a sheep who made a funny face at me…

Cass loves being chatted to. I do it all the time. Like she’s just another furry human. I think she craves the attention having grown up in a barn, sleeping on a pallet.

If the kids ever ask who’s my favourite child, my answer is always: “the dog – she listens, pays attention, is even tidy.” They know their place in the pack.

Just the odd chat when we are at the bar.

Yes all the time. I always apogise too when I accidentally bump into/trod on a paw etc 🙂

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/aug/21/pet-food-system-broken-cat-blames-me-tim-dowling

Tim Dowling talking to his cat, I can relate.

If you are not meant to be having conversations with animals – I’ve been doing it wrong all my life….

Absolutely. Ralph does not judge and is a very good listener, but you have to explain things to him in relatively simple structures, so he’s actually good for helping solve complex problems. He’s a spaniel, so kind of expected I guess.

I still talk to my other dog on occasion, and he has been dead nearly a year. That’s generally when I am on my own though and potentially feeling miserable.

Ralph is currently letting me know that I should be downstairs with him and not drinking coffee in bed reading the Internet.

Talk to the dog more than anyone else.

He has no idea what I’m saying (apart from some of the obvious key words/short phrases) but he certainly understands the tone. Which is generally more than any other ****er manages.

He also knows the “click” of an iPad screen lock late evening means he has to go outside and water the plants.

Yep and he talks back.

I still talk to my other dog on occasion, and he has been dead nearly a year. That’s generally when I am on my own though and potentially feeling miserable.

I can very much understand that.

I always apogise too when I accidentally bump into/trod on a paw etc 🙂

I always say sorry when I accidentally tread on a snail. It just seems the right thing to do.

Walking up the garden path on a dark damp evening can involve a lot of apologising.

Oh absolutely. I also voice one of the dogs conversations back. It is the most ridiculous thing to be honest but even BBG, who usually finds me the least funny person on Earth, laughs and FBG so really wants to believe it’s Skye taking that he goes along with it too.

The other dog doesn’t speak though – not learned how yet…

Conversations in our house go

Me: “This is my cheese sandwich, bugger off”

Lab: “I am cheesedog. From a long and distinguished line of cheese dogs. Cheese is what I am all about, give me some of that sandwich”

Me: “you are not cheesedog”

Lab (giving me the look): “Could I be cheesedog for just a few mins/one bite of the sarnie?”

This happens a lot. No one in our house even finds it odd anymore. Well except maybe the dogs!

Yep o even voice their side. Sometimes am spokesperson for them in conversations with mrs100th.
I even, when spending a week in a very isolated cottage, asked the dog why he wasn’t speaking to me