Do Dogs Laugh?
On any given day, I am apt to observe my dogs. For hours, I may just be with them, watching. They delight me with their humor and they surprise me with their varied language. A few years ago, curiosity started me on a wonderful exploration into the canine vocabulary, and in the end, I created quite a stir with my research into the vocalizations dogs produce while playing. This line of inquiry began one afternoon while I was watching Goodall, my Briard puppy, who was about six months old at the time. Goodall
That’s right, I said laughing. Until recently, it would have been career suicide to attribute this ability to anything but a human animal. But here was my little puppy, tossing his head back and producing a huh-huh-huh sound. The amount of air he forced out of his mouth was considerable, yet he was not exerting much energy while spinning the chair, so he wasn’t panting. I thought the sound may have meaning, and wanted to find out what that meaning was.