Talking to your Boxer...

[vaboxer]

TOTALLY! I swear Hook knows English but he isnt letting on about it!

The other night he was really clingy and they usually sleep in the other living room on the old couch...well, he was clingy and wouldnt go in there to sleep so I asked him "Would you like for me to bring your bed in here?" and he looked up at me and gave me a big kiss...I put the bed down, and he went right over to it!

Dayla is catching on...but she's still young...

 

[TatianaB]

Learning capacity

I read a few books, and they say that dogs (I believe especially boxers) have the capacity to learn as much as a 3 year old child. That is if you speak with them all the time. I always spoke with Pisu, and I am still amazed on how much he understands, and the inferences he makes.

A week ago we were visiting some friends of our, and they have two Amazon parrots (talking parrots). We were upstairs, and the birds were downstairs. One of them clearly said "Hello". We had three dogs upstairs, only mine a boxer. He was the only one that got up, and ran downstairs to the door, to see who came in. :p What is amazing, is that he didn't go to the door that was upstairs, but to the one downstairs where the "Hello" came from. Also, we do not speak English in the house, but other people when they come is, I guess they say hello. There is a lot of debate on what "intelligence" is when it comes to dogs. In my opinion, is the problem solving and inferences they are able to make, not just obedience!

 

[Linda/NJ]

It is perfectly normal to talk to them. I think if you do not, something is wrong. You have to communicate with your babies. I speak to her as if she were human too. They are great listeners especially when you really need someone to talk to and no one is around. I love watching their facial expressions too!




Linda and Erik
Ginger - born 6-4-97
Flashy fawn - natural ears

 

[Brando's Mom]

Yep! I genuinely understand! Brando and I carry on complete conversations! He'll even howl with me when I sing! I have poured my heart out to that Boxer. He even knows just to cuddle with me when I'm upset or hurting, which is odd, because as you all know, Boxers are the bounciest thing this side of the Mexican jumping bean! Enjoy your dog and the facial expressions. Simply priceless! lovicon

 

[Chroetli]

I enjoyed talking to my boxers too :p Sometimes I wonder, they seem to understand or perhaps through my tone of voice how I am feeling, happy , sad :( , angry :mad: , afraid :eek:

For example sometimes when I am reading the papers, I will casually ask Oski, where's the rope, where's the ball and he will bring to me the toy that I have required.

Or when I am driving and through the rear view mirror I spot Oski hanging with his too paws out of the window :mad: , i will just shout " Get the hands down NOw !" And he did :o

The incident that confirms to me that Oski seemed to be able to decipher my mood / feeling was during that frightening encounter with the cobra. There was much fear in my voice when I called him to come back to me...hence instead of his usual wondering around before he decides at his own sweet time that he comes back to me, during that incident, when I called his name, he came straight back to me and allowed me to put on his leash without any fuss

As for Linda, she is more "vocal" for when you talk to her, she talks back, much to the delight of my grandma. These two " elderly" ladies often exchange conversations when they met


Chroetli

 

[Tulsa-Dan]

As for Linda, she is more "vocal" for when you talk to her, she talks back, much to the delight of my grandma. These two " elderly" ladies often exchange conversations when they met

That's very funny. :D

 

[Jen&Scott]

We talk to all our dogs and have to spell certain words, too.

The funniest dog talk story I've ever heard was from my sister-in-law. She had 2 German Shorthairs. After they built their new house the fence did not come up to the man door on their garage. When the dogs would come up to the backdoor, she would tell them "go around" and they'd meet her at the side gate to be let out of the fence and into the garage. She said she didn't train them to do this. It just never occurred to her that they wouldn't know what she was talking about when she said "go around." She just told them what to do and from day 1 they did it. (Of course, she didn't realize that she really had inadvertently trained them).

But I just love it how her dogs "understood." (Probably by reading her body language and following her example, I guess).

My best friend's dog, an Entlebucher Sennenhund (rare Swiss mountain type dog) is Oscar's "girlfriend." Darbie knows not only his name, but his nickname (The Brown Dog). If you ask her about him she gets excited and runs to the door that he always comes in whenever he comes to visit. Then, when he's not there, she goes to all his favorite spots in the house looking for him before she comes back to bark at you for tricking her.

Jen