Corgi Talkin'
Does your corgi vocalize in exotic and interesting ways? Cassie, who was found at the dog pound under a sign reading "BARKS," expresses herself almost exclusively in loud yaps, which is OK because no one is around to be disturbed except me, and I find her so adorable that most of the time her barking doesn't pose much of a problem.
On the other hand, Ruby the Corgi Pup appears to be a multilingual dog. She is the most amazing little talker! She has a wide range of vocalizations, some of which are weirdly human: tones that rise with a question mark at the end, tones that sound like a little kid just told she can't have another piece of candy, tones that sound like a happy teenager celebrating some new purchase...it goes on and on.
She has quite a vocabulary, and she seems to use some of the sounds repeatedly, in a pattern that appears to have meaning of a sort.
I suppose that when she makes a sound that elicits a desired reaction from the human, she must make a connection ("this noise" = "that action from the human"). So "mmmmHMMMM" gets us out the front door and launches us into a walk; hence "mmmHMMMM" becomes the let's-go-out-this-door sound. "RUF-grrd-grrd-grrr-arrh-grrda" accompanied by anxious pacing around the kitchen means "get off your duff and give me a Doggy Treat, for hevvinsake!"
Cassie's barks are pretty homogeneous, ranging from the come-hither bark delivered to the puppy to get her back in the house (it's amazing!) to the general-conversation bark to the arrogant bark used to order the human around, with a slightly more urgent someone's-at-the-door bark. These noises are pretty consistently the same pitch, mostly differing only in volume.
But Ruby emits an ENORMOUS range of barks. Pitch varies to suit the circumstances. Volume ranges from a soft "woof" slightly more intense than the classic doggy "whuff" (i.e., "WTF is that [remotely distant] noise?") to an out-and-out ear-splitting scream. She's only engaged the the latter noise once, the other day when a drug user was using the alcove outside our back gate to shoot up.
In between the ordinary bark and the enraged shriek is a sound much like a bay: arf arf arf ARF-a-ROOOOOOOO! It's not quite baying in the sense that a hound can bay, but it certainly isn't a classic yap.
Couple of nights ago, a strange thing happened, during which Ruby exhibited a fair amount of her repertoire. Whatever was going on with the dog was weird -- I assume she had a dogmare and couldn't differentiate between real and dream events. But who knows?
Who knows what mysteries lurk in the minds of dogs?
Comment
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Comment by Beth on December 14, 2015 at 10:02am
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Maddie just has normal dog vocalizations, but Jack has a series of woofs, grumbles, whines, short howls, and "Chewbacca sounds." He has an opinion on everything and likes to share his point of view. We call him our grumble puppy.
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Comment by Chris Payerl on December 13, 2015 at 9:26am
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I sure do miss that "mmmph" !
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Comment by Vicky Hay on December 12, 2015 at 8:50pm
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@ Linda: That is hilarious!! Cassie also will bark when she hears a doorbell-like noise on the television! She seems kind of confused about that...she's aware (I think) that the noise is coming from someplace other than the usual doorbell location, but she still connects "doorbell" with "exciting, interesting, mooch-worthy COMPANY."
@ Chris: Ah, the "mmmph" sound! Cassie makes a sound like this, also usually on the bed either right before lights-out or at dawn when it's time to get up but we're resisting having to turn out onto the cold tiles.
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Comment by Linda on November 29, 2015 at 7:22pm
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Brady, our new guy, is quite vocal. Mostly he's a quiet dog but we found out he is a doorbell dog. We do not have a doorbell but if he hears one on TV he is off. Then we have the soft duo of Max and Brady with low woofs, one starts the other responds and sometimes Katie joins in to make it a trio. Max must have the last word always so this can take some time to stop. Brady also has a variety of woofs, chuffs, humphs and other sounds. Doesn't matter where he is..,laying on the floor, in his chair or on one of our laps. He is funny to hear.
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Sophie is pretty quiet during the day unless someone comes to the door and then she lets loose, but we have "girl talk" every night when we get into bed. Once hubby and I are in bed, but light hasn't been turned out yet, she walks up between us for some good night pets. Then she puts her head on me and makes a low "mmmph" sound and I respond in kind. She will make a variety of these sounds, varying in pitch, volume, intonation and duration and I do my best to repeat what she has said. She seems to love this ritual --- I certainly do! She won't do it with hubby, just me. When she has had enough, she curls up at the foot of the bed with her head on my feet. That's the signal that it's lights out time. She talks in her sleep at times too, quietly woofing at something in her dreams. The only time I have heard her scream, and I hope I never have to again, was an involuntary vocalization during a seizure. That nearly broke my heart. Thankfully it happened only once during her seizures.
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