Talking slowly helps dogs listen

Slow and steady wins the race—and also the way to a dog’s heart. A new study reveals that when people speak slowly to their canine companions, their pets understand them better. Researchers from the University of Geneva in Switzerland studied 30 vocal sounds dogs make, such as growls, barks, and whines. They also analyzed the speech rates of 27 people talking to other people and 22 people speaking to dogs. Then the researchers looked at the brain activity of the dogs and humans to see their responses. According to the study, humans tend to speak much faster than dogs vocalize—about four syllables per second compared to two sounds per second. But when speaking to the dogs, people slowed their speech rhythm to about three syllables per second, a rate much…

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The Week Junior US (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 240

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