Do you think the puppy in this video is understanding his facetime with Dad? Especially for dog owners who are away from home a lot, it is understandable that they miss their puppies and want to interact with their pups from the office. These owners are probably also worried that their babies are lonely and missing them, so perhaps a video chat would help to make their puppy’s day better.
In a few videos where dogs are hearing the voice and looking at the image on the screen, their heads turn from side to side, which I would interpret as perplexed. So I did some research on the topic. According to Luis Villazon on Science Focus, there are a couple of explanations that may explain our puppy’s confused look.
Do dogs enjoy video chats?
Luis writes that dogs have a much wider range of hearing than humans do. Skype and voice telephone systems often transmits at frequencies between 500 Hz and 4kHz. This is just fine for human ears to recognize the voice, but probably not for dogs. The “missing” elements in the frequencies make our voice possibly not recognizable for our dogs. Another reason has to do with cognitive abilities. Your body is not in the room. All they see on screen is a tiny image of your face, which may or may not be recognizable to them. It may not even occur to them that it is possible to hear a voice that sounds like you when they cannot see you.
Maybe this has something to do with imagination. You are either here or not here. And some researchers suggest that if leaving a video chat on while you are away feels uncomfortable or confusing for your dog, just remember they do not know how to turn off the chat. You can read more about this topic here. Enjoy watching this puppy’s response to his Facetime with Dad.
If you like this video, here is another one of a French Bulldog talking a lot.
Article source: Luis Villazon on Science Focus
