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Scientists develop computer that can 'translate' a dog's bark
Daily Mail ^ | Jan 16, 2008

Posted on 01/16/2008 4:26:13 PM PST by digger48

What would a dog say if it could talk? "Stranger", "fight", "walk", "alone", "ball" and "play", according to scientists who have developed a computer programme to translate dog barks.

The special programme analysed more than 6,000 barks from 14 Hungarian sheepdogs in six different situations.

In a series of tests the team of scientists, from Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary led by Csaba Molnár, discovered that a computer could recognise whether a dog was in a stranger, fight, walk, alone, ball or play scenario.

Computer can tell what kind of situation a dog is in by how it barks

The barks were tape recorded and then digitized on a computer, which used software to study their differences.

The computer correctly identified the different situations 43 per cent of the time. Although it was not a high success rate it was far better than human recognition, the researchers said.

The computer was most accurate in identifying the "fight" and "stranger" contexts, and was least effective at matching the "play" bark.

The results appear in the journal Animal Cognition, and suggest that dogs have acoustically different barks depending on their emotional state.

The researchers also performed a second test, in which the computer identified individual dogs by their bark.

The software correctly identified the dogs 52 per cent of the time, again much better than the human result, suggesting there are individual differences in barks even though humans are not able to recognize them.

The team also plans to compare the barks of different breeds to discover what they have in common.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: computers; freepun
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Photobucket
1 posted on 01/16/2008 4:26:15 PM PST by digger48
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To: digger48

Bart had a conversation like that with Santas little helper ;-)


2 posted on 01/16/2008 4:28:43 PM PST by Minnesoootan
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To: Dog Gone; HairOfTheDog

WOOF! WOOF!


3 posted on 01/16/2008 4:29:16 PM PST by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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To: digger48

4 posted on 01/16/2008 4:29:24 PM PST by mysterio
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To: digger48

Dog: “The cat did it!”

Cat: “Meow”


5 posted on 01/16/2008 4:30:45 PM PST by Normal4me
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To: digger48

Glad to find out these scientists are there trying to better humanity, instead of merely screwing around. [/sarc]


6 posted on 01/16/2008 4:35:00 PM PST by Repeal 16-17 (Let me know when the Shooting starts.)
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To: mysterio

LOL I’ve never seen that one


7 posted on 01/16/2008 4:35:23 PM PST by digger48 (http://prorev.com/legacy.htm)
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To: digger48
...analysed more than 6,000 barks from 14 Hungarian sheepdogs...

woof = Goulash

ruff = Gypsy

bark = Budapest

8 posted on 01/16/2008 4:35:50 PM PST by quark
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To: Normal4me
Man: How about getting me a beer.

Dog: Get your own damn beer.

Now you tell me who always gets the beer.

Dog: I think I'd like to go for a walk.

Man: Hey, I'll get your leash and we'll go for a walk.

Dog: I wish he would do a little double time once in a while. He's so boring.

9 posted on 01/16/2008 4:36:46 PM PST by Sacajaweau ("The Cracker" will be renamed "The Crapper")
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To: digger48
more than 6,000 barks from 14 Hungarian sheepdogs in six different situations.

Did all the dogs bark in Hungarian or English? If Hungarian, was there a translator?

10 posted on 01/16/2008 4:37:49 PM PST by Bushbacker1 (Officially Fredbacker1 but don't know how to change my name)
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To: digger48
Photobucket
11 posted on 01/16/2008 4:38:57 PM PST by 668 - Neighbor of the Beast
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To: digger48

The study was made in Hungary.

This just proves there’s nothing to see and do in Hungary.


12 posted on 01/16/2008 4:40:07 PM PST by max americana
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To: digger48

I can often tell why my dog(s) are barking. There are several meanings. Such as...

1) There’s other dogs in the neighborhood barking, so why shouldn’t I?

2) I’ve got a ground squirrel trapped under these rocks.

3) I’ve got a lizard trapped behind something on the patio.

4) There’s a bird making fun of me!

5) The other dog has the stick and won’t play “chase.”

6) There’s kids swimming in the pool and I want everyone to notice me and get me to jump in.

7) I saw a man over the fence.

Each of these has a different flavor that makes it recognizable. The easiest ones to identify are #7 (because it’s for real), and #2 (because it’s high pitched and unrelenting).

I can also tell what kind of animal she’s “pointing” at based on the point. Each animal has a number value, and each location has a number value, with a rabbit in the middle of the yard being highest value at 10 and a sparrow in the neighbor’s tree being lowest value at 1. The point value varies based on how yummy the animal is likely to be, and just how likely she is to get a legitimate shot at it.


13 posted on 01/16/2008 4:42:35 PM PST by MarineBrat (My wife and I took an AIDS vaccination that the Church offers.)
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To: digger48
"The computer correctly identified the different situations 43 per cent of the time. Although it was not a high success rate it was far better than human recognition, the researchers said."

Forty-three percent???? And they say that this rate is far better than human recognition??? I can tell you the meaning of every vocalization each of my dogs makes, and I have five dogs in the house ... 11 in total. I can tell who is barking instantly. Same for who is in the kitchen begging. I can hear drinking from the water bowl and tell you which dog is drinking.

'Car in the driveway' is different than 'somebody's about to ring the doorbell', which is totally different than 'there's a squirrel' and 'mom, she/he's irritating me', when they tell on one another.

Jeez, I just read through this post and realized that I spend way too much time with my dogs!

14 posted on 01/16/2008 4:46:05 PM PST by JustaDumbBlonde
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To: digger48
How about a "wife translator" first ?

There are moments all I hear is blah, blah, blah

15 posted on 01/16/2008 4:46:57 PM PST by Popman (Gold Standard: Trying to squeeze a 50 lb economy back into a 5 lb bag)
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To: MarineBrat

I see that your dogs don’t speak in one word sentences either. LOL


16 posted on 01/16/2008 4:49:01 PM PST by JustaDumbBlonde
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To: digger48

Can it translate Hillarious bark-cackle, hmmmm?


17 posted on 01/16/2008 4:50:08 PM PST by Leo Carpathian (ffffFReeeePeee!)
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To: Bushbacker1

I used to date a Cuban guy whose family spoke only Spanish. I met the whole bunch of them, including the dog. Not knowing the language, I asked my boyfriend “How do I call for the dog in Spanish?”. He rolled his eyes and said “He’s bilingual.”


18 posted on 01/16/2008 4:50:33 PM PST by tundrachick
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To: digger48
Image hosted by Photobucket.com anybody who owns a dog knows what their bark means...
19 posted on 01/16/2008 4:51:04 PM PST by Chode (American Hedonist ©®)
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To: digger48

“Sound of Dog’s ‘Laugh’ Calms Other Pooches”

“Researchers at the Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service in Washington state say sometimes a bark is just a bark — but a long, loud panting sound has real meaning.”

“They say the long, loud pant is the sound of a dog laughing, and it has a direct impact on the behavior of other dogs.”
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Health/story?id=1370911

“Don’t look now, but is that dog laughing?”

“Amid all the panting, a dog at play makes a distinctive, breathy exhalation that can trigger playfulness in other dogs, says a Nevada researcher. Yes, it might be the dog version of a laugh.”
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20010728/fob9.asp


20 posted on 01/16/2008 4:52:51 PM PST by chessplayer
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To: chessplayer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcoMzyPVT9M


21 posted on 01/16/2008 4:54:53 PM PST by digger48 (http://prorev.com/legacy.htm)
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To: digger48

I’ve noticed that my two dogs, who are outside dogs, seem to bark in a numerical sequence that is more method than just random yapping. Sometimes it’s a 1-2-3 sequence and then more complex, it’ll be a 2-1-3-4 sequence, and it varies, but I’ve learned that they are tending to business around the place and their communications mean something between them. Perhaps they’re telling each other “watch out on the front of the house, there’s a bobcat or some other thing. Our dogs also talk to the coyotes that live in the river bottom out here. It’s a totally different howling language, and the coyotes answer them. (I think they are saying, “We are going to whup up on you two doggies and take your kibbles!” - and then our dogs answer them, “No you are not! Well, you can have a bite or two of our kibbles, but don’t eat it all!!” I think they sometimes look the other way when neighbor dogs or the coyotes eat out of their feeders.


22 posted on 01/16/2008 4:55:49 PM PST by Twinkie (Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God . . .)
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To: digger48
Dog haiku:

I sound the alarm!
Paperboy come to kill us all-
Look! Look! Look! Look! Look!

I sound the alarm!
Squirrel come to kill us all-
Look! Look! Look! Look! Look!

I sound the alarm!
Mailman come to kill us all-
Look! Look! Look! Look! Look!

I sound the alarm!
Neighbor's cat come to kill us all-
Look! Look! Look! Look! Look!

23 posted on 01/16/2008 4:58:46 PM PST by Bubba Ho-Tep ("More weight!"--Giles Corey)
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To: MarineBrat
I hd a neighbor whose dog had barks with the following meanings:

1) It's daytime.

2) It's night.

3) It's dusk.

4) The weather is clear.

5) The weather is not clear.

6) There's nobody here.

and finally...

7) I'm awake.

Of course the barks were all the same, and the dog hardly ever slept.

24 posted on 01/16/2008 5:03:45 PM PST by 3niner (War is one game where the home team always loses.)
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To: digger48

LOL! I was just about to look for that very cartoon when I read the headline of your post!

That’s me and the missus’ favorite Far Side, and so true of our dogs.


25 posted on 01/16/2008 5:08:16 PM PST by Yo-Yo (USAF, TAC, 12th AF, 366 TFW, 366 MG, 366 CRS, Mtn Home AFB, 1978-81)
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To: tundrachick
I used to date a Cuban guy whose family spoke only Spanish. I met the whole bunch of them, including the dog. Not knowing the language, I asked my boyfriend “How do I call for the dog in Spanish?”. He rolled his eyes and said “He’s bilingual.”

"I think you said 'come here', but man, you've got the worst accent..."

26 posted on 01/16/2008 5:23:39 PM PST by jiggyboy (Ten per cent of poll respondents are either lying or insane)
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To: Yo-Yo

Our Catahula has a squirrel bark and a rabbit bark.
She barks a certain bark to get in the house. She
uses her eyes for most other things. We live in Alaska.
One day she stood at the door and looked at me with the
“you need to look at this expression”. Sure enough,
someone had left the entryway door open. Every day,
we go for a walk and she gets to a T and looks both
ways and then decides which way she wants to go. It is
just a gravel three way road that lead into various forested areas. I love that dog.


27 posted on 01/16/2008 5:25:42 PM PST by Cowgirl
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To: digger48

Too bad, the situations I really want to be able to decipher are “The Piddle” and “The Poop” vs. the others.


28 posted on 01/16/2008 5:26:00 PM PST by rod1 (uestion)
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To: digger48

My dog is a Bicheon so she speaks Frnech, not Hungarian.


29 posted on 01/16/2008 5:26:55 PM PST by rod1 (uestion)
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To: digger48

I think I’d be afraid to know what my dog is “saying” when she is licking her but with big, wet slurps. “Uhm, gotta get me some of this!”


30 posted on 01/16/2008 5:29:16 PM PST by awake-n-angry
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To: Popman
How about a "wife translator" first ?

I'll get started on that right after I perfect turning this ear of corn into a solid gold anti-gravity perpetual motion machine.

31 posted on 01/16/2008 5:30:50 PM PST by highimpact (Abortion - [n]: human sacrifice at the altar of convenience.)
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To: Cowgirl

Sounds like a really cool dog.

Our dog says a lot more with his facial expressions than he does with his bark, but he definitely has a lizard bark, a stranger bark, a cat bark, and a “let me into the shower!” bark. His most recognizable bark comes after his shower, when he gets to chase a laser pointer dot in circles around the couch. In my dog’s opinion, laser pointer dots must be killed on sight.


32 posted on 01/16/2008 5:37:33 PM PST by highimpact (Abortion - [n]: human sacrifice at the altar of convenience.)
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To: 3niner
Of course the barks were all the same, and the dog hardly ever slept.

LOL! I used to have a neigbor with a little bug-eyed rat of a dog who was just like that. If I so much as went to my kitchen to get a glass of water in the middle of the night it would set off the alarm, and bark for at least 20 minutes after I went back to bed. Time of day meant nothing to this dog. All day, every day!

Eventually I got the city to come take the little monster away for good. (The dog, not the neighbor.) To get rid of the neighbor I moved to the country. :)

33 posted on 01/16/2008 5:37:34 PM PST by MarineBrat (My wife and I took an AIDS vaccination that the Church offers.)
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To: highimpact
In my dog’s opinion, laser pointer dots must be killed on sight.

That's funny, my dogs couldn't be bothered by a laser pointer. I have red lasers and a green laser, and the cats go berzerk trying to get them, but neither dog shows the slightest interest in them. I have actually wondered if their eyes can't see the frequency of the light that the lasers are putting out, except that my green one is so bright that I think they'd have to see it.

I've wondered if *any* dogs would pay attention to a laser pointer, and now I know. My dogs treat a laser dot the same way our cats treat a tossed stick. And our cats treat a laser dot the same way the dogs treat a tossed stick. Kinda funny that way. :)

34 posted on 01/16/2008 5:47:32 PM PST by MarineBrat (My wife and I took an AIDS vaccination that the Church offers.)
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To: digger48

When a person truly LIVES with dogs, you dopn’t need a computer to tell what they are saying. Mine have a big range of different barks, and I pretty well know when they are telling me someone is on the property.


35 posted on 01/16/2008 6:03:34 PM PST by ridesthemiles
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To: MarineBrat

My dog pays no attention to the little yapper next door, now when the dogs across the alley start up, he joins in.

No stranger or garbage truck can come down the alley without being announced by the dogs.

Everybody on my block has at least one dog.


36 posted on 01/16/2008 6:04:27 PM PST by razorback-bert (Remember that amateurs built the Ark while professionals built the Titanic.)
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To: 668 - Neighbor of the Beast

This was sent to me with the caption:
Thank you, God, for letting me belong to Timmy instead of Michael Vick......


37 posted on 01/16/2008 6:05:19 PM PST by ridesthemiles
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To: MarineBrat

It must have something to do with the breed. Ours is half Cocker Spaniel, and half Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. A good buddy of mine has a Cavalier Spaniel bitch, and she also goes nuts over the laser pointer.

Our neighbors have dogs that we babysit all the time when they travel (two Yorkies and a mini Dachshund), and none of them can see the laser dot.

Our cat can see the laser pointer, but she could care less. Once she stepped on it, but she completely lost interest after about five seconds.


38 posted on 01/16/2008 6:09:19 PM PST by highimpact (Abortion - [n]: human sacrifice at the altar of convenience.)
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To: ridesthemiles
You are right. I can tell by my dogs (all 4) barks what is going on. Someones at the door, squirrels in the yard, stranger in the house, let me in, let me out, feed me, lets play ball, each has a different sound coming from a different area of the house. My dogs have trained me well.
39 posted on 01/16/2008 6:09:34 PM PST by Ditter
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To: All
OK, here is my version a REAL CONSERVATIVEor "Conserv-Supremo" :)

A "real" conservative is a regular conservative with very strong conservative'social-values,' and one who absolutely respects and PROTECTS the Military from those who will harm it from the likes of degenerates like the 'homosexual-agenda."

I am not saying this all of it, but whoever does not feel this way, can NOT be a REAL conservative. :)

40 posted on 01/16/2008 6:11:28 PM PST by ElPatriota (Duncan Hunter 08 -- I am proud to support this man for my president)
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To: All

Woopsss.. WRONG THREAD! lol - sorry


41 posted on 01/16/2008 6:12:29 PM PST by ElPatriota (Duncan Hunter 08 -- I am proud to support this man for my president)
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To: Cowgirl

Do you ever have trouble with bears?


42 posted on 01/16/2008 6:12:46 PM PST by Ditter
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To: MarineBrat
Yes,

I had a hunting dog when I was an adolesent, and I could tell if it had a grouse or a squirrel up a tree by the bark.

“Dog” people can communicate with their dogs much more than many realize.

43 posted on 01/16/2008 6:23:49 PM PST by marktwain
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To: digger48

“Snausages!”


44 posted on 01/16/2008 6:27:02 PM PST by LibFreeOrDie (Huckabee's Kingdom on Earth is NOT the answer. Got a problem with that?)
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To: MarineBrat

Funny, I know a dog that loves to chase a laser(red). Heck, he’ll even chase the sunlight reflection off my watch face. The cats in his family are the same.


45 posted on 01/16/2008 6:40:59 PM PST by AFreeBird (Fred 08)
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To: digger48
I really like the dog version, but should be viewed with the feline version too:


46 posted on 01/16/2008 6:44:56 PM PST by C210N (The television has mounted the most serious assault on Republicanism since Das Kapital.)
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To: JustaDumbBlonde

I was thinking the same thing.. they could have saved a LOT of money by just calling me and asking... My wife’s stupid little Yorkie has a different bark as each of our neighbors dogs walk by... We can tell who it is without looking..


47 posted on 01/16/2008 6:47:08 PM PST by SomeCallMeTim
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To: JustaDumbBlonde

I was thinking the same thing.. they could have saved a LOT of money by just calling me and asking... My wife’s stupid little Yorkie has a different bark as each of our neighbors dogs walk by... We can tell who it is without looking..


48 posted on 01/16/2008 6:47:15 PM PST by SomeCallMeTim
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Comment #49 Removed by Moderator

To: Bubba Ho-Tep

Dog haiku:
I sound the alarm!
Paperboy come to kill us all-
Look! Look! Look! Look! Look!

I sound the alarm!
Squirrel come to kill us all-
Look! Look! Look! Look! Look!

I sound the alarm!
Mailman come to kill us all-
Look! Look! Look! Look! Look!

I sound the alarm!
Neighbor’s cat come to kill us all-
Look! Look! Look! Look! Look!
............................

.
.
.
.
.
.

That just cracked me up... :-)


50 posted on 01/16/2008 9:21:58 PM PST by Route66 (America's Main Street - - - Fred D. Thompson / Consistent Conservative...The One with Gravitas)
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