Are there any Americans among us who actually talk to their pets in a normal tone of voice, as if they were talking to another person?

34 comments

1. I’ve heard rumors that such people exist. I’ve never met one though.

2. I can’t stand baby talk to animals.

   I’ll sometimes do a dumb voice to get their attention, but not in commands or anything

3. Oh I do.

   I’m not sure if it’s healthy or not, but I’m not going to get worried until I start expecting him to answer back.

4. Only when I’m annoyed at them.

5. My dog and cat are my babies

   I caried both of them home from the ditch I found them in and I shall baby them until the day I die

6. Aren’t you that guy who thinks robots took over the internet

7. I’m not talking to another person though. I’m talking to a Guinea pig.

8. The smarter the dog more likely this is. I talked to my lab like a human because he didn’t need a tone of voice to understand what I was saying.

   Driving: “Hey dog. There’s a dog on your right” (so he gets to see dog)

   “Hold on. Tight corner”

   “Bring this to Dad”

   ​

   It’s not how it works with my hound.

9. Sure, when I’m talking to them. But I use a really cute voice when I’m anthropomorphising their response.

10. Only when they do something particularly stupid. Like, attack my foot when it moves under a blanket

11. I do

12. Well, they’re animals at the end of the day, so it doesn’t really matter how anyone talks to them. I talk to my animals in a mix of regular and baby talk, but give no preference to either. I’ve seen some talk online from people who think it is incredibly degrading and disrespectful to talk to their pets in a baby voice or overly-excited tone for some reason, but I find those people odd. Dogs actually respond well to more excitable speech.

13. I do and I don’t. Usually I talk silly to them when they’re being silly. Most of the time I talk normally to them. I had a complete conversation with Grady this morning over coffee after ‘dad’ left for work.

14. Most of the time, yes.

15. In English I do but when I use ASL with my dog I sign as I normally would.

16. I talk to kids in the same way as well. I’ve watched some neighbors change their tone while talking to my neighbors kids. The kids usually look at them differently. But I’ll talk to my cats like a normal person. They actually talk back

17. Yep

18. Me🙋🏼‍♂️

    Baby talk makes me want to drive over a cliff.

19. Tone? Yes
    Vocabulary? No

20. You mean there are people who don’t do this?

21. In the case of my dogs, it depends on the dog. Our last dog, Haley, was a _serious business dog_ who didn’t like being spoken to in silly voices. Our other dogs only get normal human voices if I’m giving them a command or trying to explain something very important to them.

22. All the time. It’s the only voice I use. When training or praising my voice will get a little “brighter” and “sing-songy”.

23. Yeah I do, pretty often in fact. I’ll say like ‘what’s up’ or just say random stuff to my dogs

24. All the time. For example When I leave the house I tell the youngest of my dogs “Poppet, you are in charge while I’m gone”

25. All the time.

    I have a bunch of silly nicknames for my pets, but I speak to them pretty much the same way I speak to my partner. Then again, come to think of it, I have a bunch of silly nicknames for him, too. 🙂

26. Only when I’m annoyed with my dog.

27. I talk to my dog all the time, especially when we are on walks. My neighbors think I am weird.

28. I switch depending on my mood.

29. I do. I just can’t be bothered to make that baby talk voice. Mostly because it seems like waaay too much energy every time. I get 0 added benefit out of my dog for a lighter tone and my being assertive, deeper tone did nothing so regular tone worms just fine

30. I do both.

    I’ll say “can you get off of the coffee table, please” but also “who’s my little chunky stink boy???” It just depends

31. All the time.

32. I talk to animals way more than humans. I haven’t seen another human beside my husband in almost a month. I regularly talk with my rabbits and goats.

    I also will talk to bugs 😂

33. I talk to them like regular people… but toddler people. I don’t care if she’s 16, she’s my toddler baby.

34. We’ve got a rabbit I speak to in a normal tone of voice because I respect her like a member of the family. She gets a tone of voice reflecting the same dignity and admiration I have for some people.

    I’ll let her know she’s a good bun but I don’t baby her. I just feed her bananas on occasion and give her extra face rubs when she isn’t doing laps round the living room