How smart is your dog?

[hoytti]

How smart is your dog?- Pet-U-Cation ft. Game Theorist MatPat | Petcentric (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBrtEE9DfKg)
I would like to hear what you guys think of this. and is it possible this information can help in our character's interactions with animals?

[Karuka]

This link does not tell me how intelligent my dog is.

To answer your question, I don't know that anything in that vid would help how our characters interact with animals. My character has a pet, she interacts with it about halfway between how I interact with my dog and my bird. I really think how our characters interact with animals would be based on who they are, themselves, and not on how much we know about animals. It might affect how realistically we write animals in our threads, though.

[Hysteria]

I for, some reason, developed an intense dislike for that presenter in the first 30 seconds.

I think there are a few things to consider if you want realistic interaction with an animal. Probably the most important two are; Can it speak? and; Does it have a human-like mind?

If you're dealing with an 'animal' that is more like a person in an animal body that can speak in some way (telepathy?), then you really don't have to do much.

If however you're dealing with a wolf, with a wolf mind, then the animal will be constantly communicating with your character via non-verbal means. It will trail behind the owner, listening and watching what is going on around. It will whine if it wants something, bark to get attention, growl if it sees something threatening, yap if it is playing, and so on. The owner should communicate back with set words or phrases and movements. Saying something like "Wolf, you go around and attack from behind" would not work, but if the owner has trained the wolf, then perhaps "Circle attack!" might mean attack from behind. For real animals, the communication is short, sharp and to the point. When they are relaxing, then it might be as simple as stroking the Wolf's head to show the companionship. The wolf might read the non-verbal cues of the owner to tell if he/she is happy, tired, sad, anxious, etc as well.

You can play it half way I guess and make the animal understand but not respond. That would be a very Disney way of doing things.

My 2c :p

[Brand]

MatPat should stick to games.

That is my only comment.

[Lye]

Hysteria hit the nail on the head. Unless there is some telepathic bond, like with a familiar, animals will use nonverbal cues to communicate. In some animal circles, this also extends to scents put off during certain situations like fear, dominance, breeding, etc. When writing a non-intellectual pet/companion/wild animal, making use of these visual and auditory nuances will be more accurate and build a sense of realism.

As far as communicating, at least with dogs, movement and visual cues can be stronger than auditory. Even with dolphins and some other critters, hand gestures relay information more accurately than sound. Tone is also key. A dog will find low, roaring tones intimidating, but high pitched tones more inviting. So when you next think of talking to your IC familiar/pet, consider writing your character making a hand gesture or body gesture instead. Then, write your companion's reaction. Interactions like this show a stronger bond than using the "tell, then do" method.