Can Dogs Get the Joke?
Do dogs “tell” jokes? I ask because a friend sent me a thought-provoking interview on Substack with NY dog trainer Jess Erace. In it, she argues that dogs can indeed tell and “get” jokes. Here’s one of her examples:
“We were at her house for dinner and everybody was sitting at the table. Her dog wanted some attention, so he went into the kitchen and picked up a potholder, then he trotted past the dining room. His head was high and his feet were coming up high, and everybody started laughing. That’s the Felony Trot. It’s when the dog is doing something “illegal” but they’re parading in front of you because they want you to notice.
And, by the way, that dog made that same joke for every dinner that we had for nearly the rest of his life because he got a big boost from that laughter. He understood what laughter was. He knew everybody had their attention on him, and he was happy about it. It was often a potholder but sometimes he couldn’t reach it, and he would pick up something else. But it was the same joke.”
First off, I can’t continue without laughing myself silly at the “Felony Trot” phrase and the image it provokes. That image and description is going to get me through much of this week. But going further, I found myself going deep into the weeds about this issue–first off, what is a joke, and how would we know if a dog was making one?
By the way, this isn’t a new discussion: Charles Darwin talked about it in The Descent of Man in 1872:
“Dogs show what may be fairly called a sense of humor, as distinct from mere play; if a bit of stick or other such object be thrown to one, he will often carry it away for a short distance; and then squatting down with it on the ground close before him, will wait until his master comes quite close to take it away. The dog will then seize it and rush away in triumph, repeating the same maneuver, and evidently enjoying the practical joke.”
Merriam-Webster is clear about the definition of a joke: “Something said or done to provoke laughter.” Simple enough. In that case, the dog above seemed to be reinforced by the laughter, so the Felony Trot (still laughing) could indeed be qualified as a joke. MW adds another definition: “a brief oral narrative with a climactic humorous twist.” Ah, surely it doesn’t have to be oral, right? I’m sure that ASL in the deaf community is full of knee-slappers.
But each answer leads to more questions: First, if a dog can make a joke to a person, do they also do that to other dogs? And then, the questions continue: Are dogs amused? Do dogs laugh? Obviously, one can be amused without laughing, but there are discussions about whether dogs laugh or not.
See, for example a thoughtful discussion about laughter in non-human animals, including dogs, from Stanley Coren in Psychology Today. Coren tells us that Nobel Prize-winning ethnologist, Konrad Lorenz argues that dogs can laugh. Lorenz says:
“…an invitation to play always follows; here the slightly opened jaws which reveal the tongue, and the tilted angle of the mouth which stretches almost from ear to ear give a still stronger impression of laughing. This ‘laughing’ is most often seen in dogs playing with an adored master and which become so excited that they soon start panting.”
Observations about laughing in non-human animals have been done by many species. Perhaps the most famous is in the work done by Jane Goodall about chimpanzee laughter. Patricia Simonet argues that dogs also make short exhalations that not only correlate with dogs in playful contexts, but that play backs of the sounds caused puppies to “romp for joy” or calm dogs in shelters. Stanley Coren tried to replicate the sounds with his own dogs, and found that it took time and practice to even get his dogs to pay attention. He describes the results here. Here’s part of what he wrote:
“For me, what seems to work the best is something like “hhuh-hhah-hhuh-hhah…” with the “hhuh” sound made with slightly rounded lips, while the “hhah” sound is made with a sort of open-mouthed smiling expression. The sound has to be breathy with no actual voicing. Thus if you touch your throat while making this sound you should not feel any vibration. This caused my own dogs to sit up and wag their tails or to approach me from across the room.”
I just tried this with Skip, who is lying at my feet, being careful to move my lips as instructed by Coren. Skip responded by rising up and putting his paws on my lap. Which could mean he was amused or worried or appalled. Your guess is as good as mine.
Here’s the question I keep asking myself, as an ethologist: How would we know if a dog is making a joke, or responding to one? Or is amused? I don’t mean from guessing from the context, but what good ethological observations can we make that might correlate with dogs who are not just playful, but amused? Here’s a start–Certainly context is a start–a dog barking at the door or afraid of the neighborhood cat is not going to be amused. Within a reasonable context, the dog’s body posture should be loose and relaxed. I’d imagine a dog’s mouth would be slightly open. The other visual cue that feels important to me is “side eye.” Here’s a photo from a page in For The Love of a Dog of Cool Hand Luke:
“Jordy has one where he finds something on the floor that’s not supposed to be there. It can be a tiny scrap of paper from when I opened the mail, or a sock that I left out. I’ll hear this trotting and then he comes in, his head’s high, and he runs over to me like, “I got a sock!” So then I act like, “I can’t believe you did that!” I act like I’m going to get the sock and he moves back. It’s basically a joke where he gets to play “keep away” with an item that he’s not supposed to have. He’s actually ready to give me the item, but my part in the joke isn’t to take the item and put it down. My role is to pretend that I just can’t believe that he did it! It’s very exciting for him. That’s one of his favorite jokes, it’s one of his standbys.”
So, surely part of what we’d need to see is a dog whose actions suggest it is comfortable, confident . . . What else?
[Reality check: Young children often “offer” their toy to you, and then take it back when you reach for it. I’ve never seen that as a “joke,” but a desire to show you their treasure, but hold on to it at the same time. For me then, the joke, assuming there is one, is not the keep way behavior itself, but the fact that Jordy and Jess have made it into a game. Make sense?]
Discuss amongst yourselves, but don’t leave me out, I can’t wait to hear what you think. And add any relevant research–my time is a bit restricted this week. See below.
MEANWHILE, back on the farm: Fall is in full force here, with the unexpected benefit of several nearby fields being converted to sunflowers. Thank you, whoever you are, for planting so much joy in my trips to town.
There’s still a lot of green, however. Yesterday, Jim and I took the dogs to an 0ff-leash park for a sniff through the woods. We might live in 12+ acres of (mostly, sort of) heaven, but it’s the same smells (them) and the same sights (us) and it is good for all of us to change things up a few times a week.
I’d like to tell you that Maggie is 100% fine after the nightmare of her consuming ridiculous quantities of a ZiZi plant, (see last blog), but she seemed fine for a week and then her UTI came back. But is that what caused her on Friday to vomit her guts out on, of course, our just professionally cleaned oriental rug?
The vet visit that afternoon found that her kidneys are stable (she has Stage 2 kidney disease), but her liver values are way too high (ALP, ALT, TBIL). Doubtful it’s ZiZi related,which is not “toxic,” but given the quantity she consumed, we can’t rule it out. She is much better after 2 days of Cerenia, antibiotics, and Gabapentin, but I wouldn’t say she’s back to her usual self. She seems diminished. She may turn 13 in January, but she’s been playful and full of zest until the last 3 weeks. Probably an ultra sound to come. Don’t worry, her vets have been instructed that serious diagnoses are simply not allowed. I’m not worried at all. At all. Did I say I wasn’t worried? I am not worried. Nope. Not me. Not at all.
Our butterfly weeds, which attracted many monarch caterpillars, are seeding now, a joyful sight for sure. I’ve taken some and smushed them into our fledgling prairie patch. Maybe they’ll join the others and we can help those miraculous creatures fight all the forces that have been diminishing their populations.
Last week Skip and I got to work sheep at a friend’s beautiful small farm, tucked away north of Madison. (Thank you Liese!) Besides having a great time, I got to savor this gorgeous old oak tree, which I couldn’t even get into the frame if I included Skip at the base. I didn’t think I could love trees more than I did, but my admiration for them seems to grow as I age . . .
I hope your week is full of more joys than worries, but even if it’s the reverse, there always is joy out there, just waiting for us to find it.
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About the Author
Patricia B. McConnell, PhD, CAAB Emeritus is an applied animal behaviorist who has been working with, studying, and writing about dogs for over twenty-five years. She encourages your participation, believing that your voice adds greatly to its value. She enjoys reading every comment, and adds her own responses when she can.
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This is a great post! I absolutely believe that dogs laugh, and find humor in things, and definitely respond to laughter. I once had a Papillon (and knew of other Papillons) that would 100% repeat, over and over again, whatever behavior got him a laugh. He ate it up! He did make that “heh” sound that Dr. Coren describes–to me it sounds more like “heh”. He made it when he was feeling particularly jolly, and if I made the sound at him, he’d jump up wagging, looking for the game or fun that I was laughing at.
I’ve also met more than one Rottie with a fantastic sense of humor. We used to have meetings at our dog club where one of the members would bring her Rottie, who would do a lovely down-stay at her side while we had the meeting. But he self-entertained very well–he would deliberately make eye contact with one human after another and pull all kinds of silly faces until he got us to laugh (interrupting the meeting of course!). He loved it. I don’t remember if he laughed during these sessions, but he definitely wanted us to laugh, and seemed very pleased with himself when he got us to do it.
I am so sorry to hear about Maggie’s liver values but do remember that the liver, unlike kidneys, can recover. My little poodle Poppy had acute liver failure with values so high they went off the scale and were stratospheric – she stabilised after several days of intravenous fluids but was left with chronic damage. We managed it with diet, drugs and supplements for 3 and a half years, and most of her days were good and a lot were very good. Every case is different, of course, and let’s hope Maggie is on the way to a full recovery, but even long term liver failure can be manageable.
Jokes and laughter – what a fascinating topic. I think that dogs can certainly tease, which could be considered a form of joking – that is what makes Keep Away such a fun game for them if not for the human being teased. And mine have repeated behaviour that makes humans laugh in a kind way, so they recognise human laughter as positive attention (unkind laughter is a very different matter). Do mine laugh? I think they have when playing – that joyous, open mouthed, not quite panting that accompanies a pause in a wild chase or other really fun game or a really successful grab and run when playing Keep Away is so very like laughter.
And thank you for the reminder to keep seizing the joyous moments – life is a bit of a slog at the moment as I am still unable to drive and so limited to the few shared acres around my house as I practise walking with and without crutches and try to get used to life without Sophy. But Freddy has now officially completed the month of limited exercise for what might have been a disc problem (I fairly quickly came to the conclusion it wasn’t and allowed him rather more freedom than the vet would have approved, but it is good to know he is safely through the prescribed four weeks), and his incandescent happiness at once more getting out with his dog walker is a true joy to share.
I had a gsd that had an amazing sense of humor. His eyes literally sparkled along with open mouth, and lolling tongue, and there was no mistaking he was laughing when he did something he thought funny. We had a police officer come to our door,and as we were talking,he swiped the officers keys and ran up to the top of the stairs and sat with a big grin, keys dangling. The officer laughed and said,”that dog is laughing!” Mission accomplished, he came back downstairs and pushed the keys back in her hand. Too many stories to list here,but dogs definitely have a sense of humor!
Long ago I had a Beauceron, Jazz. One day in the yard, I noticed her “creeping” around a group of three huge blue spruce. If she were a human, I’d say she was tiptoeing around the trees. Suddenly she burst into a fit of barking and I heard a high-pitched scream. As I ran around the trees, there was Jazz wagging her tail & laughing, still in the yard and a terrified teenage girl on the sidewalk. Jazz’s way of saying “BOO!!!”
My first competition obedience Rottie discovered that people roared with laughter if she ‘killed’ her dumbell while executing an otherwise perfect obedience retrieve. She couldn’t resist telling that joke to any new audience.
Sending love and best wishes for Maggie.
I think of the Felony Trot and other ‘jokes’ as Games/play. Frequently repeated behaviors that engage human companions and garner their attention.
My brilliant Great Dane, Sabrina (gone over 30 years and still missed) liked to play what seemed to be jokes. She loved making people laugh. Her most famous antics took place at AKC Obedience Trial,s the most memorable of which took place when we were in the ring trying for her third leg for her CDX. When I sent her out over the high jump, she jumped, failed to pick up the dumbbell, came back, then looked at me with a definite “Oops! Forgot something!” before sailing back over the jump, grabbing the dumbbell, and then returning to slide into a perfect sit in front of me. I’m sure the laughter of her audience spurred her on to what she did next… I sent her over the broad jump, which she cleared perfectly, but instead of returning to me, she then took the high jump, the broad jump again, and then came back to me, eyes twinkling with mirth. She got laughter and applause. Even the judge was laughing. At the time, I was mortally embarrassed, but from the distance of all these years, I wouldn’t trade the memory of those antics, and my girl having such a joyous time, for anything. She once delicately stole an ice cream cone from someone behind me when she was finishing a recall by walking around me, leading me to teach a ‘flip’ finish to this giant dog. She also often went to the front door and emitted a ‘I think I see danger…?’ bark, simply to get all the other dogs off the couch. They would all rush to the door, turning back to find Sabrina had taken the best seat. The day that ploy worked on my husband was kind of hilarious, though he didn’t find it funny that he’d been tricked by a dog!
Thank you for this post. I love the term Felony Trot! Two of the funniest Felony Trots I’ve seen are with a bra and a toilet plunger. So hilarious and adorable, and such happy puppies (both were by adolescent pups). And then there was the wonderful ritual of our chocolate Lab, Duncan. Every evening when I’d return home from an office job, all dressed up and weary, he’d greet me at the door, then get an expression of “Oh right! The Joke!” and he’d dash off and get one of my slippers from the bedroom, and come back and show me how naughty he was being. Then the slow-motion chase would begin, with me saying in fake-stern voice: “Oh, MY, Duncan, you’re NOT SUPPOSED TO HAVE THAT!” Truly, he seemed to find it completely hilarious, and it always made my homecoming wonderful.
Hopeful prayers for Maggie’s well-being, and agreement about trees. This year has been “the year of the locust tree” for me, delighting in them in all seasons, when I think I never did before.
Our second Golden Retriever, Ester, was a prankster puppy. She was a large Golden and as a puppy had a very solid build. As a youngster, Ester’s favorite prank was to eyeball the distance between herself and anyone innocently standing out in the yard with their back to her and then gauge the speed and distance needed to quietly, measurably run into the back of their knees. After making contact (she never really hurt anyone but surprised a lot of people), she would walk away with an audible snort and a big smile. She certainly loved this prank, and even though we’d warn people, I don’t think they really believed us until their knees buckled.
The other schtick she had was at dinner parties; she would go person by person and sit before them with a huge smile and glance back and forth from the plate to the person to see if it was enough to warrant a tidbit of their food. She never got pushy; she relied on her charm and wiles. It often worked.
She was a marvel at the shell game, too 😉
Conlan (rescue GSD tripod), Oona (tiny rescue kitty), and I are sending much love and positive energy to Maggie, and of course to you. I know I will read about her being her usually frisky, healthy self in your next newsletter.
One of the jokes that my elder dog does every morning is this: He walks down the hall from the bedroom to the top of stairs and waits for me. I crouch down like I’m going to spring up and start running toward him and he grins and races down the stairs ahead of me. It makes me laugh every morning – a great way to start the day
Merlin, an Australian cattle dog-Lab mix, had a pronounced streak of mischief in him. If he had been a human being, he would have been an attorney, because he found every loophole in the law. When he understood as an adolescent that I would cancel a fetch game if he didn’t bring the toy back to me, he began delivering on a run—by a different route every time, creating his own agility courses.
One day when he was, perhaps, eight—and trained enough to be off leash in all my classes, ready to demonstrate, or while working as a distant decoy as we counterconditioned a reactive dog—we were heading home from a walk. Someone I needed to talk with arrived at the neighborhood trailhead, getting out of his pickup with his five-year-old daughter. Merlin sometimes barked at kids—the big eyes staring—and so I left him in a sit-stay well up our country road and went back to speak with Ian. Merlin could hold a stay for centuries, and sit was his favored position. As Ian and I talked, I turned intermittently to make sure Merlin was still sitting. He was, with a bright look on his face and his tail wagging on the dirt behind him—in anticipation of a jackpot, I thought.
But after I’d checked on him a half dozen times, the child piped up with a question: “Why does your dog come closer to us every time you turn your back?” I whirled, and there was Merlin, sitting with that happy look and wagging, probably 40 feet closer to us than he first had been—stealing base.
Was it a joke? He sure was pleased with himself.
Ah yes, the Felony Trot. The exact gait my golden used to use when she had been in the laundry room and stolen something she knew she shouldn’t have. All fun and games until she came upstairs with a pair of my undies on her head in front of company. Needless to say, that was a joke that we had to bring to an end.
My dog definitely does things in order to elicit laughter. During agility class, he would grab one of the cones used to number the obstacles, and start prancing around with it, running through tunnel, over the A frame. He was so pleased with himself, and the more people laughed, the more he would prance and run around. (Had to tell everyone to look the other way and ignore him to train this behavior out.)
He’ll also do a little routine where he’ll start army crawling towards someone if he’s on leash and wants them to pet him. The way he does this also tends tends to elicit laughter. He’ll also toss toys in the air which leads to me laughing.
It’s hard to explain in print, because what makes it so cute and funny (and why it does feel joke-like) is because he adopts this very joyful and mischievous expression, his tail is wagging like crazy, very loose body language, he’ll often throw in a play bow.
But is it truly a “joke” from his perspective? I don’t know. He’s a dog that is hyper aware of where attention is directed, and one of his primary objectives is to have attention focused on him as much of the time as possible. So it’s hard to say if he truly understands this to be a “joke”, or if he just views the human response of laughter as another form of positive attention.
Love this story Sarah, and yes, you asked the important question! Attention or truly “getting the joke.” I’d bet the farm it’s the later, (and I have one), but…. still. Would love some research!
Years ago, I had a female Keeshond (Bingo Little) who shared our house with a small male Keeshond, a border collie-husky cross, and a terrier mixed breed. When I would give all four dogs chewies, Bingo would run to the door and bark. When the other three dropped their chewies to see who was at the door, Bingo would quickly gather them up under the piano and lie on them while chewing on her own. While she did this, she was smiling. It was a great joke that she never tired of. The other three dogs did not find it funny, and they never learned not to drop their treats and run to the door.
Bingo Little did not chew on the other dogs’ treats–she just kept them for a while, tucked under her fur. Eventually, she would leave her spot under the piano, and the other dogs would retrieve their treats.
I have no research to cite, but watching this behavior occur regularly makes me sure she was joking.
Our first Standard Poodle loved to “say Boo” to people. The houses on our side of the street were about 10 steps up from the street and our neighbor’s landing was right next to the short fence at the end of our front patio. When Aly heard the neighbors car door shut on the street she would belly crawl across the patio, wait until the neighbor reached the landing and spring up to bark. She scared him the first time but subsequent “jump scares” got a big laugh and I imagine encouraged Ally to keep up the behavior.
My heart dog was a ball crazy lab. I know she had a sense of humor because she would always drop her ball 2-3 feet away from me and we would go back and forth about how that wasn’t close enough and she’d pick the ball up and toss it. But the way I know she was doing that deliberately with me is that if a little kid was playing with her EVERY ball drop was perfectly at their feet.
If my Papillon is happy and I do the “heh-heh-heh” laugh-pant, his joy goes through the roof, from “smiling” at me to full-on zoomies. A friend of mine used to say that she could diffuse tense situations between her terriers with that sound; they would look around, confused, and then go into play bows and run around happily. I”m a believer; dogs laugh, and we can laugh along with them.
My week has been such that I don’t have much debate in me, much less research! So I’ll share an ancedote. I do believe that dogs tell jokes and amuse us and maybe each other. My first Portuguese Water Dog Rudy had the best sense of humor. He loved it if I ended up laughing with him!
On one occasion, we were staying with my parents. Mom and I went out, and Rudy stayed with Dad. When we came home, the empty bread wrapper from a new loaf of butter-crust bread (my mom’s favorite) greeted us on the entry way floor. My mother was indeed appalled! “Did he eat the whole loaf?” Well, Mom, unless Dad did.
I looked at Rudy, and he showed no shame what-so-ever. He did have a twinkle in his eye and seemed to say, “It was right there on the counter!”
Perhaps I’m anthropmorphizing too much here. In any case, I know that Rudy and I shared a smile!
The Felony Trot isn’t unique to dogs…. we had an indoor/outdoor cat who became quite an accomplished hunter, and when he brought a (hopefully) deceased mouse inside it was with a very similar “Aren’t I clever?” gait.
Sounds like poor Maggie has some residual discomfort in her tummy and her bladder that needs some time to subside. UTI’s, in particular, HURT. The usual rest + fluids + safe treats + gabapentin will help clear it up!
Felony trot…I LOVE it! Thanks for providing a great giggle.
Oh my gosh! I guess I’ve been lucky that all my Siberian Huskies have a clown streak in them – they are after all Drama Queens (and Kings) lol! My first husky, Binks (male) had the nickname Sir Humpalot. At age 9 when I got my 2.5 y.o. female Siberian, Cricket, he’d try to hump her and she would turn around and play the joke on him but the biggest joke of all between them was this: She would sit in my club chair (picture a half/circle chair with back). He would try so hard to try to hump her while she was sitting up in the chair. You could actually see her mind thinking. He would try and with her big husky grin she’d rotated/turn in the seat so he could not be successful. Her eyes sparkled and she had the biggest grin on her face while poor Binks would keep trying to “win” but she was not the one to let him. We’d all laugh and you could see she really enjoyed the antics!
Sir Humpalot?!?! OMG I soooo needed that laugh!!!
After a lifetime with Shelties and Border Collies, I have no doubt!
I am late commenting on your last blog but wanted to mention that excessive oxalate consumption can result in various problems including a sense of having a UTI. It’s something I’ve experienced several times and after doing a fair amount of research (search for Trying Low Oxalates), I realized I seem to gravitate to high-oxalate foods (raspberries, spinach, chocolate, sweet potatoes and many others). When you have a conversation with a vet about oxalate consumption in dogs, knowing how it affects humans might add something useful (or not).
Linda, that’s very useful, thank you!!! My hope is that it also might result in a temporary rise in liver values. Checking Monday.
A fascinating article – again. Thank you for providing us with such great content. It certainly makes you think about the things your dogs do.
I had a dog who absolutely not only “got” the joke, but often initiated it. Two of her favorites: when I was working in the garden, placing a ball or other toy in a shrub and then expecting me to find and retrieve it. And if it fell before I could get to it, she ran in and re-placed it more carefully. The other was when I was sitting by the side of the pool. She would drop a toy for me. . .then when I looked at it or got ready to reach for it, she would give me a “sh**-eating” grin and nudge it into the pool with her nose! Brat. 🙂 And both behaviors occurred frequently, so were not a one-off. I do miss that girl. . .
Our first husky was easily bored at obedience class. One day he was in a down stay, and we could tell from his face that he was not going to do as asked. He looked mischievous. So once hubby walked away, he got up, raced towards the end of the field where there were cats on the other side of the fence, did to laps of honour while hubby and the trainer were trying to catch him and then sat down beside me with a big grin on his face. Yes, I think dogs have a s now of humour even though it is hard to describe sometimes. But we got to understand ‘the look’ which meant ‘I know perfectly well what you want me too do, but I do not want to do that – and I will make you laugh about it’
My herding mix is anxious and reactive, yet I tell friends that he is very fun. I am not sure if he plays jokes, but he is eager to invite us to play and he is very silly. When he comes running up with a toy or a big grin and drops into play bow, you can’t help but smile and engage. (Maybe it wasn’t so funny when he was a hyper puppy who would not leave you alone.) If you laugh and talk to him, but don’t get up to play, he is likely to give you a nudge, then drop back into a bow, as if to say, “Come on, let’s play! I know you want to! Let’s have FUN!” Playing tug, chase, or wrestling with him is fun. If his dog friends do play jokes, he would laugh.
On the other end of the spectrum, our first border collie was humorless. She loved us dearly, enjoyed her daily walks, and went into a frenzy if you put on trail running clothes, but she was the opposite of “fun.” She was the border collie who would get upset at friends’ dogs who dared to run around and play with each other. She didn’t understand the point of toys or fetch. She was far more emotionally stable than the current “fun” dog, but I’m certain that dog never got a joke, human or canine.
Fingers crossed for poor Maggie!! That’s no laughing matter.
All these anecdotes are wonderful! Our last heeler taught us the heh-heh-heh laugh-pant; it makes me laugh just remembering her. I’ll have to try it on our rather serious border collie Rowan. Our new old gal (9 years old), Birdie, is settling in well at six months with us, and is starting to show a great sense of humor. I’m not sure I’ve seen her laugh, but I’ve definitely seen a twinkle in her eye.
Fingers crossed for Maggie’s quick and full recovery!
Oh, I needed this today. When my 2.5 year old BC mix is happy, it’s written all over his sweet face. Unfortunately, this week I’ve seen much more fear and anxiety due to “our team won” fireworks and “my car’s hotter than yours” backfiring. Not sure if I should read these stories aloud to cheer him up… They’ll surely give him ideas.