Do you talk 'baby talk' to your pet?

[nylons73]

I just found myself saying to our 55 lb bulldog 'Stella' - "Hi Stel-wa, Hi Stel-wa." and then when I was scratching on her neck and I said: "Do you want a scritchy-scratch? Do you want a scritchy scratch?" :o

So.. this begs the question...

Do you talk 'baby talk' to your pet?

Come 'on - even President Bush admitted (to Al Roker on the Today Show) that he talks baby talk to his Scotties. :) If the leader of the free world can admit it, can't we all?

Who else is out there? :)

[KeliAnn]

Of course! She's my baby! :p I call her all kinds of names, make up silly songs for her, and give her tons of "widdle baby kisses and huggies" before we go to bed.

[Heidi9771]

Oh, definitely!

With my three cats. I say things like, " Hi there cutey-patooty-pumpkin-booty!"

By the way, I saw a pic of Stella you posted earlier and I cracked up at the visual- she is so cute!

[IrishMeg]

Ummm, hell ya! I don't just talk it, I sing it. I have made up about 20 different songs about him. And I do it ALL of the time. Even if they aren't listening.

Owiber-Oliver
Potty-Going outside
Baffy-bath
sweepie night night-bedtime
Peebo-Pierre
Puggy Wuggy-Pug
Chunky P-Pierre
Mr. Cutie
Mr. Handsome
Mr. Yummy
Cutie Patootie
Punkin' head

The list can go on and on and on! :o

[PookiePrincess]

Absolutely! I don't think my cat responds to anything but baby talk...though I'm sure she's thinking, "Mom, your a nut!"

[maxandmolly]

And here I thought I was the only one...........what a relief!

[MLA]

Yup. I definitely talk to my cats in baby talk. In fact I have two cats, and I have a different voice for each of them. :)

[nylons73]

Ahh! I am not the only resident of the 'baby talk' nuthouse! heh heh ;) These are great to read!!

Heather - Yes, I must admit it is quite a sight to see me 'baby talking' to a rather large bulldog. :o I am glad you got the visual down! lol.

Meg - Cute songs! :D

[karlatta]

Not only do I baby talk, but I also have full-on adult-like conversations with them.

Earlier today, I spent a long amount of time explaining to my Border Collie how to make dinner. Like he understands me or something. But he's so patient. He just sits and looks at me until I'm done talking, and then he runs off to grab a ball to play fetch with. So sweet!

(In my defense, I am home alone in the summers with my two dogs from 7am to 10pm, five days a week. So there is some sort of reason for my insanity. :D )

[PookiePrincess]

I have to say, when we had just my cat, my FH thought I was crazy to talk baby talk to my cat. Now that we got a new kitten, he immediately started the baby talk. I of course had to tell him "I told you so..." But it's really cute to see a grown man talking baby talk to a kitten. :p

[Ilovemygeek]

Yes, until I realize how silly I must sound. Then I remember that I am talking to a dog, so I can sound silly and she does not care.

[Heidi9771]

ok...going out on a limb here...but does anyone's pets actualy talk bacK to them (even if you are providing both sides of the conversation) :)

I admit I do this and can't stop! DH thinks I am crazy!

[LittleFredPunkinHead]

ok...going out on a limb here...but does anyone's pets actualy talk bacK to them (even if you are providing both sides of the conversation)
Yup, my husband and I have whole conversations for our dog and two cats. Our cats are big cursers, but our dog is just a baby so he's pretty mild. ;)

And we both talk baby talk to the cats and dog as well.
Bubba Dubba, Poopy Shnoodle Davey Doodle, Davis Lovey = Davey (our dog)
Mooshy Moo, Mooshus LaPooshus, Moosher= Lucius (our big male cat)
Chester Girly, Baby Girl, Baby Chester= Chester (our small female cat)

We just love our kitties and poopy dog, if you couldn't tell already! :D

[tlew12778]

OK I think I am the only one that doesn't baby talk to the cats. I don't do it with babies either. It wasn't done to me bc my brother is 14 years older than me and my sisters are 13 and 12 years older than me. As a result I enunciated everything I said when I was little. So I do the same with other kids and animals I guess.

But yes, I do have entire conversations with the cats. One cat will talk back to me. Granted I have no idea what his "eow" means.

[dragonfly28602]

I had the most amazing siamese for 13 years. We had great conversations together. More adult talk though.
My 9 week old baby cocker Sampson on the other hand. DB and I BOTH talk to hhim in baby talk. And we are "mommy" and "daddy".
K

[paiger]

DH and i both talk 'baby talk', adult talk and have conversations where one of us provides leo's voice. we also use 'leo's voice' to get each other to do things like:
leo says (me) - 'dad, i would really like for you to take me out'
leo says (DH) - 'mom, i think you should get dad a glass of water'
and so on...

we also dance with him, chase him around and generally act like total goofballs w/ him.

[1MegMeg]

I don't baby talk per se, but I talk to our cats *all the time* and I make up songs about them, to the tune of real songs. We have various kitty songs to the tune of:

Mr. Sandman
Sleigh Ride (I have *no* idea how the Christmas tune came into the mix, but wetill sing it, even in July
The Brady Bunch theme song

I know there are more, but that's all I can think of right now. :)

[eli1126]

Guilty as charged (hangs head in shame :) ) I was on my way to the vet today with Beau and Belle and Beau was yowling and I promised him he would get "Chicken and Whiver (liver) Patee when we got home for being so goody-woody in da car." Yes I am a dork!

Beth

[laurenc]

I do. Every day when I come home I say things like, "Why hello baby! Hello! Did you miss mommy and daddy all day long?" I try to only do it alone or when I'm with my husband, but every now and then the baby-talk slips out when we have friends over and I end up feeling really stupid.

Of course, it doesn't help that our cat *acts* like a human baby half the time -- she loves to be cuddled, picked up, given belly rubs...

[maxandmolly]

I have that problem, too! I get so used to being alone and talking to them just like they're real people.......When I first moved in with my former roommates (best friend & her fiance), I yelled at Max for being bad. Well, like any mother, I say their full names when they get in trouble. "Maxwell Zachary, you stop that right now!" They both came to a dead stop in what they were doing and looked at me- your cat has a middle name? And you use it? Well, yeah, doesn't everybody?
I had my cats long before I had my last live-in disaster boyfriend- and he called them by my little nicknames for them- it drove me nuts. Only Mommy can call them those names! Anybody else have that problem?

[kam]

I don't baby talk with them but I definitely give them voices. Once I spoke in Sommer's voice and my DH asked "What did she say?" Yup - we knew we were goners at that point.

[Rippy1010]

MOST DEFINITELY! FH is "daddy" and I am "mommy" to our one year old cat, Noelle. I always talk in a "look at the cute little baby" voice when I talk to her ... "little Miss Noelle, did you want to sit with mommy?"

Plus, she acts like a baby ... always has to follow me around the house, likes to be held like a baby, etc.

She is definitely our "baby". Awww ... I love talking about her. :o And, I think it is the cutest thing in the world when FH talks in baby talk to her. That is great!!!

We also "make up" conversations with our cat ... or we will make up what she is thinking in her head. Like if she is staring at her food dish, or at the counter, or whatever, we will make up a little monologue for her "I don't know what I feel like eating tonight. The dry food, or the wet food. I wish I could drink out of that sink without getting caught on the counter. Hmmmmm." FH says that he never met anyone that did that until he met our family, and he thought we were all nuts. Now he does it just as much as me. LOL!

[wendalah]

Oh God, constantly. And so does DH. It's really sickening. The dogs are our "noos." We call them "Noo," "Noo Noo," "Nooshie Poo," "Noobert," "Nooby Pooby," and just about any other variant of "noo" possible.

[greenbunny]

ok...going out on a limb here...but does anyone's pets actualy talk bacK to them (even if you are providing both sides of the conversation)

Oh, definitely. DH and I have special high-pitched voices for imitating Bella. When I'm rubbing her tummy "she" will say "I love you mommy, you take such good care of me".

Althought if you talk to her, she will meow as soon as you finish talking, every time. I don't now how she knows I'm speaking to her, even when I'm not looking at her. I guess the inflection of my voice.

I always call her Bebe (like the first part of Bella, twice, not bee bee) and DH calls her his Baby Blue Eyes.

[IrishMeg]

ok...going out on a limb here...but does anyone's pets actualy talk bacK to them (even if you are providing both sides of the conversation)

Yeah, I do that too. Sometimes, if I want something and I'm trying to convince E, the conversation goes something like this.

(Holding dog up to my ear like he's telling me a secret)

Me: "What? What did you say? You want ice cream? Well, you'll have go tell daddy."

Me (pretending to be the dog and using dog voice.) "Daddy, I want ice cream. Now. Give me some ice cream."

It usually works! :D

[manda_kate]

Yes, definitely, especially to my puppy. He LOVES it! His tail will start wagging like crazy if you talk baby talk to him.
My cat on the other hand, tolerates it, but can really take it or leave it. I think it's more for my own benefit with him. :D

[camberne]

Absolutely not!! I never "baby talked" to my son, so I wouldn't think to baby-talk to my animals. I do talk to them, though. All the time.

Not to criticize, but my favorite story is about my son and our next door neighbor's son. The neighbor's son was three months older than mine. She baby talked him, as did his significantly older siblings. I never baby talked. We were outside and a helo flew overhead. The kids were 3-1/2 or so. Matthew was pointing to it saying "airpwane, mommy, airpwane" and Geoffrey said "that's not an airplane, that's a helicopter". My neighbor was floored!!

[annie_girl]

At first when I was reading this thread I was thinking "But of COURSE I baby talk to my cats!!!" But now I'm thinking maybe I don't! I mean, I TALK to them in cutsie little voices but not like BABY talk like "Come here you cute wittle kittykitty, want a boochie boochie booo?????"

On the other hand, I do ask them if they want a "Snackie-poo". *embarrassed* So maybe I do....

I also greet them when I walk in the door "Hello little children!! Have you been good little children today???"

And call them for meals "Whooooooooooooooooo's ready for breakfast/supper? Who? Who's ready. Who?"

And say goodbye when I leave "Goodbye mommy's little children, be good little children for ma-ma."

And they each have little nicknames: Noel is: "The GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiirlie-girl" or "The little Noey-girl", Zeke is: "The Baby boy" or "Mommy's little boy" or "Zeeky-zeek", And Jordy is: "Beautiful Boy" or "The Jordy-Boy" or lately just "Beauty" ('cause he's so beautiful of course)

And of course I kiss them, on the nose or forehead, usually once or twice with a smacking noise. Drives my sister crazy (she recently moved in) and she always hollers out "SILENT KISSES!!!" Which of course, produces kissy noises LOUDER and many in a row, often without even a cat in my arms anymore. :D

SISTERS! *shakes head*

I always thought it came from years of living with them by myself..... but apparantly not according to this thread. :)

Oh, and I think it's hilarious those who have conversations with their cats, and say their cats' part.... I wish I was creative enough to do that.... As it is, Jordy vocally (with meows of course) responds to just about everything I say to him. He even will jump off my lap with an "EXCUSE ME!" type of meow if I cough or sneeze. He must have some siamese in him the way he "talks" all the time. Sometimes I just have to say "WHAT Jordy! What do you want? Huh? What?" because he just gets on a meowing roll!!!!

[nordey]

Yes! Always! Interestingly though, when my children were babies I refused to baby talk to them but with animals it just seems natural!

My dogs don't "talk back" in our conversations but Linus and I howl together. Yes, picture a funny little brown dachshund with an overbite and a white spot on his forehead howling at the top of his lungs like a hunting dog or something. I have no idea where he learned it but he did it all the time as a puppy. Now that he's grown up he'll only do it if I do it too!

Other baby talking - we make up songs especially around their nicknames:

Lucy is also know as: LucyLu, Lucifer (especially when she's naughty), LucyLucyLuLu, Luby, WeiniePrincess, PrincessPuppy,

Linus also goes by: Liney, LineyWhiney, Porkie, Schnitzel, WeinieSchnitzel, Sparkey, LineyWhineyWooWoo,

I could go on for hours...

[nylons73]

annie - I love the nicknames you shared! So funny that your sister has taken to yelling 'SILENT KISSES!' That really cracked me up! lol! :D

nordey - Love the nicknames and the songs you make up! So cute and funny!! :)

[katmg]

We don't really baby talk but we definitely talk for the dog.

This is most embarrassing thing though. Our dog's tail is docked and we call it the nub or the nubby. We'll imitate it to each other by taking our index finger and "wagging" it. Up wagging for excited/happy, down wagging for not happy/nervous. This is for our own emotions, not the dog's. I beat my husband at something (some game) while we were out in public. I did the excited finger wag thing to him. in public. in front of strangers. We were so embarrassed! :rolleyes:

[nylons73]

Katmg - that finger waving thing in public is hilarious!! However, I *think* I might have you beat! :o
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
When we were trying to get our dogs to stop taking 100 hours (my yorkie especially) to go to the bathroom, our dog trainers suggested that we use a phrase to prompt them to go. We chose 'Go Potty!' We said it so often to the dogs (everytime we took them out) that we began to say it to each other sometimes in private like "I have to go potty, can you pause the DVD?" That kind of thing. It just became second nature but we never used it in public.

Flash forward to our wedding day. Dec 18, 2004. We are UP AT THE ALTAR, having just received communion! DH and I are kneeling, along with the rest of the bridal party. The priest has his back to us and he is finishing the wine in the cup, cleaning the cup and putting stuff away, etc.

I lean over to DH and get as close to his ear as possible. I say to him in a low voice " I have to go potty! DH looks over at me with complete amusement and says back " Did you forget that there is a microphone on my uniform? EEEEEEKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!

I look over at the videographer and he is laughing his @ss off! I was so embarrassed, you just don't even know! :o :o :o

We made him ~promise~ not to put any of that into our video, and thankfully, he did not! :D

[dream]

We don't 'baby talk', but we talk all the time.........to our birds! And they repeat it right back at us. Too cute.

[katmg]

nylons - Oh that's a good one! Glad the videographer didn't use the sound for that footage. :D

[nylons73]

nylons - Oh that's a good one! Glad the videographer didn't use the sound for that footage.

DH and I are pretty darn glad as well! heh heh :D

[sublime311]

Yup, we TOTALLY use baby talk with our heathens (2 dogs and 3 cats), but we also have conversations for them, and with them all the time! DH especially tries to have really intellectual coversations with them - it just TOTALLY cracks me up! The best is when Luna, one of the dogs, answers him with low rumbling growls and low barks at the appropriate times! I think she really has something to say! When I heard my then FH talking to my dogs like this, I KNEW he was the man for me! :D

[KaliLily]

But of course!! My "girls" even have their own songs that I made up for them.

[greenbunny]

Now that I think about it, I guess what DH and I do isn't technically baby-talk. We don't use nonsense words really, except for cutesy nicknames for her, we just use the sing-song voices.

So I guess I don't have to worry about stunting her vocabulary. ;)

[Brandles]

All the time--especially since I married DH 3 years ago and he's nuts for our cat! I have to make sure I don't carry it over to when I'm talking to babies! ;)

[jaeger]

Not really baby talk, but I talk to mine with a soft voice. And I sing to him too, lol!

[UTChick]

We use more of a sing-song voice, too. Except when Dexter sneezes and then I tell him "bwess you." :rolleyes:

However, we do have conversations with our pup and provide his end of the conversation. Since I have been home a lot this summer (I'm a teacher) everyday when DH gets home "Dexter" tells him all about his day. Like today it was "Daddy, I chewed up my ball today and I think I might have eaten some of it. Mommy says I better not have because she doesn't want to clean it when I puke it up. She says it is your turn."

And yesterday's was "Daddy I got in trouble today because Mommy was reading her article and I wanted attention so I barked at her. She said it hurt her ears but I kept doing it and then she put me in time-out."

DH does the same thing. So glad to hear we aren't the only weird ones.