Do dogs have a sense of humor?

Hi Xerxes,

I sure think that they do - at least ours seem to....


for instance:
when we rescued our bog girl, she still had some puppy blood in her. she woud love to get our socks and take them into the yard, my wife once said that mandi would pick up a sock and then come up to her face to show her the sock and then bolt then come back around the corner and show her the sock, turn back around and bolt - hahahaha - kinda like teasin'

recently, after we got our pup, i bought this tug-of-war thing with 2 rubber squeakers at each end. mandi would often pick it up and trease jasper into trying to take it from her.... when jasper came in for the "attack" to swipe it away, she would swooosh her head over to the other side to make him miss... this would go on and on for several minutes.

i think the humor is sorta puppy kind of game play - but it sure seems like humor to us humans.

Shadow does things to be a clown. He taught himself this trick and I had nothing to do with it.

I surely believe they do.  My beardie, Sam, had a game he played regularly.  My husband would get up from the table to get himself a coffee or something, Sam waited until he was about half way back, then he'd run for his chair, jump into it, and look over his shoulder with this big grin on his face, so proud of himself.  If he didn't have a sense of humor, he'd have jumped in the chair as soon as it was empty!

See I have to think that dogs do like to make us laugh.  I think it's the sense of irony that they think is "funny."  A dog is inspired to get reaction.  And the most positive reaction they can get, is one of surprise and glee from another dog, or from their human. 

I could tell you many stories about sighthounds doing various things just to get a laugh, or to "scare" another sighthound.  Or like Walking_lady or Coyote say, to get some sort of reaction from us.

Hopefully there will be some more replies, as this is a topic that I think merits discussion and anecdotal evidence.

I really don't think that they have a sence of humor.  robably more of a action/reaction think, you know training us to pay attention to them but as to purposely have a sense of humor I really don't think so.
 
 

Hmmm.. I gotta say that I believe Prudence has a sense of humor.  She seems to actually know when we are playing a prank on JJ, or when JJ is playing a prank on her. Sometimes we will split the dogs up on the walk and one of us will take one dog in a different direction, then “hide” and wait for the other to come by so that we can “surprise them”.  This is her very favorite “game” and she knows it is all about “fun”. 
 
She also LOVES laughter and even when we aren#%92t laughing at anything the dogs are doing, she will get up, come toward us where she can be the center of attention and start doing goofy things. Like her famous “sideways prance”, her “rubbing her body” against the walls, or she will go get a toy or bully stick from the basket and start being playful with it… all the while watching US for our reaction to her.  When we finally do laugh at her she wags her tail and makes silly noises.

I don't know if it's a sense of humor or an action/reaction thing but we have a lot of fun either way.
 
Neiko is a clown. He'll tease other dogs with toys to entice them to play with him.
 
His sock thing just cracks me up and I believe that he does it on purpose now to make me laugh. He runs around and will pick up a sock then come running to me wiggling his entire body, with his ears pinned back and blowing air out of his nose. It cracks me up every single time and he loves the attention he gets when I'm laughing at him.
 
Dakota does the "Let's ignore each other and see who laughs first" game too. We'll stand nose to nose and look the other way waiting for the other one to react.  She tries to anticipate my action while trying not to look at me. If I stand there for a longgggg time, she'll inch forward and blow out of her nose. Then when I spring into action like a mad woman she runs around and gets all growly and excited. She LOVES that game and it always ends in me laughing like crazy.

jewlieeeee:  I know what you mean about the teasing other dogs to play thing.  When Xerxes was more of a "player" at the park, he'd get something everybody else in the park wanted...then a game of chase would ensue.  He'd never get caught but he would somehow end up being the one chasing.  And then he'd rub the toy or other wanted object on the back of the other dog's head/neck.  Taunting, taunting, taunting.  Then he'd get chased again.  By the time he was fully wound up, all the other dogs were gasping for breath and quit the chase. 
 
I swear though that he actually laughs...it's more of a breathy sound like 3 or 4 breaths in a very audible fashion.  And of course it's always accompanied by that phamous pharaoh smile.[]

Bubblegum does lots of goofy things...and then stops to see if we are looking. When you tell her she is being silly,,,,she runs to do it all over again.  I really think she DOES have a sense of humor. She is a clown!

Bubblegum does lots of goofy things...and then stops to see if we are looking.

 
I LOVE that look Dyan.. Pru does the same.. she wants an audience and looks over her shoulder as if to say "are you watching me??"..and then if you are she does it again.. it is so darn funny.    I can't imagine a goofy dane running aroound doing similar stuff.. not enough room!! 

Tom and Linky, 2 of my greys, like to steal toys from each other.  Tom loves going shopping and there's been a time or two he's snatched a stuffed toy he particularly likes off the shelf and carried it through the store.  I take it away from him to pay for it, then he carries it out to the van, and into the house when we get home.  Linky, who loves toys every bit as much as the old guy does, walks back and forth in front of him, lays down in front of him, she'll go check out the food bowl, come back and stand and look at him.  The second he drops the toy, she's got it and is gone!  Then he'll do the same thing to her.  Tom's favorite trick is to run to the door as if someone's home, then race back for the toy when Linky goes to look!
 
They've developed a whole game with any new toy they get.  It's not just steal it and run, they play games with each other and the prancing they do when they get it!!

Tom and Linky, 2 of my greys, like to steal toys from each other. Tom loves going shopping and there's been a time or two he's snatched a stuffed toy he particularly likes off the shelf and carried it through the store. I take it away from him to pay for it, then he carries it out to the van, and into the house when we get home. Linky, who loves toys every bit as much as the old guy does, walks back and forth in front of him, lays down in front of him, she'll go check out the food bowl, come back and stand and look at him. The second he drops the toy, she's got it and is gone! Then he'll do the same thing to her. Tom's favorite trick is to run to the door as if someone's home, then race back for the toy when Linky goes to look!

 
[sm=lol.gif]I can totally picture them doing this.. greys have SUCH silly personalities don#%92t they!
 
JJ likes to carry his toys around the store too and often tries to take them on walks with us.  About a month before we got  rudence, we were in the pet store with JJ and waiting in line to buy a bunch of stuff and DH was holding his leash and JJ saw some stuffies he wanted in line and picked one up and then tried to head out the door without paying. DH kept trying to get him back in line, but he kept being stubborn and tried to leave. Everyone in line was in hysterics over him trying to “shoplift” and finally the cashier said “it is ok, just let him take it outside and I will ring another one up when you pay for your other items”.     It was a tad embarrassing actually… but VERY funny!
 

Tom's favorite trick is to run to the door as if someone's home, then race back for the toy when Linky goes to look!

When Gaia was living with me, her favorite trick right before bedtime, if she couldn't get "her spot" in the bed, she'd run into the hallway and do her "somebody's at the door" bark.  When I and Xerk went to investigate, she'd jump right into the bed, get under the covers with her head on the pillow.  Now if that isn't irony and a sense of humor, I don't know what is!

Now I am NOT one for dressing up animals.  But we put the ear defenders on him because there was a lot of noise which he was hating.  And he looked so dandy we put the reflective jacket on too and he just sat up and started LAUGHING I swear, I just HAD to get a photo.  Take a look at this and tell me he's not laughing and dogs don't have a SOH.