Talk to the Animals!

Up with anthropomorphism!

A recent post on the Animal Rescue Site claims that people who talk to their pets are smart.

Being a person who talks to any and all animals, pets or otherwise, I see no point in disputing this, because I am smart.

Author Matthew Russell cites a study (here's the link to the paper if you want to — ha, ha —tumble down a rabbit hole) that seeks to target when and why people converse with their cats, and it extrapolates this tendency into having 'active, intelligent social cognition' and ultimately presents as compassion:

“ Talking to your pet has even been associated with a greater capacity for compassion. Those who believe their pets have a mind and personality of their own are much more likely to treat other species with kindness. It also helps animals understand more about communicating with their humans.”

One of Miss Felicity Templeton's hallmark characteristics is her ability to take everyone at face value, from the lowliest maid to the highest among them, the Prince Regent — not to mention The Duke of Lowell who, shall we say without spoiling, she impresses with her unflappable composure and impressive ability to pick up cues?

I don't have a pet at the moment, but I ride horses, and happily tend to ride the same one in my twice-weekly lessons. Years ago, a lesson-mate mate teased me about the way I talked to my horsey partner but in the end, I think they were jealous: those who have difficulty in catching their mounts likely don't spend much time having the chats. In the picture above, I called Finn's name once — he looked up; I called again — he walked right to me. No chasing, no bribing... For a school horse who is ridden by all and sundry, that's saying something.

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Read the full piece here.

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A Wolf in Duke's Clothing, the first instalment in The Shapeshifters of the Beau Monde series is published by Sourcebooks and available for pre-order now!