Can Certain Sounds “Attract” Dogs and Cats?

If you have a pet, there’s a very good chance the algorithm has figured that out and started flooding your feet with cat and dog videos. Every day, I’m drowning in clips of dogs singing, going to grandma’s house, and hugging one another, and I’m guessing cat people also experience something similar. (Perhaps some psychedelic TikToks of cats high on catnip? I don’t know; you’ll have to ask them.) 

But recently, I learned about a cute-pet-video subgenre so strange, so seemingly implausible, that I had to investigate. Apparently, some TikTokers believe they’ve figured out how to “talk” to animals. If these would-be Eliza Thornberrys are to be believed, all we have to do is make a few strange noises and our animals will come running. Is anyone buying this? 

In case it isn’t obvious already, I was skeptical of these videos from the beginning. It didn’t help that when I played them at top volume, neither of my dogs even blinked. If these siren calls were foolproof, wouldn’t my dogs be trying to jump through the screen? Still, I try not to dismiss any theory out of hand, and this felt like an excellent test of my ability to stay open minded. Maybe it’s the sound quality on my laptop speakers? Or perhaps it’s that my dogs are just antisocial. Or maybe, just maybe, there really is magic in the world, and all we need to do to attract a pack of furry pals is sit on a log in the middle of a field, sing out a special sound, and wait for my new BFF’s to arrive.

And so, dear reader, I thought why not. Let’s ask the experts just to be sure. 

Can you “attract” dogs and cats with certain noises?

Kind of, but not in the way these videos seem to suggest. Jerry Klein (DVM), a veterinary consultant with Corey's Canine Corner, says that any sound can “attract” our pets. Translation: the reactions we’re seeing in these videos aren’t all that special. 

“Animals are very alert to their surroundings,” Klein says, “so any unusual sounds humans make would especially be of interest to dogs and cats.” Just ask my two pups, who’ve gotten very used to me making the weirdest noises I can muster when I want them to look at the camera for a picture. 

As fascinated as our pets might be by every strange squeak we make, Ori Stollar, a veterinarian and behavior specialist with Massachusetts Veterinary Behavior Service, says these noises do not represent some language or word that dogs and cats understand. 

“In most cases,” Stollar confirms, “the pet comes or responds due to being curious, or because it is considered a positive form of interaction with the caretaker.” In other words, when we make these noises, our pets probably think we’re absolute weirdos. But they’ll humor us for some attention.

Also, it must be said that these videos are just social media posts — not scientific evidence. If the trick doesn’t work every time, Stollar points out, the videos’ posters can always edit out the failed takes.

So, what’s actually going on in these videos?

Chances are, the animals in these videos are feeling a mixture of confusion and fascination, kind of like you would if you heard some bizarre, unfamiliar ruckus. Dogs and cats show these feelings differently, Stollar says, “but many will approach the person making the sound if they are not scared.”

In videos where a dog tilts his or her head in response to a sound, Stollar adds, they’re likely trying to hear the noise better, or identify where it might be coming from. Klein adds that dogs with long snouts may also tilt their heads to see the source better. 

So yes, I must sadly confirm that when we make these noises, our pets probably aren’t interpreting them as some kind of meaningful communication and reacting accordingly. It could be an unusual sound from outside, something on the TV, or another person, and they’d probably respond in the exact same way. If they heard the same sound over and over again for long enough, they’d probably quit reacting entirely. 

What do we know about how dogs interpret sounds we make?

We might not be able to “speak dog” or “speak cat,” but our pets can still discern a lot from our voices. 

There might not be a magic word to summon your cat from any room in the house, but research has shown that our feline pals can recognize our voices based on vocal cues, and so can dogs. And although dogs don’t know exactly what we’re saying when we ramble about our lives to them, they do pay attention to both “what we say and how we say it.” They can even tell by our tone of voice if we are distressed. 

Still, as fascinating as it might be to see our pets react to different noises we make, Stollar says it’s important not to read too much into it — or at least, not to interpret their responses through a human lens. “We should be careful not to anthropomorphize our pets too much,” he says, “as it might lead to the wrong conclusions.”

At the end of the day, Stollar says, the weird sounds we make to get our pets to cock their heads or come running out of curiosity are a form of communication, even if our pets do not, strictly speaking, understand them. “Every sound we make, every hand motion, and even our facial expressions are ways we communicate with our dogs and cats, whether we are aware of it, or not.”