Science News: Amid all the panting, a dog at play makes a distinctive, breathy exhalation that can trigger playfulness in other dogs, says a Nevada researcher. Yes, it might be the dog version of a laugh.
"To an untrained human ear, it sounds much like a pant, 'hhuh, hhuh,'" says Patricia Simonet of Sierra Nevada College in Lake Tahoe. However, this exhalation bursts into a broader range of frequencies than does regular dog panting, Simonet discovered when she and her students analyzed recordings.
They observed the bursts during play but not in aggressive clashes...