Blog Post 3, topic 2

I believe that domestic animals have more communicative power than Yule gives them. Even though pets cannot communicate with their owners through spoken human language, they seem to be able to communicate with body language or with subtle sounds. I feel this way about human-animal interaction because I have had cats my entire life. I have had the cats that I currently own since they were babies, so I have developed quite an emotional bond with them. When I come home after being away for more than two nights, I can tell that they missed me. Whenever I am feeling sick, my cat will be more interactive with me than her usual self. The most amazing thing about my cats, communication skills is the fact that they will come “tell” me if they are out of food or water by meowing at my door or refusing to leave me alone. These experiences have led me to believe that people and the pets they own have a connection that allows them to communicate despite the fact that they are unable to speak each others’ language. I think that Yule’s main statements about the ability of animals to communicate with humans only have to do with communication through spoken language or a standardized sign language. Yule does not give enough attention to the fact that animals, humans included, cannot co-habitate without being able to communicate through some ways. When something is wrong or different in the environment that an animal is used to, it must be able to communicate to whoever or whatever it is living with in order for the caustic change in the environment to be corrected. For example, when it is too cold for a dog in the room that it normally stays in, it has to tell its owner, so it may snuggle up close to the owner and shiver to indicate, without using words or sign language, that there is a problem. Human-animal interaction does not have to be spoken or signed in order for that interaction to be considered communication.