Many people believe that they can talk to their animals and they will understand them. I for one believe that this is only somewhat true. The animals, of course, can not converse back with words, but they can show response through their reactions to to the command or action that may have been directed toward them. I believe that there are two main ways of communicating with your pet.
The first way to get your point across to your pet would be through the tone of your voice. An animal, as well as humans, have a pretty good understanding of when someone or something may be angry about something. Or just complimenting them on something good that they have done. For instance, your dog may have gotten into the trash and you yell at it. Although the dog can not respond verbally, he instantly knows that it has done wrong. He knows you are not pleased with what he has done and responds by sticking his tail between his legs, and appears to be frightened. Solely from the angry tone in your voice. On the other hand, you may have a different approach of disciplining the animal. You might attempt to try and talk thinks out with it in a calm, sympathetic tone. In this approach, however, the animal is thinking that it has done something good and you are rewarding him. Thus, he is more likely to doing it again to receive the same reward. This is evidence that the animal does not really know what you are saying to it. It just knows that you are not happy, or are happy, by the way you pronounce it. The same is true for a dog or any other animal. It will let you know when you get a little closer than the animal likes and it lets out a very deep, strong bark; warning you to get back.
The other way to communicate with your pet, or your pet commmunicate with you, would be through your gestures. Gestures, similar to your tone, is generally understood quite well by animals. This can be seen when either disciplining your pet or approaching it in a slow, peaceful manner to pet it. For example, a neighborhood dog is standing in your yard. You take the more aggressive approach to try and scare the animal off. It works. Would this have worked if you took the slow, peaceful way of coming upon the animal? I think not. The animal, however, can also scare a human off by running at them in a threatening way. Also, slowly walking towards the human in the hopes that it will get his head scratched.
In conclusion, although there is no real way to communicate between an animal and a human. There are ways to get each one's point across to the other. This is through the tone of voice, also by the way one approaches the other.