Not barking mad! Talking to puppies in a high-pitched baby voice actually works

It’s impossible not to talk like a baby when you have a tiny little puppy in your hands – and thankfully that is exactly what you SHOULD be doing.

Research has shown that baby dogs respond well to our ridiculous baby voices, especially when we say things like ‘hello cutie’.

The study recorded the voices of 30 women as they looked at photos of a dog and read from a script saying: “Hi! Hello cutie! Who’s a good boy? Come here! Good boy! Yes! Come here sweetie pie! What a good boy!”

The women then repeated the same phrases to photos of humans, only more toned down.

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These recordings were then played to 10 puppies and 10 adult dogs at a New York City animal shelter.

The team, led by Nicolas Mathevon, of the University of Lyon and St Etienne, found that the younger puppies got excited and took the recordings as “an invitation to play”.

Nine of them started barking and running toward the loudspeaker.

He said: “It got their attention.”

However, if you think this is an invitation to talk to all dogs in a cute voice, think again – older dogs pretty much ignored the speaker when hearing the baby talk.

Still, you won’t have to feel too embarrassed when talking to puppies like a baby any more – you can blame science.

Top pic: Rex