An animal behaviorist says she's figured out what dogs are doing when they make that excited panting noise while playing or anticipating a much desired walk. They're laughing. 

    Patricia Simonet, development and program coordinator for Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service, also found that the sound of dog laughter comforts other dogs. When she played a recording of "play panting" through the speaker system at a shelter in Spokane Valley, all the barking dogs quieted within a minute. 

    "I wanted to see if I could reduce (the dogs') stress by playing the sound in the shelter," Simonet said. "I was surprised when they were calm and quiet." 

    Simonet, who will soon complete a doctorate in animal behavior from Northcentral University in Prescott, Ariz., presented her study on reducing shelter dogs' stress at the International Conference on Environmental Enrichment last summer at Columbia University in New York. 

    She started researching dog sounds in 2001 at Sierra Nevada College in Lake Tahoe, where she was a professor of animal behavior. After coming to Spokane, she began studying how to make shelter dogs feel more at ease. 

    Simonet and her students started by recording dogs at play. They eventually isolated the growling, whining, barking and the sound she now calls laughter. 

    About a year ago, she asked Nancy Hill, director of the Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service (SCRAPS) if she could use the shelter dogs to determine the impact of dog sounds. 

    When SCRAPS was closed on Sundays, she would play the tapes for the typically stressed animals. 

    "This is not home for the dogs," Hill said. "She saw that and wanted to help." Hill said she was pleasantly surprised with the results. "I've been here for 20 years, and this is the most significant thing I've seen," she said. 

    Hill is getting estimates to install a sound system that would carry the laughter throughout the SCRAPS kennels. Calming the dogs this way may even make them more presentable for adoption. 

    中文：

    你聽見過狗笑嗎？美國動物行為學(xué)家帕特里夏·西莫內(nèi)特日前表示，狗是會笑的，狗在玩耍或走動時發(fā)出的劇烈的喘息聲其實就是狗的笑聲，而這種笑聲還可以讓其它情緒焦躁的狗平靜下來。 

    據(jù)美聯(lián)社12月12日援引美國內(nèi)華達山學(xué)院的動物行為學(xué)教授帕特里夏·西莫內(nèi)特的話說，狗開心時也會笑的，而且它們的笑聲還可以感染其它狗。西莫內(nèi)特教授在紐約州斯波坎縣動物保護局的狗棚里進行了實驗，當(dāng)她將狗的喘息聲的錄音通過廣播播放時，狗棚里那些情緒緊張、一直汪汪叫的狗立刻在1分鐘之內(nèi)安靜下來。西莫內(nèi)特說：“我想看看，當(dāng)我播放狗的喘息聲后，是否可以幫助狗放松緊張的情緒。結(jié)果令我驚喜，它們果真都安靜了下來。” 

    從2001年起，西莫內(nèi)特開始致力于狗的聲音的研究。她和學(xué)生們首先從分析狗玩耍時的聲音的錄音開始，最終分辨出了狗的怒吼、哭泣、咆哮和笑的聲音。接著，西莫內(nèi)特教授又開始研究讓狗放松的方式，來到紐約州斯波坎縣動物保護局的狗棚進行試驗。這里的狗被放在一起以供人們挑選領(lǐng)養(yǎng)，而狗通常都顯得緊張煩躁。 

    看管狗棚的負責(zé)人希爾說：“這里不是狗的家，所以它們總是叫個不停。而西莫內(nèi)特教授播放錄音后，它們都奇跡般地安靜下來，這是我在這兒工作了20年見過的最棒的事情。”希爾表示，斯波坎縣動物保護局正在安裝播放狗的笑聲的設(shè)備，這樣就可以讓狗舍里的狗變得安靜，更容易被主人挑中。”