ohmidog!

So, if there’s no deep meaning behind barks (not that we buy that study), how do you explain this?

Japanese toymaker Takara Tomy is coming out with a new “Bowlingual” gadget that can translate dog barks into the human language, AFP reports.

The new model analyzes six emotions, including joy, sadness and frustration, and speaks phrases such as “Play with me!” — an improvement on the original which just showed them on a screen.

The original version of the toy, which has a handset and a microphone attached to a dog collar, won the Ig Nobel Prize in 2002. The awards, a parody of the Nobel Prizes, celebrate achievements that make people laugh and think.

The new Bowlingual Voice, priced at about $212, will be launched in Japan next month, Yamada said.

Initially, it will be only available in Japanese. The original non-speaking version is also available in English and Korean.

What’s your barking dog trying to say?

Nothing in particular, according to a University of Massachusetts study. It concludes dogs do not bark differently in different circumstances; rather, they have one all purpose bark to ward off predators and deal with conflict.

“What we’re saying is that the domestic dog does not have an intentional message in mind, such as, ‘I want to play’ or ‘the house is on fire,’” said Kathryn Lord, a University of Massachusetts, Amherst doctoral candidate, who worked to define the bark.

She believes the dog bark evolved about 10,000 years ago, when dogs needed to stand their ground to eat at human dumpsites. Instead of running away every time a human came near, they participated in mobbing behavior, bravely barking to intimidate intruders instead of running away and wasting food energy.

Lord pointed out that not all dog noises are barks, and that the other noises might have other motivations behind them, according to a WCVB TV report.

But as for barks, she insists, dog’s aren’t trying to tell us anything, just voice their “internal conflict.”

“There’s no deep cognitive understanding, and I think that upsets a lot of people,” she said.

Dogs had no comment on the study.

New research shows babies have a handle on the meaning of different dog barks – despite little or no previous exposure to dogs.

Infants just 6 months old can match the sounds of an angry snarl and a friendly bark to photos of dogs displaying threatening and welcoming body language, according to researchers at Brigham Young University.

“Emotion is one of the first things babies pick up on in their social world,” said BYU psychology professor Ross Flom, lead author of the study. Flom and two BYU students report their findings in the journal Developmental Psychology.

The new findings come on the heels of a study from the same  lab showing that infants can detect mood swings in Beethoven’s music.

“We chose dogs because they are highly communicative creatures both in their posture and the nature of their bark,” Flom said.

In the experiment, the babies first saw two different pictures of the same dog, one in an aggressive posture and the other in a friendly stance. Then the researchers played – in random order – sound clips of a friendly and an aggressive dog bark.

The Maryland SPCA is holding a Wine & Wag happy hour this Friday, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are $10 per person in advance and $15 at the Maryland SPCA, 3300 Falls Road. Dogs are admitted free, but only one per person.

You can buy tickets online until 4:00 p.m. this Friday.

Activities include a treasure hunt, musical chairs, tours of our adoption center, paw painting, a canine pool party and off-leash play in the fun runs. Complimentary hors d’oeuvres will be served courtesy of Lebanese Taverna. There is a suggested donation of $3 for beer and wine and $1 for other beverages.

If it rains on Friday, details on rescheduling will be posted on the Maryland SPCA website, or you can use the tickets at the next two Wine & Wags — August 14 or September 17.

For more info about our Wine & Wag happy hour, please contact Tami Gosheff at tgosheff@mdspca.org or 410-235-8826, ext. 138.

Gidget, the Chihuahua best known for her Taco Bell ad campaign, died from a stroke on Tuesday night at age 15.

“She made so many people happy,” Gidget’s trainer, Sue Chipperton, told  PEOPLE Magazine.

The mostly retired actor lived out her days laying in the sun – “I like to joke that it’s like looking after a plant,” said Chipperton – and entertaining at shoots when her trainer brought her along.

In addition to serving as Taco Bell’s spokesdog, Gidget had roles in a commercial for the ’90s edition of Trivial Pursuit and as Bruiser’s mom in Legally Blonde 2.

Chipperton said Gidget was a natural ham who enjoyed her time before the camera.

“One time, I kid you not, she actually pushed her stand-in out of the way because he was still there when she arrived on set,” Chipperton recalled. “Gidget always knew where the camera was.”

We liked him as a comedian, and early indications are we’ll like him as a politician — not that we see too vast a difference between the two.

In his first piece of legislation as Minnesota’s junior senator, Al Franken is trying to expand the number of service dogs available to wounded veterans.

In an opinion piece published Monday in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Franken proposed a pilot program that will train “a statistically significant number of dogs,” put them to work and measure the benefits they provide to veterans living with devastating war injuries.

Franken believes the dogs’ companionship provides invaluable health benefits — both physical and emotional — to veterans suffering from debilitating injuries and psychological disorders.

The service dogs will help “reduce the suicide rate among veterans, decrease the number of hospitalizations and lower the cost of medications and human care,” he said.

Franken’s said the legislation was inspired by a meeting he had last January with a wounded former Iraqi intelligence officer and his golden retriever, “Tuesday.”

“Service dogs like Tuesday can be of immense benefit to vets suffering from physical and emotional wounds,” wrote Franken.

Franken said service dogs typically cost about $20,000 to train and another $5,000 to place with a veteran — a cost that is well worth the investment.

“It is my strong belief that a service dog will more than pay for itself over its life, and my bill is designed to determine the return on investment with a pilot program that provides service dogs to hundreds of veterans,” said Franken.

Franken’s bill would be his first piece of legislation since officially becoming a senator on July 7.

A four-day-old child dragged out of his crib and into the yard by the family dog remained in critical condition yesterday at University of Kentucky Hospital in Lexington.

Michael Smith and his wife Chrissie say when they checked on their baby Monday afternoon, he was not in his crib.

Smith told the Associated Press he headed to the family’s wooded, two-acre backyard, knowing that Dakota, a mixed breed described as a “Native American Indian Dog,” had a reputation for stealing household items and depositing them there.

Smith said when he found the dog, it was treating the baby, named Alexander James Smith, as a puppy and wasn’t being vicious.

Despite that, the infant suffered two collapsed lungs, a skull fracture, broken ribs and cuts and bruises.

Jessamine County chief deputy sheriff Allen Peel said no charges had been filed, but the case remains under investigation. He said he expects the dog, named Dakota, to be destroyed by animal control, which took him into custody Monday.

Smith said the 4-year-old was one of three dogs the family had owned since they were puppies and he had no history of aggression or problems with Smith’s two other children from a previous marriage.

It’s strictly coincidental that — at the same time a dog perished in a parked car during “American Idol” auditions — PETA was putting the finishing touches on a public service announcement by Simon Cowell about the dangers of leaving dogs in parked cars.

Now, though, PETA is rushing the “Idol” judge’s PSA to television stations across the country.

“Far be it from me to be critical, but I find it really appalling that, this year, thousands of dogs will die of heatstroke inside parked cars,” Cowell says in the spot, in which he appears with his canine pal, Claude. “Never ever leave your dog inside a parked car. Your dog idolizes you. In warm weather, keep him safe at home.”

PETA hopes the PSA might deter further deaths as summertime temperatures rise.

Quincy Vanderbilt, a 24-year-old from North Dakota, left his small terrier in his vehicle while he and his girlfriend lined up for Denver auditions for the show.

When he returned — nine hours later — the dog was dead. Vanderbilt was cited on a misdemeanor charge of animal cruelty.

“Simon would be shocked to know that this incident happened during auditions for his own show,” PETA Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch, said in a press release. “Even on merely warm days, it’s better to be safe than sorry and plan to leave your animal companions comfortably at home.”

Quiet Waters Park in Annapolis has been named the No. 2 dog-friendly beach in the nation in a listing released by the pet website, Petside.com.

The “Top 10 Dog-Friendly Beaches” were selected for their “outstanding features and promise of fun for dogs and their owners alike.”

The folks at Petside chose Cape San Blas, in Port St. Joe, Florida, as the No.1 dog-friendliest beach, due to its “year-round, leash-free policies and plethora of dog-friendly activities,” including a sailing program that welcomes dogs aboard.

As for Quiet Waters, Petside didn’t go into much detail, praising only that it was a “fenced off area” and  sponsors the annual Howl-O-Ween Barkin Bash costume parade for dogs and their owners.

Here’s the rest of the top 5, which, strangely, include one where leashes are required.

3. Block Island (Rhode Island) is a small dog-friendly island open year-round. The beach has a relaxed leash policy, and bans all motor vehicles, making it a safe haven for your furry friend to roam around.

4. Cannon Beach (Cannon Beach, Oregon) is a four mile stretch of beach along the Pacific conveniently located near a town filled with dog-friendly hotels, restaurants and shops. Dogs must stay on-leash, but the view is worth it.

5. Fort De Soto Park (St. Petersburg, Florida) has the unique Paw Playground, consisting of fenced-in areas for both big dogs and small dogs. The park provides dog showers, a dog beach and fresh drinking water.