The emotional palette

Seven states your dog is telling you

Every bark carries an acoustic fingerprint. AI Speak Dog maps it onto seven emotional states, each with its own colour and voice.

Silence

Calm

Affection

Playful

Alert

Anxious

Distress

Silence

Low energy · long gaps

Quiet periods. Tracked too — useful for separation monitoring and calm baselines.

Calm

Low pitch · steady · soft

Relaxed, settled vocalisations. Even pitch, unhurried rhythm, low arousal.

Affection

Mid pitch · rising · gentle

Warm, social sounds — the greeting whine or gentle woof aimed at you.

Playful

High pitch · rhythmic · bursty

The invitation to play. Bright, bouncy, repetitive bursts with lots of energy.

Alert

Sharp onset · repeated

Something caught their attention. Sharp, punchy barks that call for a look.

Anxious

Rising pitch · tense · noisy

Unsettled or uncertain. Higher, tenser vocalisations with a strained quality.

Distress

High pitch · harsh · sustained

Real discomfort — pain, fear or acute separation. Worth paying close attention to.

A note on honesty. Bark detection is measured and reliable. Emotion is harder: the energy/arousal signal is weak-but-real, while positive-vs-negative is closer to an informed estimate. Treat emotions as an acoustic read, not a diagnosis — and your feedback sharpens the model over time. See the science →

Hear your dog's emotions

The emotional palette

Seven states your dog is telling you

Every bark carries an acoustic fingerprint. AI Speak Dog maps it onto seven emotional states, each with its own colour and voice.

Silence

Calm

Affection

Playful

Alert

Anxious

Distress

Silence

Low energy · long gaps

Quiet periods. Tracked too — useful for separation monitoring and calm baselines.

Calm

Low pitch · steady · soft

Relaxed, settled vocalisations. Even pitch, unhurried rhythm, low arousal.

Affection

Mid pitch · rising · gentle

Warm, social sounds — the greeting whine or gentle woof aimed at you.

Playful

High pitch · rhythmic · bursty

The invitation to play. Bright, bouncy, repetitive bursts with lots of energy.

Alert

Sharp onset · repeated

Something caught their attention. Sharp, punchy barks that call for a look.

Anxious

Rising pitch · tense · noisy

Unsettled or uncertain. Higher, tenser vocalisations with a strained quality.

Distress

High pitch · harsh · sustained

Real discomfort — pain, fear or acute separation. Worth paying close attention to.

Hear your dog's emotions