Researchers have replicated a dog 'laugh'

Researchers at the Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service in Washington State say a long, loud panting sound is the sound of a dog laughing, and it has a direct impact on the behavior of other dogs.
"What we found is that it had a calming or soothing effect on the dogs," said Patricia Simonet, an animal behaviorist.

"I thought: Laughing dogs?" Hill said. "A sound that we're gonna isolate and play in the shelter? I was a real skeptic … until we played the recording here at the shelter."

When they played the sound of a dog panting over the loudspeaker, the gaggle of dogs at the shelter kept right on barking. But when they played the dog version of laughing, all 15 barking dogs went quiet within about a minute.

Officials say it works every time, and researchers across the country are taking note.

"It was a night-and-day difference," Hill said. "It was absolutely phenomenal."
Those who study dog behavior have varying opinions about exactly what Patricia Simonet's "dog laughing" sound really is. What they do agree on, however, is that to other dogs, it is at least a sound worth keeping quiet to listen to.

Is it just me or does it not make sense that these researchers are making the assumption that the ‘sound’ is a dog laughing. I mean pure logic of the average person would seem to ration that if the dogs get quite when they hear the noise… might not exactly mean they enjoy the noise they are hearing. Why would the dogs get quite if they hear ‘dog laughing noises?’ Something doesn’t make sense.