Man tells dog to 'shut up' — dog's response is hilarious

No one likes to leave early from a good party, and a fun-loving dog is no exception. Felony, a white female boxer, was brought in early from a trip to the dog park because her owner wanted to watch a Texans game on television. The owner (identified on YouTube as fgemellaro) caught her on video voicing her objection, getting louder when he tells her to "shut up."

The vocalizations that Felony makes are generally not barks or howls; they sound more like extended vowel sounds that occasionally warble like a pop singer while she seems to carry on a loud "argument" with her owner throughout the car trip.

But can dogs really talk? Not quite, says Gary Lucas, a scholar of psychology, in a 2009 interview with Scientific American. Lucas says that it's more appropriate to call the dog's sounds a form of imitation than actual speech. Canine physiology prevents forming most consonant sounds, so the animal simply attempts to imitate the human by using long tonal variations, similar to the way they communicate emotions to other dogs via howling or whining.

Felony makes her emotions very clear to her owner. When fgemellaro asks her if she's ready to watch the football game, she gives one more vocal protest, then suddenly falls quiet.

"I guess she's a Texans fan," her owner says with a laugh.