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鳴く seems to be the bark, cry, etc. of animals, and 泣く seems to be crying, weeping, etc. of humans (at any rate, associated with pain, sadness, etc.). However, when a dog in pain whines or howls, which of the two will be used?

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    I would like to notice that Japanese usual terminology of dogs' cry is 吠える not 鳴く. But only in this case- crying/whining/howling in pains we use 鳴く for dogs. As the Kanjis shows to 鳴く is for rather small animals such as cats, birds, murids, cubs and so on. 吠える is for canids. 吼える or 咆える is used for bigger carnivorous animals. – Wataru 'Watson' Subridge Mar 07 '17 at 14:18

1 Answers1

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Technically speaking, that would still be 「鳴く」.

But as an animal lover or pet owner in that particular situation, you might personify the dog out of empathy and end up choosing 「泣く」. That would not be considered an "incorrect" usage.