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Dog Owner's Manual › Chapter 3: Daily Interaction With Your Dog › Dogs and Human Speech ›Dogs and Human Speech
Dogs do not "understand" human speech at all. However, they can associate audio cues (words) with the execution of various behaviors. For instance, though a collie does not comprehend that "stay" is a word, it does understand that this particular sound calls for a specific behavior. Some dogs can store dozens of words or other audio cues this way. In fact, the word itself may not be as important as how you say it. Dogs can gauge your mood by the tone of your voice, so saying something—anything—with an angry tone will usually elicit a fearful or submissive response. Likewise, saying "bad dog" in a cheerful voice will not achieve the desired effect. Chapter 3: Daily Interaction With Your Dog
Comments for This Page (21) | Post a CommentYou need to read Stanley Coren's books. I agree with him and my dog absolutely understands words. My husband says "get my shoes" and the pooch goes and gets them. It doesn't matter what tone of voice you say it in. That's just one example of what my Westie can understand. There are numerous studies that show dogs have a vocabulary. Its much like humans learning a new language. It might sound like gibberish at first, but as you start to learn associations to objects and things you do know, it starts to make sense. Dogs may never understand our complex language system, but I've seen many times a dog hear "sit" in the middle of a sentence not directed at the dog... and he sat because he understands that word means to get into the sit position. One particular dog study was a dog who knew hundreds of words and would learn new ones after hearing them once. You could say "go get the [new toy]" and she'd come back with a toy she'd never seen before in her life. She understood the command given and that it was a word she hadn't heard before, so by process of elimination, she got the toy she'd never seen before. My Germen Shepherd Pup, Lady, can understand me, when I had Her inside the other day She was whining and looking at my bed every couple of seconds and I said, " Lady, do you want to get on the bed Girl?'' And then She whined Once more, (Loud this time), and jumped on my bed! As a trainer, I have to say that dogs can learn to associate a word with a behaviour. They can also understand hand signals for the same behaviours. And usually the hand signals work better. But, they do understand tone of voice. As a dog lover, I have to say that I believe that I have had dogs that understood what I was saying. But, maybe it was the tone of my voice. I had one dog that knew when I said I was going to bed and ran to the bedroom door to wait. She also knew if I was leaving for school or going outside and would react appropriatly. And I do know about the Border Collie that knows over 200 words for objects and can get them on request. I have seen videos of him. I read in Reader's Digest a couple of years ago that some breeds can understand the vocabulary of a 2 year old human, aproximately 250 words. When I read that I was elated! I have been telling people for years that my two German Shephards understand words. Our current girl, I can say in the same tone of voice "Do you want to go for a walk?" or "Do you want to go for a ride?", Do you want to eat?", "Do you need to go potty?", "Do you need water?" and she will responde to the one she wants. She will remain quiet, calm and just look at me until I say the one she wants and then she will respond by running to the front door for a walk, the garage door for a ride, her bowl to eat, the back door to potty, her water bowl for water and so on. She also knows the difference between get your basket ball, baseball, squeekey toy, etc. when asked to get it. We have a pool and we don't always want her to swim every time we are out there. She understands "No swim" or "O.K., go swim". When I say "Where's Dad?" she will lead me to him. She has many, many more things she understands. All of these that I speak of are only the verbals that she understands. She also knows things like when I put on my tennis shoes she is probably going to get to go for a walk. She will get excited when anyone puts on their swimsuit . . . even when we make sure we have not said a word that might give her an idea what we are about to do. I could go on and on and on . . . if I havn't already :) Uuumm . . . sorry guys. Just a little correction on my last entry . . . I read in Reader's Digest that some breeds can retain and understand as many words as a 2 year old human can. Not that they can understand a 2 year olds vocabulary!! LOL!!! I'm a believer that dogs understand words too. Thank you to all the believers out there, woof!! I believe it! Our kelpie x knows the difference between going outside to play and going outside to potty. If I notice her waiting by the door, I'll ask "Do you want to go outside?" and "Do you want to go potty?" Depending on her reason for waiting by the door, she'll get really excited and jump around when I ask the correct question. My Cockapoo,Leo understands everything I say.He is exceptional at communication.He will,bark quiet and loud, sing,and respond to everything I say to him.Every time he is pleased and happy with a new toy or treat,he'll sing.He also sings when asked to my guitar music,records,or radio.He knows what outside for biffy break,or play break means.He also knows when I tell him to go find pops,for supper,for bed,for a car ride.Each response he has is different.If I ask him if he wants his back scratched,he goes to the bathroom where the back scratcher is hanging looks at me,the back scratcher and yips.All I have to say is it's bath time and he runs to hide behind his pops,ears down,eyes pleading.He also understands what his bones,cookies,treats,piggy ears and toys are.He can give a high five or ten when asked.He can bark quiet or loud when asked.He stops in the porch when I tell him I have to wipe his feet.He has a favorite blankey to which he goes and gets when asked.He will also get his leash and when I hold the collar out,he puts his head into it.He will also carry his doggy cloths around until I dress him.When I tell Leo to,"Look at mom and wink,"he actually will wink back,just like I do.I tend to give mine and other buddies more credit.Yes they are more intelligent than maybe some people give them credit for.Example;the night my little brother died,his black lab Duke,went under the step, wouldn't come out and howled for two days. Something else as well on a similar note...A friend of mine has a deaf pit bull and she can understand sign language. He appears to understand about 40 words. Dogs are very adaptable and there is more in their heads that some people would think. I really can't explain how, but most often my dog looks for my wife whenever I say "where's mommy?" If a simple phrase is recognizable by my dog, then I am impressed. "Go home" is very familiar to him as well as "drink milk" and he does. Love these dogs! I say there are certains dogs that understand. I know, I had one. You could tell her to go look in her puppy dish and she went. didnt matter if you were eating or not. But I also think probably all dogs could learn (maybe?) it depends on you the owner. I talked to Daisy all the time. My last dog not only understood the word "walk" but also the spelling of it. He responded to both interchangably by dancing at the front door....didn't need a leash or any other visual or verbal cue. He knew quite a few other words, but walk was the only one that he could spell. The most amazing dog I have ever seen was on a TV segment. He was an Australian Cattle dog named Skid Boot. That dog was super smart! Not only did he recognize words, but his left from his right, plus phrases & sentences. So for someone to say that dogs don't understand human language just isn't giving dogs enough credit. Not all are as intelligent as Skid Boot, but most are anything but "dumb animals." My old Border collie/corgi mix had 15 toys and knew the name of each one of them. "Get Raccoon" would prompt him to bring his large stuffed raccoon, "Get Baby Raccoon" would cause him to bring the smaller version. I would think that being able to determine the various names for his toys would mean he understood words. There are quite a few words that we have to spell out so Bud won't understand us. My neighbors also realized that Bud was listening to EVERYTHING There are quite a few words that we have to spell out so Bud won't understand us. My neighbors also realized that Bud was listening to EVERYTHING that was being said.She watched his ears as she was talking and told me that he knew we were talking about him and a particular thing.When certain words came up, he would get up either looking for that or at us. I do think that dogs CAN understand human language to a certain degree.. I agree that they do understand what words mean... my mini schnauzer understands many words and the difference between "want to go for a walk" or "want to go bye-bye" the later of which elicits and much more excited response every time. When I say, get your leash, he goes to his leash, when I say, where are the carrots, he goes to the fridge, on an on, and on... they are much smarter than they are being given credit for (by some) :)... This is all great!!! I just want my dog to understand potty outdoors:( Post a Comment for This Page
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The Dog Owner's Manual is a basic guide to dog care.
I believe that some dogs CAN understand human speech. Ask any dog owner and they'll tell you the same.