When Were You Convinced Your Dog Could Understand English?

[minimax]

When my OH says to me "do you want to order pizza tonight?" and Max runs to the front door

When I had my talking budgie Simon years ago, when my OH asked what we should get for dinner, Simon would say "let's get a pizza", because that was usually my answer.

I think animals do understand english, or any other language. There have been many doco's where animals have been raised in 1 country & are sent to another country & don't understand the commands given in the new countries language.

I don't think they understand any language, but they understand the sounds by repetition and reward (intentional or otherwise).

[Tibbie_tabbie]

We cant say the words "Park, ball, dinner, bubbles or walk" without our JRT going crazy.. Especially the B word....

If I say bubbles he will squeal like a child and run around me in circles tryign to herd me towards the door, then he will go sit next to where the bubble wands are kept until I take him out the front to play. Yup, he loves his bubbles..

Can mine have some of your boys energy please?! My Jack even plays lying down lol

May have to try bubble wands......

[persephone]

When my OH says to me "do you want to order pizza tonight?" and Max runs to the front door

When I had my talking budgie Simon years ago, when my OH asked what we should get for dinner, Simon would say "let's get a pizza", because that was usually my answer.

I think animals do understand english, or any other language. There have been many doco's where animals have been raised in 1 country & are sent to another country & don't understand the commands given in the new countries language.

I don't think they understand any language, but they understand the sounds by repetition and reward (intentional or otherwise).

*nod*

[mita]

I've heard that there's some studies which show that dogs have a great capacity for understanding human communication. Seems they're much better than chimps.

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/46319430/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/dogs-understand-us-better-chimps-do-scientists-say/#.UezEtRw_-yM

I found a paper on this, some time back (might be filed away). It said that the way dogs understand communication is very like very young children.

You know when babies & tiny toddlers can't say much.... but they can understand what people communicate to them, heaps more.

Edited July 22, 2013 by mita

[Little Gifts]

The weirdest thing for me that has me really wondering what dogs can or do understand more than we credit them for is how we have had to change how we interact with our little pack due to Tempeh (our foster failure pei). We went to an animal communicator who told us Tempeh needs to have everything explained to her because she does have a lot of anxiety. Prior to this we just gave the dogs commands and followed a routine and didn't really talk to the dogs other than silly/sweet stuff during cuddle or play time. But with Tempeh we now explain where we are going, what we are doing, how long it will take, what is expected of her, etc. She needs to know everything! The strange thing is it calms her down, like she knows what we are telling her and can plan her very busy day around our activities accordingly! I've even been known to be getting dressed after a shower with all 3 dogs on the bed saying "Now Tempeh, are you listening to mummy?" It works particularly well in the car if we are going somewhere she has never been before and starts to stress. We remind her where we are all going and why and how long it will take and who we will see and tell her we will be there with her the whole time and she will be safe. People must think we are crazy but it really does settle her down. Otherwise she whines and cries and gets worked up with worry. I was a bit embarrassed after she was injured and had to have vet treatment. She was clearly scared and in pain and I just sat with her on the floor every visit (she had tubes and stitches) saying that I wouldn't let anything bad happen to her and to trust me and she never once snapped at the vet in fear, even though we were all worried she might. When she shook I would say "Look at me Temp, I'm right here with you." And she would focus on me and let them continue removing stitches and tubes.

She is currently behind me crying because in her mind it is now dinner time and I am not already in the laundry preparing it! She's a funny thing and we love her so!

[Dame Aussie]

When we have to spell words so as not to get a reaction..

Words like park, car, training, dinner, ball

This. We can't even make a "b" sound without Lili noticing :laugh:

[mantis]

When we have to spell words so as not to get a reaction..

Words like park, car, training, dinner, ball

This. We can't even make a "b" sound without Lili noticing :laugh:

Let's hope they never learn to spell, or we are going to be in trouble.

[Staffyluv]

When we have to spell words so as not to get a reaction..

Words like park, car, training, dinner, ball

Max can understand d-i-n-n-e-r now

One of the good ones that Zig has is 'bring it'.. You can point to just about anything and tell him to bring it and he does..

Although he won't touch my slippers (or other shoes) because he chewed a few pairs up when he was a little tacker and got into trouble for it.

The other one is 'water' - you ask him if he wants water and he if he does he starts to walk to towards a tap or water bottle..

The guys that work at the park were stunned when I asked him if he wanted some water and he ran past them and sat at the tap.

[corvus]

They can learn to put verbs and nouns together. For example, my Erik knows "where" means "go find" and then the noun (kong, bone, Grant, Kivi...) tells him what to find. I can also tell him where to take them, but I don't think he's generalised that one as I haven't done much with it. This Border Collie knows over 1000 words and can follow directions that involve several nouns and verbs. http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/12/23/worlds-smartest-dog-knows-words/ Dogs can also learn concepts like left and right, up and down, over and under, big and small, and even "do as I do". There is now a dvd out that shows you how to teach them the latter. It is intense! The dogs can learn completely novel behaviours in one go just by watching a person do it.

Supposedly ground squirrels have language. They can tell each other a person is coming and that they are wearing a blue shirt and once went past with a gun. http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2013/06/21/science-prairie-dog-language-decoded.html

[Kirislin]

My whippet Kibah understands the wild magpies warning call for FOX! It took me ages to work out why all of a sudden she'd go nuts and start barking, then one day I followed her outside and there were the maggies all making their warning call while watching a fox trotting across the paddock.

[tdierikx]

I had a dog that could spell w-a-l-k... and she'd go nuts bouncing off walls if she thought she was going for a walk... *sigh*

Trouble can understand "go to" or "go get" - if I tell her "go get your ball" she'll go find her fave ball, and if I say "go get a ball" she'll get the nearest ball to her. If I say "go to [insert room of house]" she'll go to that room without fail - so will Zeddy.

Pickles is too smart for all that "command" stuff - she does what she likes, and looks at me as if to say "make me"...

Harper hasn't grown a brain yet, so any command is met with the "huh" face... *sigh*

T.

Edited July 22, 2013 by tdierikx

[Malakita]

I am convinced my Mallie girl understands English.

We were out and she was lying down next to me. Our other pup was with my husband. Someone asked if they could take a pic of the younger pup, so our Mal gets up and sits right next to him to be included in the photo. It was pretty funny that she was so appropriate.

A few days ago, we were sitting around talking with another person,and the two pups were lying down on their sides near us. The other person was saying males dogs seem to have a stronger scent than female dogs. I jokingly said our younger male pup just does smelly farts! No sooner than I said that, our Mal girl got up , turned around and sniffed her brother's butt.

We find her so hilarious that she has been so spot on with these random instances.

[hankdog]

When I came home from a walk and he was wet from his clam shell dip.I walked in to the kitchen and told him to sit on the towel and he did. Gave him a dry and because he was shivering told him "where's your jumper?" purely rhetorical but he wondered around and then sat on it where it was lying at the bottom of the stairs.

[Loving my Oldies]

Well, my story is a bit embarrassing. Naturally, I'd always considered that they understood a lot more than they let on. For goodness sake! How many times can they look up at one with big innocent eyes pretendng not to understand: Stop licking. Stop barking. Stop pestering me.

However, confirmation came when I started getting phone calls from men I didn't know. They would ring up, be very friendly and suggest we meet. Naturally I was a bit confused: how did did these people get my phone number? How did they know a bit about me and assume that I would like to meet up somewhere.

Whenever one of these calls came through, all the dogs would disappear into another room and when I'd go looking for them, they would be looking either angelic, embarrassed or, if you can imagine it, almost sniggering.

Something one of the men callers had said prompted me to go trawling. There it was!! I was entered into the RSVP site What a shock! Now I know I have become a bit of an old stick in the mud, stay at home, but honestly, I LIKE being with my dogs and my cat. I know they thought they were doing the right thing in trying to set me up with someone, but really, to put in my interests: mountain climbing, bungy jumping, trail bike riding.... well I might have been adventuous once, but those days are well gone, sadly. And as for being tall, slim and very attractive Well, from their vantage point, maybe I am

Anyway, I couldn't be angry with them, but told them not to do it again and removed my entry on RSVP.

I wonder how that copy of "The Autobiography of Lassie" came to be downloaded on my iPad

[Staffyluv]

When I came home from a walk and he was wet from his clam shell dip.I walked in to the kitchen and told him to sit on the towel and he did. Gave him a dry and because he was shivering told him "where's your jumper?" purely rhetorical but he wondered around and then sat on it where it was lying at the bottom of the stairs.

Awe that is so cute..

Zig knows where his towel is (kept in his training bag)..

[Little Gifts]

There it was!! I was entered into the RSVP site....Anyway, I couldn't be angry with them, but told them not to do it again and removed my entry on RSVP.

I wonder how that copy of "The Autobiography of Lassie" came to be downloaded on my iPad

As if they can do better than you DD! Mine don't want to share the bed (let alone my time) so apart from downloading bedtime stories I doubt they will assist with any hook ups even if Johnny Depp came calling!

[mantis]

There it was!! I was entered into the RSVP site....Anyway, I couldn't be angry with them, but told them not to do it again and removed my entry on RSVP.

I wonder how that copy of "The Autobiography of Lassie" came to be downloaded on my iPad

As if they can do better than you DD! Mine don't want to share the bed (let alone my time) so apart from downloading bedtime stories I doubt they will assist with any hook ups even if Johnny Depp came calling!

:rofl:

[emgem]

I never thought Olle had very good language comprehension skills, especially compared to the BC I had as a kid. He had several hundred words he would respond to appropriately. I talk to Olle a lot as it is just the two of us and he often cocks his head in response to key words, such as walk, but he never gets excited until I actually take the lead off the hook. (Of course, I don't think there has been a day in his life he didn't get a least one walk, which may have something to do with it.) He surprised me one day, though. He had been playing with another dog, chasing her though the bushes because she had nicked his isqueak. Somehow the ball got dropped and they came out of the bushes without it. I was talking to him as I started along the path they had taken, saying "where is it. Where's the ball. " somehow he managed to put it together and took off sniffing down the path and came up with the ball.

[Leah82]

Our cocker is also pretty funny when you say 'where's your ball' he'll start running around frantically looking for it. It's especially handy when you're in the back yard or at the park and pretend to throw the ball, he spends ages with his nose to the ground and tail doing figure 8's looking for it. So much easier that just throwing the ball because he never wants to give it back.

[flame ryder]

I think it's pretty impressive when your dog can not only understand spoken language but can understand our body language too. Like when you are sad and they know it and stay close. Or try looking at your dog with a blank expression...then smile and see your dogs tail wag...pretty special :)