To think some dogs can actually pick human language?

[Bronsons]

I don’t mean the usual “come, sit, stay” stuff that most dogs can learn … I mean stuff they have never been taught but appear to have picked up like a person would pick up a language.

Im convinced my dog has picked up basic English. I can talk to her in the way id talk to a person and she seems to know exactly what I mean - obviously I don’t mean I discuss politics with her 😂 or she talks back to me etc … I’m not totally nuts …

but for example if she’s chewing her bone on a hard surface and making a racket I’ll say “move that onto the carpet Margaret” and she’ll immediately pick it up and move it onto the carpet. She’s never been taught this, I don’t even know how it happened. I’ve just gotten so used to it that when other people act surprised I’m reminded of how it maybe isn’t normal?!

Just now I was sat and she was sprawled across me but I couldn’t find the remote so I said to her “just get up a minute so I can find the remote” so she stood up, waited until I got the remote and then came back. I’ve never had a dog that seems to understand normal communication like this, my other dog doesn’t.

AIBU to think certain dogs of the intelligent kind can actually pick up the basics of a language that goes beyond “commands”?

I loved that too!

My lovely old dog was like this- don’t know whether it was that he understood more language than I imagined or that he was just really attuned to me and could read body language etc that I wasn’t really aware of.

Yes! I’ve often thought mine can read my mind. There’s times when I’m sat watching TV and I’ll think to myself “might be a good time to go for a walk” and she’ll look at me like she’s just heard me say it aloud and will jump up ready for action. It’s so bloody weird.

I can get up in a morning and if I’m thinking to myself “I’ll take her straight out” she’ll run to the bottom of the stairs all excited. If i get up and think “I’ll take her out later” she doesn’t leave the sofa.

Ours knows toy names and understands to go find people in the house. But I think she is used to working out what we might want her to do...so you can see her thinking and trying to work it out.

Yeah I’ve wondered this, I have such a strong bond with her I often feel we have a special connection. She knows what I’m thinking, she knows when I’m ill or upset, she warns me of my flare ups before they happen (never been trained to do this) - when I leave her she gets on the sofa, facing the front door and just waits - this could be for a few hours - I’ve watched her on camera. She has absolutely zero interest in anyone else - even family members - just me.

My daughter taught this pair rave, you just put your hands in the air and maybe some 90’s dance they start raving 😂 anyone wants a rave with these pair their up for it

Yes ☺️ my last one was called Mavis and the one before that was Moira

Might have to move onto a different letter next time 😂

I think because it's just me and my lovely Dog and I talked to her all the time she has definite words, but she understands beyond usual commands

She sleeps downstairs very occasionally I'll say to her do you want to come to bed with mum and she's at the hallway door like a shot. Same as when I say right I better get ready she's pelting up the stairs to wait for me. She definitely knows things like who's coming to see you as she goes bat shit loopy looking for them 😆

As I said tho. I talk to her a LOT 😳

I was searching to see if someone had mentioned Bunnie. She’s exceptional and she must understand language…..she puts words together in such a meaningful way.

I tried the buttons with my dog and got nowhere. A friend borrowed them and her dog got them within five minutes! But her dog is very well trained with agility work and knows loads of commands.

Mine knows certainly words for sure, mainly food ones. But if I say “move down the end of the bed” she gets up and goes to the bottom of the bed. Maybe it’s just pattern recognition. If I say “seaside fish” to her she goes crazy with excitement (it means we’re off to the beach).

I once learnt that my dog was trying to train me. I could never get her to let go of her rope but I was told to make it boring, stop pulling and just stand there and the dog should realise it’s no longer fun and let go.
it worked. However … a while later I was playing rope with her and she suddenly stopped still, stopped pulling and just stared at me with it in her mouth. I assumed she didn’t want to play anymore so I let go … she ran off with the rope all triumphant and I realised the bugger had tried the same training method I’d used on her!

Our lovely springer had a huge vocabulary - well not actually his vocabulary, but words he knew!

We counted once and got to well over 200, which I think is exceptional. Whenever we said a new word to him, he’d cock his head and you could see him Roladexing through his known words in his head to work out if it was something he knew or a new word!

Sadly he died earlier this year, but was still learning new words right to the end.

Our new rescue springer really doesn’t seem to have the same talent. However he’s suddenly learning very, very fast - so maybe some of it is nurture too! (kids are very good wordsmiths when it comes to arguing the toss about anything too!).

Maybe he’d also just smelt it at the same time? 😁

Has anyone seen the videos of people teaching their dogs to read? It’s flash cards with words like “sit” etc on them … some dogs appear to be able to read the words. I do appreciate that there may be manipulation going on behind the scenes though!

Does she actually get around to explaining anything? Lots of waffle herself about why the haters should believe her and doesn't seem to get to the point!

Yep, my DDog definitely knows words I haven’t taught him. It sometimes surprises me how much he knows. Whether it’s ‘cat’, my friends names, understanding when I’m saying someone isn’t home, etc etc.

I’ve learned to watch my words, especially with anything I’ve unconsciously taught him. Honestly, sometimes I wish he were a bit thicker 😂

I've noticed that people often refer to older dogs when they say they understand lots. My dog initially didn't understand any commands but over the years she has become really smart at understanding me.
I thin it's a mixture of things, perhaps a few words but mostly knowing situations/ expressions etc.

For me, its not about words they understand, thats just training and repetition, i just think they communicate, like a sort of telepathy.

When i was working away, i would often come home on a weekend or a friday evening, all random times.. some 10 or 15mins before i got home, my then dog, a border terrier cross, would wake up, start sniffing at the door, whine, at this point i would be at least 3 miles away, driving on a busy main road.

How did she know?

My maltipoo definitely understands a lot. He knows my morning routine and stands by the bedroom door at the exact point I am ready and before I approach it. He knows where things that matter to him are kept, and somehow knows when DH is away and he is going out in the car with me to go to the dog sitters. He did this one morning when DH had left at 4am and he couldn't possibly have understood that DH wouldn't be there in the morning so he would leave with me! He knows my car too, he can even pick it out from a row of parked cars.

I don't know how many words of actual language they can pick up. However, I felt such a dummy when we finally got a dog as I had no idea that they were such absolute grand masters of observation. They watch everything that goes on all the time and are making all these calculations about what is going on with their pack and where they fit into it.

Also animals comunicate so much with non-verbal language that she is picking up all the non-verbal cues from you about where she has to go and when, and they can probably understand a number of words as well from repetition in a certain context.

And I do talk to my dog all the time. And make up responses for her as well, sometimes forgetting there might be other people watching when we're at the park 😅

Then I imagine she's thinking 'Pah! That's not what I said at all."

Yes, of course. Dogs are clever and they’re pack animals, so they are highly attuned to what their pack leader - you - wants. They pick things up in the same way they pick up commands. Consciously or subconsciously you’ve taught her to recognise words (like ‘move’, ‘carpet’, ‘up’ etc.) and that recognition allows her to respond when you use them. Your body language is also something she can read - dogs communicate with one another through body language constantly.

It means that even if you say something completely new to her, she still has a good chance of guessing what you want from the odd word she recognises, your tone of voice and your body language.

It isn’t any form of language acquisition in the human sense - she isn’t literally understanding or thinking in language - but it shows how clever dogs are and how close their connections to their humans can be.

I’ve seen this. Again it’s not reading in the human sense, but it is recognition. Dogs can learn to recognise the shape of a word and connect with the command they have been taught to do. The fact that it says ‘sit’ is irrelevant to the dog, they have just been taught to sit when they see that shape (you could use anything to teach this - a picture of a different word, a particular toy, etc) as long as you were consistent in training.

If anyone is claiming that a dog is reading and obeying a command word the dog is seeing for the first time, they’re making it up, but certainly training a dog to sit when you hold up a card with the word sit on it is not hard to do.

When my dog is looking for his toy and I know it’s upstairs, I say ‘it’s upstairs’ and he looks towards the stairs and then runs up and gets it. They aren’t stupid, that’s for sure.

Mine is generally not so bright (goldie) but knows loads of words. If I say "show dad" he will choose a toy and run upstairs to show my husband (which is adorable by the way and melts our hearts). He also knows many food names including yorkshire puddings as they are his favourite.

Slightly off topic but when I am driving about and see people walking their dogs and the dog looks up at them with eyes like 😍 it is my absolute favourite. I love dogs!

We’ve got a collie and she’s cleverer than we are I reckon 😂 I love her 😍