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 have a bilingual Schnauzer!
He knows the words for ball, teddy, bed, biscuit, come, sit, stay, leave it in both languages.
He knows our names and a lot of his dog friends’ names. He also knows the time we do things.

Because he’s opportunistic and ready for any of those things.
He’s also nearly 4 so has heard a LOT of repetition.
(But we do talk to him constantly.)

I hate to be a killjoy but the process through which dogs learn is called "conditioning by association" So in the example given by previous poster about the fridge: the dog knows( from past experience) that there is food in the fridge so will follow poster to the fridge.

If the poster has used the word "boat" in place of "fridge " the dog would still follow her to the fridge. It does not really understand the word used, but it it is obvious to the dog from the context what is happening.You can google Pavlov and his experiments to get the idea.

Your dog will also be highly attuned to your body language, tone of voice and subtle mannerisms.

It's likely that when you asked DDog to move her bone to the carpet your also made some sort of gesture along with your words. It may have been an obvious gesture like pointing, or much less obvious. DDog will have picked up on the cues as well as any words she recognises.

My collie cross could pick words out of a sentence when I was talking to someone else and not looking or gesturing at her. Simple words like cats, biscuits, dinner, walk admittedly but not addressed to her.

None of the dogs I've owned have ever been able to recognise our car.

There is a corgi on YouTube. He belongs to a hearing man who married a deaf women and since moving in with them has learned ASL.

It's hilarious, particularly because the wife also has a dog that she has had for years and doesn't know any signs.

@Gallowayan I hate to break it to you but conditioning doesn't account for everything. I had a cat that decided it was going to use the toilet.

She didn’t even look at me, she heard me and immediately moved it.

she’s also never been taught the word “carpet” so how does she know what one is?

My last collie knew a load of words - he was really clever. The one word all my dogs know is Love. When I say love they look at me and wag their tails, they get a cuddle! When my old collie went deaf I was upset that he’d not hear me tell him I loved him but he learned that my open arms meant love and would come for a cuddle!

Collies are the best dogs ever.
They're generally on another level from other breeds IMO.

My dog loves her outings to cafes, where I'm slightly ashamed to say we always buy her a sausage.
Lately, she has learned that the appearance of a waiter/tress to take an order is shortly followed by the appearance of food. When a waiter comes to take an order from an adjoining table, she will wait for the waiter to go and then tries to go and lie down at that table! It's very funny to watch.
"conditioning by association"

That’s so cute ❤️

Your cat was obviously very special. Just like most of the dogs of mumsnet. Your cat learning by imitation to shit where you shit does strike me as evidence of learned behaviour as is opposed to language acquisition 😂

Yep - once you’ve had a collie you don’t want any other breed. The bond is so incredibly strong. My young one is very strong willed and brave - not always helpful!

will go where i in need her to go /go to the kitchen theres a bowl of a treat
go to the kitchen
see who is at the door-if she doesnt know she will bark 4xs and i tell her to it again she will-if someone she knows the person she will dance until the person comes in
listen the phone if it someone she knows will stand next to it whating for the person to say hello
staffies are so cool and my wolfdog was the same more actually

Same as mine! I tell her “stop scratching the sofa” nothing, I say “treats” and suddenly she’s there like “where?

Do you reckon the collies almost human like intelligence contributes towards this bond?

I doubt she knows 'carpet'. More likely she knows 'move'. Did you say what breed she was, OP (sorry, might have missed it)? I knew a border collie once who had incredible comprehension skills.

I have a German pointer who has a really big vocabulary. It honestly isn't about tone of voice and gesture. He will pick things up when he's in the next room and when it's a word we've said in the middle of a sentence!

Our dog comes running to the kitchen if you yell “serving up” or “dinner’s ready”. She also understands “outside” if you tell her to take a dog treat outside. But I think that’s mostly tone of voice and habit rather than an actual understanding of English. We also joke that she’s bilingual as she will sit if my dad says “Sit” in another language.

At the time my mum was taking Psychology A Level, the tutor couldn't explain it because according to the tutor animals are conditioned and don't learn independently.

I wish other cats had learned, flushing the toilet is so much easier than cleaning a tray.

I’ve no idea. The collie was more intelligent than DD until DD got to about age 3!
I've no idea how he knew so much - I’d say ‘go to say goodbye’ to someone when we were about to leave their house and he would. He’d also ‘sing’ on command for wishing happy birthday - he was such a great dog!

Just come across Waffles The Yorkie on TikTok. His owner said he couldn’t have more treats and he used his buttons to call her a bitch and by the expression on his face he meant it! 🤣

I have a Spaniel and she absolutely speaks English.

Eye contact, head tilts, responses - I'm positive she understands every word I say!

Our old dog was like this, think this was the saddest part of him getting old and eventually deaf, as he seemed to always be "part of the conversation" up until that point. He'd listen to everything we said and would seem to understand so much of it. When he was really young, he was on metacam (pain relief) at one point for about a week after an op, he loathed the taste of it and would make this gagging, coughing noise and shake his head vigorously everytime we got it out. He never had to have it again in his life, but even 15 years later, all anyone had to do was mention the word "medicine" and he'd start running round really hyperactive, doing the fake cough and pulling a weird face... really put the kids off calpol! He seemed to understand whole sentences too, like he'd bring me his lead, and I'd say "we'll go for a walk after I've changed the baby", and he'd run and get the changing bag for me, and then sit patiently with his lead in his mouth 😭. Miss that guy so much. He lived until he was 18 and was such a great dog.

I'm a cat person so not generally impressed by dogs. However, a relative has a Romanian rescue dog who has no interest in other dogs while out on walks etc - except other Romanian rescue dogs. And it's consistent, not just dogs he knows but e.g. on holidays if he sees another dog and wants to talk to it, when you speak to the owner it always turns out the dog he wants to talk to is another Romanian rescue. Every time. They're all mongrels so it's not breed recognition, the owners are all talking English, it happens in different areas and with dogs he's never seen before. Can't explain it.

The thing I get most from the Bunny videos is that I am never going to get my dog one of those talking boards. Bunny really doesn't have anything that interesting to say and if you had trained a dog to use those boards, you'd feel like you had to give them attention every time they press a word.