I wonder how many words dogs understand.

[Tobin S.]

I was sitting here at my computer and Swifty, our dog, was bugging me to let him out. I was the only one here and I didn't want him outside while I couldn't tend to him if he needed it.

So I said to Swifty, "I'm going to hop in the shower and you are going to stay inside while I'm doing that. Then I will let you out."

Swfity looked at me and shook his head back and forth twice as if telling me, "No."

It was downright eerie. It seemed like he had understood exactly what I said and responded in a very human way. So I decided to let him out before he started talking to me and really flip me out. He bounded out the door and started eating dirt. :shrug:

[freshwest]

1. He's on to you now. I'd watch out if I was you. LOL.

[NightWatcher]

2. some dogs know english, ours can even spell

I asked Mrs N "Do you think R (as in Reeces) needs a W (as in walk)?"

-Reeces runs to front door

[lunatica]

3. Years ago we started spelling the words to each other

But I still think our dogs understand what we're saying.

Sometimes they know what we say before we even say it.

[PassingFair]

4. The Larson Studies:

[freshwest]

10. Voicetone. Once I said awful things to my dog in a sweet voice. Tail wagged like I said I love you.

Same as we understand the meaning of a song in another language.

[nadine_mn]

40. Our collie mix was a rescue and she was starved and beaten as a pup

As she grew up and was loved and nurtured by my husband and me, she plumped out in a healthy way. When she would sprawl out on the bed, couch, etc we would lovingly look at her and say "awww look at the fat ass" - we meant it with love that she was no longer a starved scared pup.

But our tone conveyed so much love that whenver we said the words "fat ass" she would come running - tail wagging, as though it was her name.

She passed away at the ripe old age of 13 two years ago

[lukasahero]

44. What a pretty girl!

And she looks so happy. She was lucky to have found you. :hug:

[Dystopian]

11. !

That is so awesome!
I looked for that cartoon earlier ...uploaded it to photobucket to post!
All for naught!

lol...thank you:hug:

I don't know why that one and the giant bee in the back seat of a car are the only two I remember!
Age?

too funny ..


peace~

[nuxvomica]

19. Actually, I think Ginger would also know "garbage" and "out"

Most dogs would. :D

[undeterred]

5. Words /phrases I am pretty sure my dog understands:

Tuna, hot dog, treat, lets-go-swimming, lets-go-walking, check-in, come, sit, stay, down, off

park, woods, car, smooch, drink, and the names of a few other dogs

15-20

[XemaSab]

6. I don't know if they dont understand or if they pretend not to understand

I asked Maddy to go get a cookie and she looked at me for a minute and then looked away like "It's not time for a cookie right now."

[surrealAmerican]

7. It can be very hard to tell ...

... partly because they are very good at understanding what you DON'T say. They read your body language more than your words, and can pick up on subtle cues you might not even know you are sending out.

[KG]

8. The Dog Who Knows 1,000 Words

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6479QAJuz8

[RebelOne]

9. Believe me, dogs do understand and can even spell.

My Rottweiler knew the word "ride." Every time I used the word, I would spell it. She soon learned the spelling. My Chihuahua understands whenever I say to her that her nails need cutting. She will run and hide as she does not like to have her nails cut.

[UTUSN]

12. My babes know about 25. That's more than wingnuts/TeaBaggers!1 n/t

[femmocrat]

13. Dogs can a learn over 100 words, acc. to this article:

"Sure, most dogs understand the basics --"fetch," "sit" and "stay." But if you have the motivation and patience, you will probably be able to teach your dog even more than 100 words. Stanley Coren, a psychologist who has performed a significant amount of research on the subject of dog intelligence, suggests that average trained dogs know about 160 words . Some dogs even show a vocabulary as vast as a human toddler's."

http://animals.howstuffworks.com/pets/dogs-understand-words.htm

We have to spell in front of ours, too!

[lukasahero]

24. Actually, this one knows 1022

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/41489081/ns/today-today_pets_and_animals/t/meet-dog-who-knows-words/

But a) she's a Border Collie and b) her parent had to have unlimited time and patience. :)

[elleng]

14. Depends. Dogs I know/knew: Outside; Potty; Pretzel.

I suspect they understand intonation, and words in relation to context.

Didn't know y'all had a dog; happy to hear it, Tobin!
:hi:

[PRETZEL]

47. Words yes,

routines definately.

Our old shi tsu knew to the second when my wife would go upstairs to watch her favorite show. As soon as it was over, he'd be downstairs with me looking for snacks.

[rainbow4321]

15. We have to spell O-U-T

if we want to ask each other "has she been out lately" because if we don't, then our dog runs around crazy and heads to the door even if she doesn't have to "go".
The other word she definitely understands is treat! She can be in the other room and if sdhe hears it, oh boy, does she go crazy.

Then there is the word "crate"..unless she is in a really stubborn mood, when I say "go to your crate" as I am getting ready to leave, she will run into it. Usually, though, her seeing me either dry my hair or putting makeup on will prompt her to run into the crate cuz she has learned that within moments of being doing those things, I tell her to go into the crate.

[Rhiannon12866]

16. I've heard that the more that you talk to your dog, the more words they learn to understand.

Apparently, dogs can learn to understand quite a lot. I talk to my dog all the time, but he still doesn't understand when I go out and I tell him I really will be back... :( :hi:

[HopeHoops]

17. A SHITLOAD - including a bunch that you wish they DIDN'T understand.

[woo me with science]

18. I recently mentioned to our dog the time he wandered into a yellow jacket nest

and he started whimpering in response. The kids went crazy exclaiming that he had understood.

[jme0318]

20. That is too funny!

Swifty is a little hard of hearing - but I think a lot of it is "selective" hearing... I used to say "do you want to go in mommy's car?" - and he would get so excited and run to the garage door... I'll have to try that today and see if he hears that - but doesn't hear "NO - don't do that"...

He got in trouble a couple of weeks ago - was running around the yard without his leash on - I yelled at him - he put his head down and ran over to Toby - like "save me daddy"...

[woo me with science]

29. LOL....I don't doubt you at all about the selective hearing. :)

Ours processes "go for a walk" at very low decibels but even at full volume can't seem to register, "time for a bath."

:)

[nadine_mn]

41. Selective hearing definitely kicks in at age 10

for all of our dogs, as soon as they hit that magic number, "come" meant even less than it did before - yet a gentle rattle of a treat bag being open can be heard for miles.

[blueamy66]

21. My Basset understood "walkie"....so we'd spell it

god forbid we'd get the leash out before we were actually ready to go immediately out the door.

She also knew when my ex's Jeep was coming around the corner....she could obviously hear it and would go run to the garage door.

They are smart little buggers!

[lukasahero]

22. Ours knows "out" so we started spelling it

Now she knows how to spell. :)

[blueamy66]

23. I believe it!

Maybe you could just give eachother the "eye" and not say a word! :-)

[lukasahero]

26. lol - yeah, we're getting creative now.

She's a very communicative dog - both in understanding us and getting us to understand her. It's pretty cool because sometimes we can see her really trying to understand what we're saying when we speak in complex sentences. And then we can see her trying to figure out different ways to tell us what she wants to say. Unfortunately, that also means she's very vocal and is, in fact, whimpering behind me right now so I guess I have to go figure out what she's trying to say.

:7

[blueamy66]

31. she's wants a snackie!

My Basset def knew what snackie meant!!!

[lukasahero]

33. Lol - yes

Bella has figured out that we keep different treats in different places so she can now tell us specifically which treat she wants by poking her nose or tapping her paw on the door behind which hides her preferred treats. She uses different woofs and mumbles for 'I want attention', 'I have to go out', 'I have to poop' and 'Follow me.' She seriously does Lassie's 'Timmy fell down the well' thing. :)

BTW, I love Bassets and would love to see a pic of yours if you have such handy. :hi:

[blueamy66]

35. My Basset, Winifred, is no longer with us.

I do have a pic, but don't know how to upload it.

I want another one soooooo bad, but cannot handle losing another baby. :(

[lukasahero]

39. So sorry for your loss.

It is hard to lose them. I hope someday you will allow yourself to love another one. Having lost the dog love of my life a few years ago, I don't say that lightly or flippantly but sincerely. :hug:

[lukasahero]

34. Darn mobile

Keeps giving me dupes.

[LynneSin]

25. Personally, I think my cats are very intelligent and understand many words however...

they also feel superior to me and think they should ignore what a lesser being has to say

[jme0318]

27. Dogs have owners - Cats have staff... I read that someplace...

[A-Schwarzenegger]

28. They don't understand words DIRECTLY.

The words conjure "pictures" or "animal pictures"
which they understand or puzzle over.

[Patiod]

30. Even hearing "bath" in human conversation sends our guy slinking away

Our dog has a skin fungus, and needs a regular bath or the itching becomes too much for him. he's not smart enough to connect that he stops biting and itching for two days after every bath, only that standing in the laundry tub terrifies him.

My SO will say "do you think someone needs a bath today?" and I'll look over to see the back end of a weiner dog slinking up the stairs, trying to walk so that his toenails don't click on the floor.

[Fire Walk With Me]

32. National Geo recently did a cover story about such things, saying the border collie understands some

300 words.

Animals are far more aware than we credit.

[Brother Buzz]

36. We have a border collie

If she doesn't know the word, she fucking looks it up in a dictionary. Just the other day she tried to convince me this damn pancake was a chapeau.

[lukasahero]

38. lol

"If she doesn't know the word, she fucking looks it up in a dictionary." You almost owed me a new iPad.

[trackfan]

37. My dog not only understands a lot of words, he can talk:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPDYz9GJiEE



http://www.martinigod.com/blog.htm

[lukasahero]

45. That was seriously cute.

How did you do that?

:)

[trackfan]

46. Well, we already knew he was a good talker.

We'd previously taught him to say, "wine", "burger", and "I want", and other things. I saw on YouTube several dogs that could say "Obama", and I knew that would be fairly easy for Chase to say; but I wanted to go one better, and have him respond to the question, "Who's the president?"
So, after I got him saying "Obama", instead of prompting him with just "Obama", I always said "Who's the president? Obama", then I would
gradually shorten the hint of "Obama" at the end until he would just respond to the question. He's a good, good boy!


http://www.martinigod.com/blog.htm

[kimi]

42. Isn't it nice

when we can have conversations with other species??? And then we can give in to their every desire. :)


(Psstt. My cats trained me to say that. I am being held against my will. If you don't hear from me ever ag . . . )

[RedCloud]

43. Big Red said "Hey" to me when I pulled him back from his orgy fiesta party.

It probably was the sound of him barking plus the collar being pulled, but maybe not.

[WillParkinson]

48. They understand many...but...

They just don't get 'no, that sandwich is MINE!'