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How Much Do Dogs Really Understand of What We Say?
PJ Media ^ | 12/11/2020 | Rick Moran

Posted on 12/11/2020 6:22:44 AM PST by SeekAndFind

Most of us who have been blessed with having a dog for a friend know how beautiful they are, how loyal they are, and how smart they are. Get any dog lover started on how intelligent his friend is and he won’t shut up.

But what kind of intelligence is at work in a dog’s brain? Most of us have probably shared the fantasy of sitting down with our dog and having a long chat, but the reality is a lot different. In many ways, a dog’s brain is similar to ours but with some vital differences.

We know, for instance, that dogs can understand subtle differences in human speech sounds. But a study done by researchers at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest seems to indicate that dogs are unable to tell the difference between words that sound alike but have different meanings.

Science Alert:

To probe these limitations in dogs’ auditory vocabulary (if you will), the researchers conducted an experiment, in which over 40 dogs were brought into the lab, having their brain activity measured non-invasively via electroencephalography (EEG) electrodes attached to their scalp.

While connected to the equipment, the animals heard three different types of words spoken on a recording: familiar instruction words (eg. ‘sit’), phonetically similar nonsense words (eg. ‘sut’), and dissimilar nonsense words (eg. ‘bep’).

The results are about what you’d expect.

The EEG results, based on a subset of 17 animals whose data were considered reliable, showed a clear difference in the dogs’ brain responses – called event-related potentials (ERPs) – when they heard either familiar words or the dissimilar-sounding nonsense words.

On the whole, though, the ERPs suggested dogs weren’t able to distinguish between the familiar instructions (such as ‘sit’) and similar-sounding nonsensical terms (such as ‘sut’), given the phonetic overlap between them.


(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...


TOPICS: Pets/Animals; Society
KEYWORDS: dogs; pets; understanding
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To: twyn1
We had an Afghan Hound.

I saw a list of dogs by intelligence once, quite a while ago. Border Collie is the top, I believe Afghan Hounds were very close to the bottom.

41 posted on 12/11/2020 7:47:14 AM PST by LibertarianLiz
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To: circlecity

When I was out of town, my mom would look after my Molly.
She said Molly was always out of sorts while I was gone,
but would instantly change the day I was coming home.
I’ve had 3 dogs over the years,
all seemed to have this ability.


42 posted on 12/11/2020 7:47:41 AM PST by mountn man (The Pleasure You Get From Life, Is Equal To The Attitude You Put Into It)
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To: SeekAndFind

My MIL had 2 papillons(sp?) that she was getting rid of the next morning. The dogs seemed to have understood what was going down and disappeared from the backyard that evening never to be seen or heard from again.


43 posted on 12/11/2020 8:00:31 AM PST by Manic_Episode (Trump has more soul in his wink)
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To: eastforker

But you can sure tell scared, sad, defensive, and happy from what dogs vocalize . Good point.


44 posted on 12/11/2020 8:05:05 AM PST by DesertRhino (Dog is man's best friend, and moslems hate dogs. Add that up. .... )
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To: BigEdLB
"And they do a fine job as navigator when GPS isn’t working right. "

Had a freaky experience. Was driving my deceased dog to the crematorium. He was a GS mix and was with me for 16 years. I was 95% emotional driving and at one point thought I took the wrong road. As I was about to make a U turn, I hear this deep voice say "Drive straight ahead". I looked at my dog, could have sworn he had spoken. The directions were correct.

45 posted on 12/11/2020 8:05:45 AM PST by 1_Rain_Drop
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To: SeekAndFind

I had a Pug mix who had an astonishing vocabulary. I would show it off when family would come over by making a pile of her 50+ toys in the bedroom and then we would sit in the living room. We would call out the names of her toys one by one and she would run to the other room and bring back the correct toy. “Where’s Elmo?” “Go get me the Hedgehog.” “Find Ernie.” Sometimes she would pause and do the head-tilt and we would repeat the word. If she didn’t understand after 2 or 3 repeats, she would just return with a tennis ball. “Ball” was the default toy. We tried to get her to learn subtle differences like “red ball” or “green ball,” but that didn’t work...we assumed it was because she was color blind 😁


46 posted on 12/11/2020 8:11:13 AM PST by ponygirl (An Appeal to Heaven )
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To: klb99; Salamander

“... are scary smart...”

Salamander and I totally agree with you! :) Salamander and I are now “kin-folk” via our Doberman’s being half sisters.. It’s a complicated family dynamic thing! :)


47 posted on 12/11/2020 8:11:18 AM PST by momtothree
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To: SeekAndFind

I have a Jack Russell Terrier. She loves going to the dump. She can be at the other end of the house and when she hears me take my utility knife, which I use to cut up boxes, out of my desk drawer she goes crazy because she knows a dump run is imminent.


48 posted on 12/11/2020 8:17:02 AM PST by KevinB (Quite literally, whatever the Left touches it ruins.)
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To: ponygirl
“Go get me the Hedgehog.


49 posted on 12/11/2020 8:20:57 AM PST by KevinB (Quite literally, whatever the Left touches it ruins.)
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To: SeekAndFind; Salamander; Chode; All

They know.

I’ve had numerous Dobie’s and they are very Intelligent. Fats Domino could understand when We spelled out words He’d learned.

We have a Deaf White Boxer and a Italian Cane Corso Mastiff. The Boxer read lips, The Corso understands everything but ignores 2/3rds of it. She can hear a plastic wrapper opening at 10,000 yards while sleeping.


50 posted on 12/11/2020 8:28:25 AM PST by mabarker1 ((Congress- the opposite of PROGRESS!!! A fraud, a hypocrite, a liar. I'm a member of Congress !!!!)
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To: 1_Rain_Drop

WOW !!! That’ll get your attention...


51 posted on 12/11/2020 8:31:28 AM PST by mabarker1 ((Congress- the opposite of PROGRESS!!! A fraud, a hypocrite, a liar. I'm a member of Congress !!!!)
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To: momtothree; klb99
My 13th Dobe [Grimnir's Herger The Joyous, aka Hrafn] only uses his intellect for evil. :)

[half brother to MomToThree's girl, as well]

52 posted on 12/11/2020 8:42:55 AM PST by Salamander (I May Be Lonely But I'm Never Alone...And The Nights May Pass Me By...But I Never Cry...)
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To: Bulwyf

Hmmm, you have that issue frequently.


53 posted on 12/11/2020 8:47:26 AM PST by DallasGal (Is wishing someone would die really all that bad?)
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To: ASOC

My heeler girl, who recently passed, was a very intelligent pup. Easily trained, listened to commands. My coonhound is also smart, but he is lazy :)


54 posted on 12/11/2020 8:53:03 AM PST by DallasGal (Is wishing someone would die really all that bad?)
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To: Dr. Sivana

N = 1. I currently have a saluki mix. Think long hair smallish greyhound. He is way smarter than my last dog which was a lab mix.

My lab mix couldn’t understand abstract concepts like pointing. He would just lick your finger. It took me months to teach him to shake, sit, lay down.

My saluki learned sit, stay, come, dance, spin, down, crawl, roll over, shake, and more in like one week of training. He knows the words for frisbee, donut (his favorite toy), lion (another toy), beach, place, eat, and others.


55 posted on 12/11/2020 8:53:48 AM PST by CollegeRepublican
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To: reegs

There it is!


56 posted on 12/11/2020 8:54:14 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: SeekAndFind

I find that my dog’s ability to understand English is directly related to whether my hand has a treat in it or not.

It’s simply amazing how well his comprehension improves. It’s like there are magic waves that fly off my hand and right into his brain.


57 posted on 12/11/2020 8:54:22 AM PST by Malsua
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To: ASOC
herd dogs (cattle dogs) have demonstrated a working vocabulary of up to 1800 words.

Exactly. If you're going to conduct an experiment like this, you cannot use dogs that have been overbred to imbecility.

I'd definitely want to use some of the obviously more intelligent breeds like working or hunting dogs.

58 posted on 12/11/2020 9:02:58 AM PST by zeugma (Stop deluding yourself that America is still a free country.)
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To: SeekAndFind

I have learned to read the internet despite atrocious misspellings. Sit, sut...I know what you mean.


59 posted on 12/11/2020 9:06:42 AM PST by Buttons12 ( )
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To: SeekAndFind

Some dogs can’t even solve the great mystery of their own farts. My theory is that they smell some other dog who has been eating the exact same diet, and they become outraged that this strange invisible dog was no doubt eating their food.

Freegards


60 posted on 12/11/2020 9:14:47 AM PST by Ransomed
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