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Posted on 01/12/2026 8:16:49 AM PST by Twotone
Dogs are great at learning action commands like “sit” and “stay.” They're less good at remembering the names of things, like what their squeaky or stuffed toys are called.
Only an elite group of gifted word-learner dogs can retain the names of hundreds of toys. Scientists know of about 50 such pooches, but they aren’t yet sure what's behind their wordy skills.
Now, new research is pushing the limits of what the dogs can do.
Scientists already knew that these extraordinary pups could learn the names of their stuffed pizza and doughnut toys from playtime with their owners. In the latest study, they discovered that the pups can also understand new names by eavesdropping.
Ten gifted dogs — including a Border collie named Basket and a Labrador named Augie — watched their owners hold a new toy and talk to another person about it. Then the pups were told to go to another room and retrieve that specific toy from a pile of many others.
Seven out of the 10 dogs successfully learned the names of their new toy stingrays and armadillos from passively listening to their owners.
“This is the first time that we see a specific group of dogs that are able to learn labels from overhearing interactions,” said study author Shany Dror with Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary and the University of Veterinary Medicine in Austria.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnewyork.com ...
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Our son had a dog who understood words and phrases. She was also very clever. She looked for opportunities to act of what she knew even though the human context may not have been there.
Yep; some cats are dumb as rocks and some have very specific and lengthy vocalizations (e.g. a different mew “paragraph” meaning that one of the others has been playing with doors and locked himself in the bathroom … again). It’s a variation on her “Something is not right” sound with tones and endings for different things.
Dogs no different in my experience, except dog intelligence correlates more closely with breed. (Or there are more cat “mutts”)
The dog sees the toy and hears its name spoken while looking at the toy. Sounds like a way to learn new vocabulary while learning a language. Works for humans and works for dogs.
Our Mountain Feist listens to wife and I when we talk. I use verbal and hand signals when I take her on a hunt. Smart puppy. Sometimes too smart.
I had an extremely intelligent cat,Jean-Marie. When I called his name, he would respond (meow?). When I said “Food for Kitty” he would come fro two blocks away, meowing all the way. He could recognize my Slant-Six Dodge Dart (distinctive ticking) from a quarter mile, and jump in the open window to greet me.
They can also learn context, so words they like they know when it is for them and when it is not.
Bacon
Ride
My mutt is dumb.
If you say the word “bear” he starts barking hysterically.
omg.
My dog Henry, a lab, talks to me all the time.
Our dogs caught on to our speaking regarding time to eat and going to bed. Then we started to spell out what we were going to do, and they figured that out. It is so bad we are thinking about taking sign language courses
The smartest dog breed is the Border Collie.
That is why they win all the AKC Obedience and Rally competitions. They are extremely smart and love to work.
If they don’t have a job they will herd your kids.
Doberman’s are also extremely smart. They get a bad reputation as being aggressive. Which they are not. They are just VERY protective of their human. They will put themselves between YOU and their human to protect them.
I have Chihuahuas that know several words. One of them is SQUIRREL. If I say it they run to the sliding door to see if a squirrel is on THEIR patio. The patio is surrounded by a 2’ high fence. One time a squirrel was not fast enough. Part of its tail came off on the patio side of the fence.
For the rest of the year it would come back up to the house.
We called it the Prairie Dog Squirrel because it was missing its TAIL.
She drops her toy, fake looks the other way, and quickly grabs the
toy and runs off when I get too close.
Gopher!
Then the zoomies begin.
...as in “gopher a walk”
Cheese
Learning a new language
We have had some very smart dogs and a couple cats too. An Australian Shepard that could open cabinets and doors, we had to put child safety locks on them. Our current dog a Great Pyrenees, knows everyone’s name, including grandkids, words like “outside”, “treat or cookie” “playtime” and a few others. We had a very sweet golden retriever who was the best outfielder ever, she would catch the ball and run after whoever was running the bases. A cat who learned to hop onto a deck railing, then onto a trellis, then to the lower portion of roof (a gambrel) and then to a bathroom window that was sometimes left open. If I caught him in the act he would rub against my leg and start purring as if it were me he was seeking out. What could I do, but pick him up and give him a treat.
Australian Shepards are very similar to Border collies, very smart. And they will herd kids as well as animals. We have a lot of deer and “Max” would loop around them and try to drive them into a cluster as if they were sheep.
What we say to dogs, and what they hear. Thanks Gary Larson
https://www.reddit.com/r/comics/comments/cnkor/what_we_say_to_dogs_and_what_they_hear_thanks/
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