Posted on 06/10/2004 10:41:32 AM PDT by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
WASHINGTON (AP) -- As many a dog owner will attest, our furry friends are listening. Now, for the doubters, there is scientific proof they understand much of what they hear.
German researchers have found a border collie named Rico who understands more than 200 words and can learn new ones as quickly as many children.
Patti Strand, an American Kennel Club board member, called the report "good news for those of us who talk to our dogs."
"Like parents of toddlers, we learned long ago the importance of spelling key words like bath, pill or vet when speaking in front of our dogs," Strand said. "Thanks to the researchers who've proven that people who talk to their dogs are cutting-edge communicators, not just a bunch of eccentrics."
The researchers found that Rico knows the names of dozens of play toys and can find the one called for by his owner. That is a vocabulary size about the same as apes, dolphins and parrots trained to understand words, the researchers say.
Rico can even take the next step, figuring out what a new word means.
The researchers put several known toys in a room along with one that Rico had not seen before. From a different room, Rico's owner asked him to fetch a toy, using a name for the toy the dog had never heard.
The border collie, a breed known primarily for its herding ability, was able to go to the room with the toys and, seven times out of 10, bring back the one he had not seen before. The dog seemingly understood that because he knew the names of all the other toys, the new one must be the one with the unfamiliar name.
"Apparently he was able to link the novel word to the novel item based on exclusion learning, either because he knew that the familiar items already had names or because they were not novel," said the researchers, led by Julia Fischer of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig.
A month later, he still remembered the name of that new toy three out of six times, even without having seen it since that first test. That is a rate the scientists said was equivalent to that of a 3-year-old.
Rico's learning ability may indicate that some parts of speech comprehension developed separately from human speech, the scientists said.
"You don't have to be able to talk to understand a lot," Fischer said. The team noted that dogs have evolved with humans and have been selected for their ability to respond to the communications of people.
Katrina Kelner, Science's deputy editor for life sciences, said "such fast, one-trial learning in dogs is remarkable. This ability suggests that the brain structures that support this kind of learning are not unique to humans and may have formed the evolutionary basis of some of the advanced language abilities of humans."
Perhaps, although Paul Bloom of Yale University urges caution.
"Children can understand words used in a range of contexts. Rico's understanding is manifested in his fetching behavior," Bloom writes in a commentary, also in Science.
Bloom calls for further experiments to answer several questions: Can Rico learn a word for something other than a small object to be fetched? Can he display knowledge of a word in some way other than fetching? Can he follow an instruction not to fetch something?
Fischer and her colleagues are still working with Rico to see if he can understand requests to put toys in boxes or to bring them to certain people. Rico was born in December 1994 and lives with his owners. He was tested at home.
Funding for this research was provided in part by the German Research Foundation.
Well, some cats and dogs cost more to maintain than others.
Daz and Shep being two dogs specifically that I know of.
*shudder*
Hearing a dog burp because it just ate the dustcover of a cushion is pretty horrible.
And hearing Daz mash his empty head on the underside of the table in excitement just because I looked at him was amusing and horrific at the same time.
I'd think the echo in his head would kill him.
Yes, it's likely that Daz is off somewhere slobbering on some poor sap at this moment.
I know that they say a dog's mouth actually has less bacteria than a human's, but I'm not exactly jumping on that bandwagon.
Even if there are more germs in my mouth than in a German Shepherd's, I still think that the Shep's breath is slightly more funky, if you catch my drift.
I wished several times for my protective mask from the armory when our dog huffed at me.
If given the choice, I'd rather not have to get blasted with dog breath.
*lol!*
There are 'breath mints' for dogs but I don't know where to find them.
I've only seen them available online.
Then again, who ever smells a dog's breath except for the bitch he's humping?
Hey, that's the technically correct term, don't turn up your nose at me.
LOL!
Dunno, as a dog owner I ended up getting blasts of dog breath often.
I've had my share of whiffs of stank dog halitosis, though I'm pretty sure that they weren't built to smell pleasant to human beings.
Stank Dog Halitosis, good band name.
Dogs seem to think anything that's horrific in odor is great stuff.
Case in point, had a pair of sneakers that'd curl hair and peel paint.
The dog would roll on them as if they were Chanel No5.
Roll her eyes up in her head, snort, and flop like a fish on them, and growl at me when I tried ot put them on!
Exactly. The only thing missing in that cartoon is the sonic boom.
I know that they say a dog's mouth actually has less bacteria than a human's
It's true that dogs don't get cavities sooooooo
if you gargle with dog saliva, YOU won't get cavities either.
Now as to wether dogs can understand words, lets just try
an experiment with my dog digger (World's smartest blue heeler tm.).
Digger! Digger!
Hey! Jimmy Carter, Jimmy Carter!
Oh I forgot! No No, not in the house!
You have a beautiful family. And you are quite a looker. You remind me of my own Solitare.
I am waiting for my daughters to grow up. At 7 and 8 months I'm beginning to think they may be a little on the dumb side.
This is rather difficult since my previous baby, Brittany was a wonder dog. She had an incredible vocabulary. You could practically have conversations with her. She did talk to my husband although her voice was rather growley.
Kind of reminded me of Kathleen Turner.
She had the grasp of about 300 words. It was heartbreaking as she grew elderly and her hearing went. Fortunately she was bright enough so that she put together all the usual gestures that goes with speech for those that talk with our hands like me. I didn't teach them. She knew come, wait, sit, go to bed, kiss, hug, etc.
I haven't been right since I lost her.
Dogs associate the sounds(or body movements) with reward NOT the meaning of the word. Example, when I tell my dog "Cookie" pronounced in a certain fashion she goes to the back door and waits. If I say "Boodie" in the same tone then off to the back door and she waits. There are many many variables in a situation that must be controlled before one can pin point the understanding of the meaning of words and terms.
I'm so sorry for you're loss. Rocket looks like a mighty good friend. I am still nursing the loss of my Brittany.
Loosing my baby actually hurt more than loosing some of my relations.
I suppose it was because she was the first face I saw in the morning and the last I saw at night. She was always happy to see me. She was with me everything I did except go to work. I was a stranger in my own house without her.
I can't tell you that time will heal this wound because after 8 months it still hurts.
Only a real dog lover would understand this , but I am starting to believe in an afterlife for dogs. I can't think heaven could be all that splendid without them. Maybe you give dogs so much of your own soul to them that God makes room for them too.
Like when he jumps on your chest first thing early in the morning to wake you up for breakfast?
Many times I’ve awoke to stare at a set of teeth and an over size tongue only a couple inches from my eye - and nose.
If you raise a child using “"Cookie" or “"Boodie" - in the same tone - as meaning “back door” it will learn that they both mean “back door”.
That’s one of the reasons I hate to hear parents using baby talk with their infants. I’ve seen a case where the poor kid was starting preschool and thought “foo-foo” meant vacuum cleaner, “din-din” was the only word it knew for breakfast, lunch or dinner and “go-go” was a car.
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