Can dogs understand the labels we give to certain objects such as “ball” or “water”?
My mutt Ace seems to interpret everything I say as action. To him, “ball” does not seem to represent the round toy on the floor, but it is a signal for “get the ball” or “find the ball.” “Water” does not represent the liquid in Ace’s dish, but to him it means “drink the water” or “go to your bowl.”
Obviously most of the words I’ve taught Ace were intended as commands – sit, stay, come, down, heel, roll over, speak, shake, back up, etc. (check out my post on how many words can a dog know?). But I’m convinced every word Ace recognizes is interpreted by him as action.
“Treat” is interpreted by Ace as “get your treat” or “take your treat.”
“Stick” is interpreted as “find a stick” or “fetch the stick.”
“Bed” is interpreted as “go to your bed.”
I’ve been thinking about this concept ever since I read a post about it on animal behaviorist Patricia McConnell’s blog. I thought I’d bring it up here to see what you thought.
Do you believe dogs understand nouns? Or is everything a verb to them?
Patricia wrote that she believes her border collie understands the names for certain people and other pets. She also writes about a dog’s ability to be taught to pick out specific objects from a group such as “rope toy” or “Kong toy.”
There are some very intelligent animals out there, but even when dogs are trained to distinguish between different but similar objects such as red ball vs. yellow ball, we can’t assume they understand the different labels we give the objects. “Red ball” might as well mean “get the red ball” or “touch the red ball” or “look at the red ball,” for example.
Can dogs identify individuals by their names?
Dogs do not give one another names. This is a foreign concept to them. They don’t name their puppies or recognize each other by the names we give them. Dogs know one another by scent and energy.
Ace does not necessarily understand that “Ace” is the word I’ve given to represent him. He certainly feels no ownership of his name. I doubt he understands that “Ace” means himself. He does understand that it means “pay attention” or even “come.” Even his own name implies action.
Many people swear their dogs know family members and other pets by name.
My dog-walking customers report they can say “Lindsay’s coming,” and the dogs will wait by the door for me before I arrive. But do the dogs really understand that I am Lindsay? More than likely, they understand that “Lindsay’s coming” means I will be arriving shortly to take them out for some fun.
“Lindsay” represents excitement, especially if the owner is using an excited tone of voice.
Ace recognizes the name of my cat, Scout, to mean “find the cat” or “give the cat kisses.” He doesn’t understand my cat’s name is Scout. He doesn’t seem to recognize my boyfriend Josh by name, either. But if I answer the phone saying “Hey, Josh,” Ace looks up expecting Josh to be in the room.
It could be that my dog is capable of understanding the labels for different people, animals, objects and places, but I am unable to see the evidence. Perhaps I haven’t bothered to teach him.
What do you think?
I just love this photo of Ace and his friend Koa. Love the depth to it, not to mention two gorgeous black dogs!
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Misty the alpha Poodle understands the words I say to her and she also reads my thoughts. It’s totally scary.
Ha!
I agree with reading thoughts…as an example, Buddy and I usuallly walk the same route each noon…however, there have been a few times when I have thought to myself about a different turn that we will make and before I know it, that is the way that Buddy is leading me. Weird.
That’s interesting! I’m sure he’s very observant of every subtle thing you do.
Even if a dog attached action to a name, I think they still know who the action is attached too.
There is certainly evidence that dogs can distinguish between different toys. There is a Border Collie, Rico that can distinguish between a large number of toys by name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rico_%28Border_Collie%29
Yes, that is a good way to look at it. Even if they associate action with the name, they may still know who the action is attached to. At least in some situations.
They’re also very sensitive to body language. They can see how you’re feeling. Much like our wives do. LOL
This is purely anecdotal, of course, but Lucas seems to know how to identify his friends by name. For example, his best friend dog Cady lives next door to us. Whenever anyone says “Cady,” Lucas runs whining with excitement to one of two windows that look directly into Cady’s yard. Same thing with his other buddy, Otto. When we say “Otto,” Lucas runs to the front door – Otto always comes by car. Sort of makes me think he knows the names of his two BFFs!
I like what Judith said – even if a dog has attached action to a name, they still know who the action is attached to.
His two BFFs! That’s cute!
This post makes a lot of sense. Sephi & Maya don’t know my name. (I am just the lady that feeds them.) All their commands are commands which put them in action. Important words that they have picked up on their own – like ‘food’, ‘hungry’, ‘cookie’, ‘walk’, etc. also seem to signify something good is going to happen.
Yeah, that’s the way I see it. They are very smart, just different than us.
Jasmine understands all words that she finds pertinent to her (of course her favorite word is Walk!). She does understand other words too and meaning of all kinds of other sounds, such as the sound of a sock drawer being opened (socks = walk), sounds of shower (ok, he’s going to work and not to the farm) etc. It becomes particularly clear when she hears a word or sound she does not understand. She knows it’s something else and you can see her trying to figure out what is the consequence of that to her.
Do dogs understand all words as verbs? One would think so since they all seem to trigger an action, wouldn’t they?
Our guys know our names (though for them I am “The princess” as hubby calls me, and he is “The furry biped”. Jasmine also knows names of her buddies and her vets.
I think they all seem to be understood as verbs because they normally indicate action. Walk – going for a walk; Ball – playing fetch; Treat – getting one …
When I say to Jasmine that we have to “Wait for the furry biped to come home” it does not trigger any action on her part, other than getting back to resting. Though returning to rest is an action as well I guess
All that said, try saying “Ice cream” to a child. It will also trigger an action …
That’s a very good point about kids and ice cream!
Interesting post, Lindsay! With our cats, I am certain they know their own names as they all react to them when we call. (This is NOT to say they come to us, but they do react.) I honestly think that Oscar knows many words. He really seems to understand, but I’m probably anthropomorphizing in many cases!
Yeah my cats are the same way. They know most of the words Ace knows, they just choose to respond when they feel like it
Lindsay, I love that you and others are also intrigued by this question. I’ve noticed lately that Willie, who was VERY slow to distinguish between toys if asked for by name, quickly learned the difference between “Where’s Jim?” and “Where’s Trisha?” At first, the words clearly meant: “Run to the window and expect something wonderful coming!” We worked on it, and now he appears to comprehend that “Where’s XXX” refers to different creatures (always living, by the way, he doesn’t relate that yet to inanimate toys.) Recently I was walking with him and a young pup in the woods, and the youngster disappeared. Eeeeeps, I was truly worried about him, until I said “Willie, where’s Hope?” and he immediately turned his head and looked down the path to the right, versus the one to the left. Sure enough, Hope had heard people ahead of us and had run ahead to greet them down the right-hand path. Ah, but here’s food for thought: maybe “Where’s XXX” means “Look for whoever isn’t here that usually is!” So much for us to learn about what goes on in those furry heads, hey?
Thanks so much for your input. I haven’t worked much with Ace on distinguishing the names of different toys. It’s a slow process and we both get bored! He does seem to understand the names of each of my two cats.
That’s impressive that Willie was able to help you find Hope, no matter how he interpreted the question!
I have an 8 month old lab puppy, Lucy, that knows the names of a few of her toys. I started with teaching her to retrieve using general commands such as “go get it” and “bring it here.” Then I started working in a more detailed noun when throwing a certain toy- such as “go get rope”. It took her a few weeks to really understand the difference, however now even if we don’t start the game by me throwing one of her toys, I can tell her “Go get rope” and she’ll retrieve the correct toy (most of the time, she still has puppy ADD). It’s really cute when a few of her toys are next to one another on the floor- she’ll look back and forth at each of them for a few moments as if thinking “Now, which one was the rope again?”
On a different topic, I found this blog a few weeks ago when searching for ways to teach your dog the touch command. Your advice was very helpful, and Lucy picked the command up very quickly. It’s turned into a fun game- I’ll put all sorts of obstacles between the two of us, and she has to figure out how to get around them in order to touch my hand. There have been several occasions where she ignored the “come” command (stubborn puppy), but happily came running to “touch.”
Yeah, the “touch” command is a great way to get the dog to come when called. I’ve noticed the same thing happen with my dog and a few others
Interesting about the toys. I will work on teaching Ace the difference between a few toys.
Gus understands his name for sure but as far as other words I’m not so sure. I can say “sit” over and over but he responds to it much quicker if I point downward as I say it. He probably hears everything like the adults on Charlie Brown cartoons…”bwah wah wah wah Gus wah bwah wah”
Hahahaha! Yeah, probably. Who knows!
I think he understands the names of certain foods too! Hahahaha
I’m sure he does! Hahaha!
Very interesting take Lindsay. You may very well be right. Whether or not my lab mix, Henri, understands nouns, clearly he associates those nouns with verbs — “frisbee” and “rope” both mean go get it. He does know the difference between the two, though. Perhaps they are just different verbs to him.
In either case, he does NOT have any concept of verbs in the future or past tense. If my girlfriend or I use the word “car” in a sentence (talking to eachother, mind you, while the dog is paying no attention), Henri will inevitably snap his head around and stare at us, tail wagging. To him, “car”, in any context, means that there is a very good chance we will be getting into the car to “go for a ride” RIGHT NOW!
Haha! That’s very funny. He’s a smart dog! Ace is the same way with the word “ball.” Not a common word in normal conversation, but sometimes we’ll just randomly say the word ball in a conversation to see if he’s paying attention.
I don’t think Ace knows the word car because I never say “car” when we go somewhere. Instead I say, “you coming?” or “let’s go!” He’s got those phrases down!
My 18 month old rotti Zac certainly understands certain words but is it the actual word he knows or is it the tone we speak in that allows him to respond accordingly. I think maybe its a combination of both and thats how they work it out, they truly are amazing in many, many ways.
I think it’s probably a combination of both, as you said. You’ll probably notice that he won’t respond to certain words until you say them in a certain tone. Ace seems to understand when I’m talking to him and when I’m not based on the tone.
I put all my dogs stuffed toys in a box. I say get the monkey, she brings thye monkey. I say get the pig, she gets the pig. She brings every toy that I name. My other dog knows nothing lol
What’s the best way to teach a dog the names for each toy?
Hi Lindsay,
Whilst driving into Tralee today, I was thinking about how Dog’s relate to words. I hear people say that words are just a sound to Dog’s and they don’t mean anything. Well surely word’s are just sounds to us. When I think about something, it is almost as if I picture it in my “minds eye”, words like Bone, I think/picture a bone; Ball, I think/picture a ball. I have a problem though when i think using for example, the word “ours”, I “feel” this word rather than creating a picture in my minds eye. Perhaps dogs can learn to understand the words/sounds that enable them to picture it in their “minds eye” but are unable to understand words such as “ours” where they cannot create a mental picture. What do you think?
Nita
Yeah, I know what you mean and that could be true. It’s hard to know!