I don't think dogs understand every word you say but I think they understand:
1) action verbs - like stand, sit, lay down
2) proper nouns - a person, place or thing.
all other words are just noise to them.
Panzer
I don't think dogs understand every word you say but I think they understand:
1) action verbs - like stand, sit, lay down
2) proper nouns - a person, place or thing.
all other words are just noise to them.
Panzer
I think they can also understand locations.
"Throw a loaf of bread and a pound of tea in an old sack and jump over the back fence." John Muir on expedition planning
They all understand "get off that couch!!"
Can your dog spell?
When our brittany spaniel hears 'W'... 'A'... he zooms to the door with his ball, all set for for his next adventure.
I don't think dogs are all that smart. The other day I caught my dog reading the newspaper and she was moving her lips.
A guy sees a dog with a sign saying "talking dog for sale" and asks the dog, "can you really talk?" and the dog says, "read the sign idiot" Astounded the man starts asking the dog about his life. The dog says "I worked as a CIA operative for many years before I was a sled dog and our team won the Ididarod. After that I was Stevie Wonders service dog and after that I was a rescue dog during natural disasters. Now I'm retired and my owner wants to sell me."
The man is astounded and says "I have to buy you" He locates the owner and asks the price to which the owner replies, "1/2 a million dollars" The man says "That's way too much". "For the worlds only talking dog? I don't think so." To which the man replies, "Yeah, but the dog's a liar. He never worked for Stevie Wonder."
put alot of time into this did you panzer? okay, have a seat. lets see whats been keeping you up all night. okay. after a quick reveiw, it would seem the answer is no. the answer to your second dog thred in 24 hours. no. no more threds from you my love. some of us were born thred masters and some sowers of post. your mother ansd i allways ment for you to be a thredbearrer but it didnt turn out that way. i guess thats why your haveing such trouble now. its my fault. why dont you post a while and see if it dosnt help sweety.ill just take this thred out to the trash and tommorow will be a brand new day. goodnite panzer.
matthewski
for those of you who dont know panzer, say hello panzer.
hello panzer!
and let me tell you all. your in for two things. a fun treet. and the worlds most accurate pionting out finger. hes in guinness book of world records for pointing out the most stuff. panzer actually has pointer finger. its like shooters finger but ends worse.each night as he crosses his hands on his chest and slips off to lullaby land, his massive pointing finger continues its work in dreamland. soon rapid eye movement combines with the occasional pointing finger twitch to let the observer know panzers dreaming dreams of pointing out stuff. kinda like dogs only ever dream of running.
matthewski
"Throw a loaf of bread and a pound of tea in an old sack and jump over the back fence." John Muir on expedition planning
Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time. - Steven Wright
Guy walks into a talent agent's office and says I've got the world's greatest act, a talking dog, let me show you. Spot, what is over our head? Dog barks "roof"! Agent groans and tells the guy to beat it. No, really let me show you, Spot, describe the feeling of sandpaper. Dog barks "ruff"! Agent yells, get out of my office and take your dog with you. No, really, one more, Spot, who's the greatest baseball player who ever lived? Dog barks "Ruth"! Agent grabs man and dog by their respective collars and tosses them on the sidewalk. Spot looks up at the guys and asks "maybe I should have said DiMaggio?"
Communication goes both ways too. My dogs watch me cook and sometimes bark, growl and whine. I eventually figured out that whatever the sound, it always means, "needs gravy."
yes, when my parents wanted me to take the dog out they sometimes instead of saying "walk" would spell it out "w" "a" "l" "k", but because of repetition the dog soon cough on. Dogs are quick learners.
However, I do not think the dogs are actually able to spell. They do not know grammar or spelling.
Panzer
Last edited by Panzer1; 04-18-2011 at 12:17.
If anyone has read "Animals in Translation" by Temple Grandin it has some particularly interesting things regarding this topic. Some dogs can identify many things that we could never imagine to be able to identify...
Grandin highlights dogs that are able to predict seizures an hour before they happen. Seeing eye dogs that can identify when its safe to cross a stop light. Its thought that dogs can identify mood changes by hearing a change in heart beat. I know my dog will bark at me and my wife if there is an argument and a voice is raised.
One example Grandin brought up that was interesting was about parrots. One researcher was teaching his parrot to remember letters and colors by associating them. When a blue card was raised the parrot would say 'GGGG', when the red card was raised the parrot would say 'SSSSS', etc... Between each turn the researcher would give the parrot a nut as a reward. Well one day the researcher was in a hurry with some visitors and rushed through the process by not giving the parrot a nut as a reward. Several cards later the parrot became frustrated when he didn't get the promised nut. The parrot finally blurted out "NNNNNUUUUUUTTTTT".
So long story short, its pessimistic to suggest that a dog, or an animal can't understand something. Examples like the seizure detection suggest they understand things that we can't even understand. As we see with the parrot example, its possible some animals can spell once they are taught what letters are. Dogs clearly focus on key words (perhaps because thats how we have taught them?) but its very possible they understand many things just by the tone of your voice.