What words do dogs understand?

Do you talk to dog?

Dogs can know some words that we say.

We may think it is odd when dog owners speak to their dogs as if the dogs can talk back.  

But new research shows that dogs discern different words and distinct human voices.

A team of scientists from the University of Sussex did some research to see whether domestic dogs could instinctively recognize the same word when spoken by different people.

The dogs did not know any of the speakers in the study. So the dogs could not react to a person that they knew.

The dogs were videoed reacting to recordings of men and women saying a variety of words that sound the same. These are words like “had”, “hid”, “heard” and “heed”.

The words used in the study were specially chosen to not have the sound like typical commands. So the dogs could not react because of any home training.

The dogs were recorded either hearing different speakers saying the same word, or the same speaker saying different words.

The study showed the dogs were able to recognize the same word when spoken by different people. The dogs could hear the difference  between different people by the sound of their voice.

Before now, it was believed only humans could recognize different people’s voices.

The research wanted to find out if the dogs could recognize the same word from different people. And even people with different accents.

The dogs were not encouraged by food or other rewards.

This research shows that we had assumptions about what dogs could hear. Now we know this spontaneous ability is not only human.

Try to guess the meaning of the words in bold and match them with their closest meaning from the choices in the right. Some of the answers are very close and have similar meaning. The meaning of these words is how they are used in the reading. Some of these words have different meanings in the dictionary depending on how they are used.

 The answers are below the table.

A=4, B=1, C=8, D=6, E=2, F=7, G=3, H=5

Some example sentences using the new words or phrases from the meaning of how they are used in the reading to help you understand better.

1. The weather is odd. This morning cold and this afternoon rainy and later sunny.

2. Girls need to discern between good and bad boyfriends.

3. That car is distinct. The color is odd and the only one I have seen like that.

4. She instinctively knew that someone was watching her.

5. He reacted angrily when he heard that the boy had cheated.

6. The coach encouraged the students that they could win.

7. We assume that all American eat hamburgers.

8. Her laughter was spontaneous. She would laugh at anything.

    

    

Some questions using the new words/phrases. Try to use the words/phrases in your answer.

1. What dog behaviors do you think are odd?

2. What other things do you think dogs can discern about people?

3. What is distinct about your voice?

4. How do you think dogs distinctively hear the difference between words? How many times do you think they must hear a word to be able to discern?

5. If you have a dog, what does it react to? What do dogs you know react to?

6. How can you encourage a dog to be good, to do things you want it to do?

7. What assumptions did/do you have about what dogs understand?

8. In what ways are dogs spontaneous?