http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040610/D8344JGO2.html Research Shows Dogs Understand Language Jun 10, 7:45 AM (ET) By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID 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
anyon that has owned one of the more intelligent species can attest to that fact. My Sheltie knows and responds to about a half dozen different words... outside food front yard backyard bath he responds differently to each of these words...bath makes him hide, outside and backyard make him run to the back door if he needs to go do his business, frontyard makes him go to the front door, etc. whether or not these are trained responses or not....who can say...I never bothered to train him to respond like he does...it is just something he has picked up over the years.
My parents little dachshund_ knows all of are family member's names. I can say "where's mom" or "where's dad" or "Chris is coming over" and he will go looking for them. He knows exactly who I am talking about. I can even say my sister's name and he will go look for her even though she lives in Oregon and he only sees her about twice a year. It is amazing.
I think it's pretty obvious myself. Animals communicate somehow. Why wouldn't they understand language. The animals in my preschool books talk all the time.
My wife and I have to spell the word "treat" when we use it around our Beagles unless we plan on giving them one. We also have to spell the word "walk" if we don't plan on taking them for one right then.
America's Funniest Home Video had a clip with some guy talking to his dog and every time he said "I see a flea on you.", the dog would start growling and showing his teeth. I have cat that understands box and bag. She can be sleeping in the other room and all I have to say is, box or bag and she walks in, hops in the box and goes back to sleep. If she's awake when I say it then she'll hop in and start playing.
I only have one thing to say. German science rocks. I love the Max Planck Institutes. Okay, I said two things.
i wasn't real fond of German science in the 30's and 40's. Smarty Jones kicks German science's ASSSSSSS!!!!!!!
I loved the comic strip (forget which one) where they had the dog translator and every bark translated to "Hey!" Makes perfect sense to me. "Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!"
My dog knew a lot of words - the usual walk, car, leash, outside, etc. We started spelling "walk" and eventually he caught on to that too. He figured out the names of several kinds of meats. Of course, he still acted like he didn't know what the word "no" meant. (I'm sure he knew and just didn't want to admit it.) It's scary how much they know. I just wish we had a way of knowing what they wanted. I wonder how accurately we interpret what they try to tell us. (Right now I only have a cat, and not a particularly bright one. I don't think she knows many words. But it's hard to tell because she'll only respond if she feels like it anyway.)
My little baby understands come, sit, down, stay, no, crate, let's go for a ride, and outside. When she wants to go outside, she'll stand by the backdoor and get my attn. When she is hungry, she'll come up to whimper, and sniff my mouth. When she wants a little lovin', she'll come up and place her head on my knee.
Our last dog was trained to bark at the back door when she wanted to go out. Our current dog has undergone much less training but she makes her needs quite clear, she scratches on the door to go out (unfortunately), she'll scratch in her food dish if she's still hungry or wants a treat, she fetches her stuffed animal when she wants to play, she barks furiously at the mail man and passing dogs when she wants to eat them...
you and smarty are mean! Just because Smarty isn't "smarty" enough to work through the Schrodinger equation, doesn't mean he has to be a hata horse. Not all German scientists were practicing eugenics.
listen, science boy! Smarty and I have been fighting Nazism for years now. don't assail our efforts! we must press on!
Try cheese, even WILLFULLY inattentive dogs usually will start paying close attention for a small cube of cheddar.
thats one of the funny things mine does....he wont just go stand by the door if he needs to go out....he will actually come and track me down and let me know personally... Normally, Im in my computer room...and he will come in and come up to my chair and nuzzle me inthe side of the leg...and when I ask him what he needs...he will go to the door of the room...then turn around and look at me...kinda like "are you coming or what?"...and once I make the move to follow him...he will dash down the hall towards the back door. now if I could train him to actually chase the damn cat my oldest girl brought with her when she moved back in....ugh..damn cats...
