Studies have concluded that dogs can learn the meaning of words when listening to overheard speech to a similar standard as is attained by young children. Although the Times tells us that “Out of 34 family dogs tested in a 2021 study, only one was able to learn multiple toy names after training.” As for humans there are intelligent individuals and less intelligent individuals.
As expected the border collie shows a distinct ability as they are among the most gifted of dogs in respect of world learning. This squares up with their sheep herding abilities.
I am not a dog owner but I’m told that dog owners spell out the word “walkies” letter by letter in order to avoid the dog becoming highly expectant of an immediate walk in the park and thereby avoiding sending their pet into a premature frenzy.
And scientists have confirmed that they are right to spell out this word because dogs are not only great eavesdroppers but they can even learn new words just by overhearing their owners talking between themselves.
It’s been found that the most gifted of canines can pick up new words at a similar level to a human infant between the ages of 18 and 23 months. This skill does not apply to all words but words associated with specific objects.
We know that dogs can recognise basic commands such as “sit” or “heel”. That applies to almost all dogs and a similar number can be taught the names of objects particularly, as expected, they are shown a ball for instance while the owner says the word “ball”.
Dogs that can pick up the meaning of words are dubbed “gifted world learners” and as mentioned border collies have been identified as among the most gifted. For example, on border collie named Misco, aged six from Canada, can recognise the names of 200 toys and when asked to retrieve a specific toy. That dog was been on television to demonstrate their outstanding skills are clearly highly exceptional and I would doubt if any other dog can demonstrate such skills.
A study from Hungary discovered that a skilled group of dogs can learn new words just by eavesdropping on their owners talking and they can “map a new word to a new object even when the word and object are not presented simultaneously”.
The study took place at Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest. They modified studies designed for young children in order to assess a dog’s skill at eavesdropping.
Two people sat across from each other and offered the other a toy while saying: “This is the teddy. Would you like the teddy?”
They named the teddy out loud and looked at it while the dog was present in the room.
However, neither the owners looked at or communicated with the dog in any way during this test. To make it more difficult, a couple of toys were newly introduced during the conversation and they were mixed up with nine other toys on the floor that the dog had already become familiar with. The dog was asked to retrieve specific items.
The dog was able to retrieve the newly named object (the teddy) at a rate which was significantly above chance according to the study authors.
The lead researcher, Shany Dror, said that the results “demonstrate that gifted world learner dogs can learn novel object labels by overhearing interactions, in a manner functionally similar to what has been described in young children.” This ability is not uniquely human they added.
What about cats! Well, they are pretty savvy too. They learn words and can be trained like dogs. But as they are not pack animals they are less inclined to follow their ‘master’. This hampers training.
