Do Dogs Understand Words? YES!

By Amy Fernandez

We all talk to our dogs. However, claiming that your dogs understand what you’re saying generally evokes reactions ranging from skepticism to worry. I’m not referring to the “sit, stay, shut up” sort of talk. I mean those routine conversational discussions. And don’t try to deny doing it. Anyone living with dogs knows better. We talk over all kinds of issues, major and minor. Ok, articulate feedback is a canine shortcoming, but dogs are great listeners, actually far superior to most people.

And, as we also know, they understand quite a lot of what we say. For example, mention words like “dinner” “walk” or “car” in any context and all hell breaks loose. Furthermore, how is it possible that they infallibly connect completely unrelated activities with something they want.  It’s not just predictable cues like opening the fridge or picking up the leash.  Saying something like “I better do the dishes” or “where are my sneakers” triggers the same canine mayhem.   The dogless crowd has consistently dismissed such observations as delusional nonsense, but now there is irrefutable proof.

A study from the Department of Ethology, Budapest, published in the September 18 issue of Current Biology, expands our knowledge of canine cognition to a much higher level. Researchers have confirmed that dogs can and do associate familiar terms with unfamiliar objects. And this connection is not limited to visually similar items, nothing as simple as that. This study reveals that dogs make these cognitive connections based on an object’s function.

 Known as label extension, the mental capacity to connect functionally similar but visually different objects is a basic component of developmental communication skills. It evolves in tandem with the ability to visually recognize objects in the environment and associate those labels with a wider range of similar functional items. Until now, the mental leap required to generalize in this manner was considered a complex feature of higher intelligence. In other words, only humans were capable of this advanced cognitive skill. Dr. Claudia Fugazza, the lead researcher of the study said “Our results show that these dogs do not just memorize object names. They understand the meaning behind those labels.”

Here’s the key takeaway from this study. The existence of this ability was not discovered through formal research in a laboratory setting.  It emerged naturally in these dogs through their daily interactions with owners, which is exactly the same way that our dogs decipher every element of our daily routine.

Until now, this ability has been considered a cornerstone of early language development so the fact that it has now been documented in a species without actual language skills has completely revised that idea. “This ability shows that classification linked to verbal labels can emerge in non-human, non-linguistic species living in natural settings,” said Dr. Adam Miklosi, coauthor of the study. It also confirms that we are not crazy when we talk to our dogs. As we know, never underestimate dogs.

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Posted by Liz on Dec 22 2025. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.