From the Dog Blog archives:



Dogs know words. Doesn’t matter what language – we speak the language of our pack, our family. We learn our name and “NO!” first and then from there, it’s up to you to guide us through the rest.

If we take a puppy class with you, we learn commands. We learn them through repetition and reward. You learn how to talk to us and about “Management Skills.” In my puppy class, a “Management Skill” was the sole responsibility of my humans. You left the shoes on the floor, so I ate half of them. A Management Skill would be to pick them up and put them out of reach. See, not my fault. You left the loaf of bread on the counter, so I can place my pretty paws up there, turn my head gracefully and grab that gluten with my happy mouth. Management Skill=Place Bread in Cupboard.

How do dogs learn words? Some say it’s similar to Fast Mapping. That’s a mental process where you can learn one new thing when it’s among familiar things in a group. It’s how little kids learn words. And how often do you think of us dogs as little kids? Almost all the time, right? Anyway, you can read more about fast mapping here with Rico the dog showing those humans how freaking smart we are. Another factor in our learning words is that we don’t talk. We just listen (most of the time.)

I suppose repetition followed by an action is another way we learn. I knew some humans that stopped saying the word “walk” because my friend, Henry the terrier, would just go crazy! The humans started spelling the word W-A-L-K and can you guess what happened? Henry learned to spell. Made me proud :) Not sure where that phrase dumb dog came from – an insecure human?

Some of us dogs do know more words than we let on (i.e. – my blog), but are just as happy to perk up our ears when you expect it. Right now, I have to go ’cause I just heard two of my favorites, “grilled cheese.” Make sure you let me know what your favorite or most unique words are – would love to hear them!