Clever Canines

Lots of dogs understand simple words said directly to them, such as walk or treat. But a new study shows that some “gifted” dogs can learn other words by eavesdropping on humans.

The study was published in Science on January 8. It was organized by researchers at Eötvös Loránd University, in Budapest, Hungary. The researchers wanted to know if dogs could learn new words just by overhearing their owners speak.

For the study, the researchers gave each dog two new toys. The pups were allowed to play with the toys in their homes. The researchers then gave each dog’s owners a task. The owners were asked to speak with another person in their household, naming the two new toys while the dog was close by. (For example, “This is Armadillo.”)

After the conversation, the dog owners placed the new toys in a room with other playthings. The owners then asked their dogs to fetch one of the new toys. (For example, “Go get Armadillo!”)

The dogs were able to pick out the new toys after overhearing their owners. Per the study, these dogs have language-learning skills similar to those of an 18-month-old human child.

“With some of the dogs, it’s like they had no doubt about what they were supposed to be doing,” Shany Dror, a coauthor on the study, told Scientific American. “They would just go into the room, straight to the toy that they knew [was] the new toy and [then brought] it immediately.”

This study doesn’t apply to all dogs. Only certain dogs, called “gifted word learners,” can learn new words by eavesdropping. Scientists aren’t sure why some dogs have this ability.