Since time immemorial, dogs have been considered man’s best friends. They usually spend a lot of time with their owners and establish an emotional relationship, to the point that they can express affection and anger depending on the circumstances. That’s why a new study was commissioned to investigate how many words dogs understand from their owners.
The analysis, published in “Applied Animal Behavior Science”, included the participation of about 165 dogs, of various ages, breeds and professions (whether domestic dogs or dogs trained for a particular profession). According to the study, professionally trained dogs have a higher vocabulary than domestic dogs.
There are about 89 specific words that dogs know.
According to research carried out by scientists at the Canadian University of British Columbia, dogs understand about 89 specific words or grammatical structures, something truly impressive. About half of those phrases are commands, most related to sitting, waiting, or searching for something.
In addition, the researchers concluded that dogs can expand their vocabulary to understand more than 200 words, something similar to the vocabulary that a two-year-old infant would have. On the other hand, dogs’ understanding of these words is not less, since they respond with quite specific actions.
Age does not influence your understanding
Although the study ensures that the breed of the dog and its training directly influence the ability to understand language, it was discovered that its age and the knowledge of its owner do not matter when it comes to expanding its understood vocabulary.
Other factors that could affect the breadth of the vocabulary that dogs understand are the time their owner dedicates to teaching them new activities, the animal’s own genetic characteristics and their profession.
