Research Shows That Dogs Can String Words Together To Communicate With Their Humans
Have you ever had a conversation with your dog and fully believed they knew exactly what you were saying?
It turns out you’re right, at least sort of.
And not only that, but your dog can also string words together to “talk” back to you.
152 dogs took part in the study, and all were trained to use soundboards that contained buttons to produce pre-recorded words or phrases. The study authors then tried to determine whether or not the dogs would choose what buttons to press or if the selections were random and/or accidental.
The experiment went on for 21 months, giving researchers 195,000 interactions to analyze. Study author Federico Rossano issued a statement about the findings.
“The findings reveal that dogs are pressing buttons purposefully to express their desires and needs. When dogs combine two buttons, these sequences are not random but instead seem to reflect specific requests.”
The most commonly selected single words or phrases included “food,” “treat,” and “go outside.” Researchers were surprised by how often two-word combinations appeared, too, like “food + treat” and “name + want.”
The latter combination was one of the most popular, despite the individual buttons being among the least frequently pushed.
Other popular combinations were “food + water” and “go outside + potty,” which were both selected as pairs more often than they would have been if the dogs had been randomly pushing buttons.
“Therefore, our findings propose that dogs are differentiating between at least some of the buttons provided on their soundboards and, given the emergence of particular two-button concept combinations at the population level, that at least some dogs have associatively ascribed different meanings to different buttons.”
They also don’t think that the dogs are copying the way their owners use the soundboards, either, since their word selections differ.
“While dogs already communicate some of these needs, soundboards could allow for more precise communication. Instead of barking or scratching at the door, a dog may be able to tell you exactly what it wants, even combining concepts like ‘outside’ and ‘park’ or ‘beach.’ this could improve companionship and strengthen the bond between dogs and their owners.”
Rossano and his team are planning to take the study even further, testing whether dogs can use the soundboards to communicate abstract concepts as well.
“If they can, it would drastically change how we think about animal intelligence and communication.”
Personally, I’m not sure I want my dog to tell me what’s on her mind.
I’ve got enough people yapping at me all day the way it is!
Thought that was fascinating? Here’s another story you might like: Why You’ll Never See A Great White Shark In An Aquarium

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