The Power of Words
When I was in college, I took this awesome class called Companion Animal Science. In this class we studied dogs, cats, and other typical (and some not so typical) household pets. Obviously dogs were my favorite part of that class, and we were allowed to bring our personal dogs to visit in some classes. One day we watched this video about a Border Collie that knew over 500 words, and could distinguish between all their different toys by name.
When I went home to my Labrador mix, Peach, I tested out how many words she knew, and it was actually a lot. I figured out she could pick between a bone or a ball by request, and so much more! She knows the difference between walk and run, she even shakes on command after a bath to dry off. Now my pack of three knows so many words combined. They understand simple questions about their needs like “are you hungry?” or “do you need to go outside?” Don’t get me started on how much they understand our nonverbal communication.
Some of these words are trained. I taught the dog a behavior, then paired the behavior with a cue or command. Some of the words were purely situational, the dog naturally displayed a behavior and I paired a cue word with it. And more often than anything else, these words were learned through repetition and association. Words like ball, stick, couch, bed, walk, names of people, places or other animals I did not intend to train, I just used. And the more I repeated the same phrases like “fetch ball,” “place couch,” and “go to work,” the more recognition I noticed in my dogs.
Dogs are such incredible animals; they are so full of intelligence. Some dogs displaying negative behaviors have needs that aren’t being met. When we give them something to do, something for their brains to work out, they are more content. But more than that, being able to effectively communicate with your dog is so rewarding. It is amazing when you can build an understanding of enough words to ask what they may need, or if they want to do something. Teaching your dog more words can help grow your bond, as well as keep their mind sharp.
The next thing I want to test out for my pups are the talking buttons. I have seen many people use recordable buttons, including some of my clients, and I love seeing their pups communicate! So I'm looking forward to trying these out. What are ways you communicate with your dog?