Key Takeaways

• A new study shows that some dogs can learn new words just by overhearing human conversations, similar to toddlers.

• These “gifted word learners” remember object names for weeks, revealing more about how dogs understand language.

• While not all dogs learn this way, using clear, consistent words and playful interaction can help any dog build language skills.

Toddler parents are already well aware their child is always listening—whether they like it or not. Kids pick up all kinds of new words by simply hearing adults use them around the house, especially around 16 to 18 months. But did you ever stop to think that your dog is listening, too?

According to a new study, pups are not only listening, but are capable of learning language in a similar fashion to toddlers. What’s more, some dogs can acquire the names of new objects by simply overhearing caregiver conversations, just like babies before they start talking.

The New Research on How Dogs Learn Language

For this study, scientists from the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, Austria, set out to examine a dog’s ability to learn new words with what we already know about toddler language development. Specifically, how children as young as 18 months can acquire novel words by overhearing third-party interactions.

With this in mind, dogs with an existing high-level of word comprehension, or “gifted word learners,” were introduced to a new toy with a unique name in two ways: during playtime with their owner and by overhearing an interaction between their owners in possession of the toy.

The gifted dogs in each group were then later tasked with picking out the new toy from a mix of others upon hearing its name again.

Here’s what researchers discovered:

• Dogs learned new object names with direct communication. After hearing a new toy name from their owner, dogs were able to select it correctly out of other toys.

• Dogs also learned new object names by overhearing them. Similarly, dogs that heard a new toy name discussed between owners also chose the right toy.

• Dogs retained the words they learned. Two weeks later, researchers tested the dogs again, and again, they chose the correct toy, proving the word learning stuck.

“Taken together, these results suggest that gifted word learner dogs possess sociocognitive skills functionally parallel to those of 18-month-old children,” according to study authors.

Why Canine Experts Are Excited

The discovery that dogs use the social-emotional skill of eavesdropping to acquire information is what makes this study groundbreaking, explains Philip Tedeschi, the founder of the Institute for Human-Animal Connection at the University of Denver and a pet researcher for Rover.

“The surprise in these findings isn’t that dogs pay attention to human conversations,” Tedeschi says. “The surprise is the demonstrated capacity for deducing a new word’s meaning from context after just a few exposures without explicit reinforcement. This is a cognitive shortcut we thought was primarily the domain of human children.”

For Tedeschi, the most exciting implication of this discovery is how he hopes it will impact our relationships with canines, starting with how we train them. For example, simply paying attention to how we use language around dogs in a similar way that parents already do around toddlers may offer a fun new teaching opportunity that could replace repetitive drills.

“With this study, we realize that everyday linguistic communication has relevance and impact on the animals in our lives and contributes to your dog’s cognitive environment and understanding,” Tedeschi says. “Starting to treat them as a family member and participant in the household is warranted, and it will also deepen our connections.”

What the Findings Mean (and Don’t Mean) for Your Family Dog

Any dog owner who has to spell out W-A-L-K on a regular basis already knows their pet has the capability of recognizing words, especially if they are followed by a reward. But does that mean your dog is picking up new words by eavesdropping? Not necessarily.

Along with testing gifted word learners for this study, researchers also tested regular “family dogs” with differing results, explains Julia Hunt, DVM, the associate dean of clinical sciences at Lincoln Memorial University College of Veterinary Medicine.

“They used Border Collies for this, which are among the smartest breeds, but they did not choose the correct toy any more than normal chance would predict,” Hunt explains. Therefore, these findings indicate how gifted dogs may pick up language, but not every dog will.

So, how much do our dogs at home really understand what we say?

“That can be challenging to know, but this study indicates that some dogs—those skilled in language acquisition—can pick up language that is not spoken directly to them,” Hunt says.

How to Encourage Any Dog’s Language Skills

According to Hunt, any dog breed has the potential to be gifted with words. Not only that, parents can lean on the same tools they use to help children learn language to help their dog learn, too.

Experts offer a few simple tips for teaching your dog new words:

• Have the object in hand when saying its name. To start, be sure the new toy or object is in plain sight to help your dog form a word-object connection, Hunt says.

• Engage your pet. Use expressions of enthusiasm, gestures, and gaze exchanges between the object and your dog when introducing a new word, similar to how you would with a toddler. “The emotional tone and context you use will provide relevant contextual information for them,” Tedeschi says.

• Be repetitive. “The study exposed dogs to a new word ten times, with two 1-minute repetitions per day,” Hunt explains. “So, to achieve similar results, the pet owner could expect to need to repeat the word and object combination multiple times.”

• Speak slowly and clearly. Word learning in babies suggests that words are learned faster and better if caregivers speak slowly and clearly. “It’s reasonable to think that this would help dogs to learn language as well,” Hunt says. 

Read the original article on Parents