How Many Human Words do Dogs Understand?

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How Many Human Words do Dogs Understand?

One of the many reasons dogs have become “man’s best friend” is their incredible ability to understand human language. While they cannot speak, they will easily learn commands and respond enthusiastically when properly trained. Have you ever wondered just how much your dog can understand?

Most of us train our dogs to understand commands such as “sit” and “stay,” but they also pick up on words without explicit training. For example, does your dog’s ears perk up when they hear the word “walk” or “treat,” even when you’re not speaking to them? They’ve likely learned through living with you that these words are often followed by a positive experience, so pay attention when you say them. 

How Many Words Can A Dog Understand?

Dogs pay incredible attention to us because we are the pack's leaders. We control their food, water, exercise, and general surroundings, so they always try to “figure us out,” including our language. 

Research shows that dogs can understand about 200 human words on average, which puts them at a linguistic level of approximately a 14- to an 18-month-old child. However, they don’t respond to the meaning of a word per se but rather its outcome. 

For example, if you teach your dog that they will get a treat when they hear the word “sit” and respond accordingly, they associate “sit” with the positive outcome of receiving a treat. While they don’t understand the meaning of the word, they can learn to respond in a way that pleases you. 

Do you have trouble getting your dog to come when called? If your pup is a troublemaker, you may call them often right before they are reprimanded. This can inadvertently train them to associate their name with punishment, prompting them to avoid the word. So, whenever you use a word as a cue, be careful to engage them properly to receive the response you want. 

Ways Dogs Differ From Human Understanding of Words

While dogs can recognize sounds and be trained to respond to them in certain ways, they do not have the ability to differentiate between similar phonetics when listening to human speech.

For example, if you tell your dog to “sid” instead of “sit,” they will respond the same way because they do not have the same attention to detail regarding phonetic sounds. This comes into play when teaching commands or naming your dog. You want every word you use as a “cue” word to sound reasonably different.

Your dog isn’t learning English in the same way a human does. If you teach your dog that “pickle” is the cue word to sit down, they will never learn that this doesn’t translate into the human language. 

It is important to train your dog to understand the words you want them to. Some owners become frustrated when their dog “doesn’t listen,” but their dog simply doesn’t understand the word they’re using because it hasn’t been properly associated with an action. 

Your dog pays more attention to you than you realize, so be careful with your words and how you reward them if you want to communicate properly.