How Many Words Does Your Dog Understand?

[Don Ro]

I have a Poodle dog and I swear I can watch him think.
I have never officially trained him and yet he knows what I want when I ask anything of him.
I talk to him constantly and I use the same words over and over again so he knows what they are.
.
Anyway, I watched a documentary recently and it said that the average dog can understand about 165 words.
And the "smart" dogs can understand 250 words.
I thought that that was amazing.
.
What say y'all?
.
~~~~~~~~~
.
Ollie B. Good - -
.

[Seahawk]

Three dogs.

The Black Lab and the Jack are average. The Australian Red Heeler can diagram sentences.

[Don Ro]

Originally Posted by seahawk

three dogs.

The black lab and the jack are average. The australian red heeler can diagram sentences.

Good one - -

[dave 911]

Our Australian Shepherd understands a lot of words. It got so hard to leave that we started saying good bye in different languages, but he figured that out also.

He knows upstairs, downstairs, different rooms in the house, all of our names, anything related to playing ball, going outside, leaving, eating, the cat's names, the neighbors dog's names....the list goes on

[crustychief]

Spot the ACD knows a lot of words and learns faster than any dog I have ever partnered with.
I am certain spot knows ( or at least responds to) at least 200.

[M.D. Holloway]

My Choco Lab - about 25 maybe 30 including directions
My Wife's Guide dog - its high, not confirmed yet but she may be trilingual and understand basic quantum theory (but gets tangled up in string theory, considers Kierkegaard flawed because he reacted negatively to the works of Hegal (but she does have a soft spot for Schopenhauer - I think she thinks he's a dog...), is a staunch critic of Lysenkoism due to its bend towards the fantastic with no direction towards establishing empirical evidence as well as rejecting Jacobinism for its acceptance of violence, enjoys the works of Malthus and his economic considerations because as we all know his theories are based on an economic model which states that as a population increase exponentially and resources increase linearly then there is always going to be a welfare state (I disagree with her but oh well), as well as being a fan of the High Llamas (she likes easy listening)...
Then there is my Daughter's dog - a Chiweenie: 1/2 Chihuahua 1/2 Dachshund...
She doesn't understand anything. In fact she may suffer from being dropped on her head or is from a different dimension and just doesn't get our universe.

[Laneco]

Mike, I think you need to work with Seahawk's ACD. Apparently the ACD can diagram sentences...



angela (who could also use a sentence diagramming ACD)

[targa911S]

about as many as a 3 year old child.

[M.D. Holloway]

I tested my Lab (Indy) this AM, here is what I came up with, he knows the following:

Stop
Lets Go
Sit
Down
Find your bone
Find your ball
Where's Emma?
Where's Max?
To the Office
Quite
Watch
Off (used when he has something he shouldn't
Drop (sometimes used with off but mostly if he steals something from another Dog)
Go right
Go left
Walk?
Ride? (which he goes crazy over - even more then a walk)
Good fella (which always brings about a tail wag and a request for an ear scratch
Bedtime (he makes way to my Sons bed)
Watch the house (what I tell him when I'm leaving then he takes his post in my office)

I bet there are more but I can't think of any. I had a long conversation last night with Tempo (my wife's guide dog)...well actually she listened more then contributed...and it was very obvious that this dog 'knew' stuff that no other dog I met. The look in her eyes is that of a primate. I swear its almost freaky. She is only 20 months old and you would think that being a yellow lab she would be all goofy and immature but if a dog could have an old soul this dog has it!

Then I looked over at my Daughters Chiweenie who was busy eating a dust ball and thought about why some animals just shouldn't breed...

[Noah930]

Wow. Your dogs make me feel like I should dress my Weimeraner in a pointy cap and make her sit facing the corner.

[LWJ]

First dog - a yellow lab - I just spoke to him. He did exactly what I wanted. I think he knew over 150 words.

Current dog - a black lab - I have to command him. He has about 10 or so commands and doesn't do what we want often. He is smart and wants to please. I really think he has ADHD.

Larry

[masraum]

This dog knows over 1000 words.

[Mo_Gearhead]

What the owner says;

Come on Sparky- Lets play catch
Get it Sparky
Bring it here Sparky
Good dog Sparky
Sparky run--get the ball

What the dog understands;

blah blah Sparky! blah blah blah
blah blah Sparky!
Blah blah blah Sparky!
Blah blah Sparky!
Sparky! blah, blah blah blah.

[911dean]

As many as my wife thinks.

[oldE]

Originally Posted by M.D. Holloway

I tested my Lab (Indy) this AM, here is what I came up with, he knows the following:

Stop
Lets Go
Sit
Down
Find your bone
Find your ball
Where's Emma?
Where's Max?
To the Office
Quite ???
Watch
Off (used when he has something he shouldn't
Drop (sometimes used with off but mostly if he steals something from another Dog)
Go right
Go left
Walk?
Ride? (which he goes crazy over - even more then a walk)
Good fella (which always brings about a tail wag and a request for an ear scratch
Bedtime (he makes way to my Sons bed)
Watch the house (what I tell him when I'm leaving then he takes his post in my office)

Really Mike?

Our dogs and cats were not allowed into the bedroom at night. The phrase that cleared the room was, "Critter pitch!"
Best
Les

[DanielDudley]

I had a cat once that understood a lot of English, and could respond to complex sentences. Thought he was a human, and at times had me wondering exactly how smart he was...

He blew it by chasing a mouse out into the road and getting run over. Couldn't overcome his cat instinct, and broke my hearty in the process.

[M.D. Holloway]

The little Mexican German is in a crate as is the guide dog - Indy spends his night on my sons bed unless it's really cold then he's on my daughters bed

[David McLaughlin]

As M.D Holloway said, the last two dogs my family had were guiding eye dogs and they were amazing, the chocolate lab was pretty amazing. But the German shepherd was darn near human. My dad would have conversations in the middle of the sidewalk with the Shepard because she thought she knew better than he did.

My Doberman, he was an idiot.

[Don Ro]

Very interesting and entertaining video, Steve.
Thanks for posting that.

.
~~~~~~~
.
https://www.dognition.com/

[JavaBrewer]

Car, bacon, potty, food, pool. That's about it.