So how many words does our dog understand? This question has accompanied humanity since it domesticated domestic dogs and in fact to this day.
Now, researchers from the Canadian University of Delhausy are able to answer this question, and it turns out that dogs recognize and respond to up to 215 words, a level equivalent to that of an 18-month-old baby.
Researchers Catherine Reeve and Sophie Jacques, from the University of Neuroscience, studied 165 dogs and their owners and found that the different breeds understand between 15 and 215 words with an average of 89 words.
According to the researchers, "Due to their evolutionary history and close connection with humans, dogs have learned to recognize words and other verbal cues at a level unmatched by other species in the wild."
According to the researchers, dogs are much stronger at recognizing commands than nouns.
Almost all dogs respond to commands like: Sit, come, wait, no, okay and leave it.
Dogs also recognize compliments and wag their tails for expressions like a good dog or a good bitch.
So what do they really understand?
A dog and its owner at the beach (archive photo), Photo: Gil Eliyahu - Ginny
The researchers also published the common expressions that dogs respond to and recognize and they include sit, look, but also more surprising words like vacuum, lake or peanut butter.
"There seem to be gaps between the different dogs not only in the number of words but in the type of words to which they respond," note the researchers, who also admitted that "not necessarily the dog understands the literal meaning of the word, but they have learned to respond correctly without really understanding it."
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