Dogs can understand human speech

[BrianR]

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - As many a dog owner will attest, our furry friends are listening. Now, for the doubters, there is scientific proof they understand much of what they hear.

German researchers have found a border collie named Rico who understands more than 200 words and can learn new ones as quickly as many children.

Patti Strand, an American Kennel Club board member, called the report "good news for those of us who talk to our dogs."

"Like parents of toddlers, we learned long ago the importance of spelling key words like bath, pill or vet when speaking in front of our dogs," Strand said. "Thanks to the researchers who've proven that people who talk to their dogs are cutting-edge communicators, not just a bunch of eccentrics."

The researchers found that Rico knows the names of dozens of play toys and can find the one called for by his owner. That is a vocabulary size about the same as apes, dolphins and parrots trained to understand words, the researchers say.

Rico can even take the next step, figuring out what a new word means.

The researchers put several known toys in a room along with one that Rico had not seen before. From a different room, Rico's owner asked him to fetch a toy, using a name for the toy the dog had never heard.

The border collie, a breed known primarily for its herding ability, was able to go to the room with the toys and, seven times out of 10, bring back the one he had not seen before. The dog seemingly understood that because he knew the names of all the other toys, the new one must be the one with the unfamiliar name.

"Apparently he was able to link the novel word to the novel item based on exclusion learning, either because he knew that the familiar items already had names or because they were not novel," said the researchers, led by Julia Fischer of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig.

A month later, he still remembered the name of that new toy three out of six times, even without having seen it since that first test. That is a rate the scientists said was equivalent to that of a 3-year-old.

Rico's learning ability may indicate that some parts of speech comprehension developed separately from human speech, the scientists said.

"You don't have to be able to talk to understand a lot," Fischer said. The team noted that dogs have evolved with humans and have been selected for their ability to respond to the communications of people.

Katrina Kelner, Science's deputy editor for life sciences, said "such fast, one-trial learning in dogs is remarkable. This ability suggests that the brain structures that support this kind of learning are not unique to humans and may have formed the evolutionary basis of some of the advanced language abilities of humans."

Perhaps, although Paul Bloom of Yale University urges caution.

"Children can understand words used in a range of contexts. Rico's understanding is manifested in his fetching behavior," Bloom writes in a commentary, also in Science.

Bloom calls for further experiments to answer several questions: Can Rico learn a word for something other than a small object to be fetched? Can he display knowledge of a word in some way other than fetching? Can he follow an instruction not to fetch something?

Fischer and her colleagues are still working with Rico to see if he can understand requests to put toys in boxes or to bring them to certain people. Rico was born in December 1994 and lives with his owners. He was tested at home.



Funding for this research was provided in part by the German Research Foundation.

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On the Net:

Science: http://www.sciencemag.org

German Research Foundation: http://www.dfg.de/en/index.html

[wolf]

Unless Rico can do this outside of his own home and with a researcher telling him what to bring instead of his master, it's not an "experiment."

The Germans are also the ones who brought us the wonder of Clever Hans.

I suspect Rico is just as clever, although easier to keep in a small residence.

[Elspode]

I read this article earlier today, and had to sort of chuckle at the "duh" factor.

Okay, my dog doesn't have the vocabulary that the German pup does, but she most defiinitely knows "outside", "get the duck" (phrase referencing anything remotely qualifying as a chew toy to chase), "cookie", "go for a walk", "go to bed", and most of the standard commands.

[Kitsune]

The Germans are also the ones who brought us the wonder of Clever Hans.

Wolf, that is a really cool and unusual illustration of why a confederate has to be used in experiments. Thanks for pointing that out!

[Undertoad]

Border Collies are brilliant, having been bred specifically for intelligence. My smarter Boston Terrier has a vocabulary of about 30 words, the dumber one, about 20. But the boy surprises from time to time. Brought me his tennis ball one day, and I said no Bean, get the football, and he dropped the tennis ball and went and got the football.

He cares about what he cares about, is what it comes down to.

All else aside, I do feel the need to put in a good word for the intelligence of herding dogs. I've been a dog lover all my life, and the smartest dogs I've ever encountered have been from the herding breeds. I once had a Cardigan Welsh Corgi (they are the BIG Corgi's with a tail, not the little tailess Pembrook ones that most people are more familiar with). Cardigans were originally used to herd cattle and they are smart as whips. Mine knew many words, including the one for "ball." He loved having a ball thrown for him and retrieving it back, and the mere mention of the word by a complete stranger would throw him into a frenzy of anticipation. We had to spell out the word B-A-L-L around him if we wanted to keep him calm.

By the way, if you ever saw the movie "The Accidental Tourist," the dog who played the part of the pet in need of obedience training was skillfully portrayed by a Cardigan Corgi who should have won an Oscar for its role. In real life, I have found the Cardigan to be one of the easiest dogs to train that I have ever encountered. They are very smart and aim to please.

[Undertoad]

Unfortunately Bean knows the spelled version as well.

I guess I have to add that word to his vocabulary: "bee-aelel".

[zippyt]

But the boy surprises from time to time. Brought me his tennis ball one day, and I said no Bean, get the football, and he dropped the tennis ball and went and got the football.

Oliver our boston does the same thing , " no Ollie , get your rope toy" , he dropes the ball and is off like a shot and back with his rope .

As to dogs knowing what you are saying, all you have to do is watch a guide dog work , truely amazing ( and yes i relise that they are specaly trained ),

[wolf]

I'm not in any way downing the intelligence of dogs. I know dogs are smart and capable of some feats of intelligence, within the limitations of their brain structure, sensory equipment, and chemistry.

It's a border collie, not Mr. Peabody.

It's the experimenters in this situation that I think were stupid.

The research described here is of Weekly World News quality.

[Catwoman]

Woof.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Now you can't tell me that's the face of a con man,...er con dog.

[farfromhome]

Bruce-That's a great photo.Wolfie,give dogs a chance.Look at this guys eyes.

[wolf]

Would you buy used cars from that dog?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Absolutely, he's as honest as his tail is long.