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Dogs - smarter than we thought - process language like humans.
- Thread starter seanoff
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astroturfing
Member
i often tested this with our tibetan spaniel (RIP Pottis), she would always get upset when i or anyone said the finnish equavalent of fuck ("vittu"), no matter the intonation. i could say it in the most neutral or even happy way and she'd still get anxious, often wanting to come up to my face and lick it as if to make sure i'm ok. i guess she learned it meant something negative from all the times someone in our family dropped something and cursed angrily, or hit their toe or something.
so i'm not surprised by this at all.
and damn i miss our little doggie.. she was so great. lived for 15 years and never did anything bad. amazing dog.
so i'm not surprised by this at all.
and damn i miss our little doggie.. she was so great. lived for 15 years and never did anything bad. amazing dog.
HarryHengst
Member
Dogs are sycophants, cats are too cool for you.
That's pretty sweet. :O
Serious stuff.
I love my dogs, and cats. I wish they would get along.
Khalifa Jayy
Banned
Dogs r da best
petran79
Banned
Our family cat used to intervene if there were quarrels and yells. She would meow and look as if she told you to stop.
sixteen-bit
Member
between this and the German Shepherd thread i want a dog
Dog owners, they know cats > dogs and feel inferior, so lay on the hate extra thick.
There is a reason cats own the internet, they're just infinitely cooler than dogs.
SargerusBR
I love Pokken!
Best first post ever.
I can't find the article, but I read in a journal years ago a study from a behavioral psychologist who specialized in infants about dog-human communication and how it operates at a level beyond most would expect. The crux of the article's argument was that dog's practice gaze following, which is a very high level function, but only when primed with specific voice inflections. This is similar to how infant work. Using a high voice inflection makes the dog realize that your actions are being spoken to him, and that you are trying to specifically communicate to him. Thus, he begins to interpret your body language as also being spoken to him. He follows your gaze because he has figured out that you are communicating to him with both words and actions.
Apparently this is extremely rare among other animals, even many primates.
My own dog demonstrates this all the time, btw. I'll ask him if he wants to go play fetch in an excited voice, and he'll come running and sit down in front of me bursting with excitement, then I'll look in the direction of his leash and he'll follow my gaze to the leash. But he'll only gaze follow with specific words. If I'm just generally excited to him and start looking around, he won't gaze follow.
Version 3.0
Member
Good on them for looking at it scientifically. Interesting work.
However, anyone who thought that dogs only understand tone and not words hasn't been paying attention. They may not know many words, but they absolutely understand meaning of the ones they've learned.
Like, I'm sure, many dogs, mine will react to the words he knows best, like "walk", "ride", "toy" or "treat", in almost any tone or context. I have to talk around the words he knows or spell them out if I don't want him to get excited, like parents sometimes do with young children.
Mine does that when we're playing fetch. I'll fake him out and throw his toy in the other direction. Once he realizes it didn't go where he thought, he'll look at me to figure out which way I did throw it. And then when I look towards it, he'll go in that direction to look for it.
However, anyone who thought that dogs only understand tone and not words hasn't been paying attention. They may not know many words, but they absolutely understand meaning of the ones they've learned.
Like, I'm sure, many dogs, mine will react to the words he knows best, like "walk", "ride", "toy" or "treat", in almost any tone or context. I have to talk around the words he knows or spell them out if I don't want him to get excited, like parents sometimes do with young children.
Mine does that when we're playing fetch. I'll fake him out and throw his toy in the other direction. Once he realizes it didn't go where he thought, he'll look at me to figure out which way I did throw it. And then when I look towards it, he'll go in that direction to look for it.
The Hermit
Member
Posts like this sound like they don't understand icongograhy and semiotics. What you are saying is true of humans as well. Obviously they don't understand our very specific iconography because the iconography of our spoken language isn't inherent.
Meanwhile, the semiotics are inherent, and studies like this show that dogs, unlike maaaaaaaany other animals on the planet, grasp them.
I've wanted a dog for months now, but my work shift doesn't left me with time to care and have one. And I love dogs too much (I've had dogs for all my childhood life) to get one and be an awful owner
So, until i can get a better shift and be sure i can take of him, I won'tMy first cat tried to attack me once when I was having a heated discussion with my mother. Of course, when I noticed her, she ran away and hid somewhere.
I had a cat who did this too. She also knew when I was feeling bad and would come sit next to me and be sweet (and this was a cat that in general you pet her on her terms).
My dogs arent even trained and im amazed at the shit they understand. My oldest especially, a golden retriever, is super smart.
Dogs are the best. Except my pug puppy... im convinced he wants to kill me. He keeps biting my nose and ears, he's tasting me to eventually devour me in my sleep when he's bigger, I know it
I think pugs are their own species.
My pug is 11 and still acts like a crazy puppy a lot of the time.
You know these aren't exclusive, life binding clubs right? Again I currently own both. And a parrot. And two aquariums. I'm sure most pet owners have experience with more than just one type before they made their proffered choice.
Psyrgery ES
Member
Version 3.0
Member
People don't have a "voice inside them", either, until they learn a language. You're thinking of people as people and animals as animals, but we are animals, too. Other animals are quite similar to us, just with less complex brains. They think much like we do, just...not as well.
So don't assume a monkey is not going "one, two...". If they've learned "one" and "two", they may be. If not, they're still capable of thinking - that's what brains are for. They're not just "computer programs", or at least, not unless we are, too. But that's another topic.
Cats own the internet because the internet is full of introverted misanthropes that want everyone else to know about the one domesticated animal they relate to rather than the one that's actually capable of love.
Metaphoreus
This is semantics, and nothing more
That's fair, but I think there's a murky line between saying a dog understands specific words and saying a dog understands specific sounds (the -it sound in this case). You could say "donut" as much as you like in the tone you normally use when you tell the dog to sit, and I doubt it would sit.
Of course dogs don't understand the definitions of words, but I don't see how associating the sound of "sit" (or "rock" or whatever you want to say) with a particular action is different from understanding the word (at least as it's been learned by the dog). Isn't that how we begin to learn words at a young age? Couldn't a child come to believe that "rock" means to go for a walk if that's how his or her parents used the term?
xDUMPWEEDx
Banned
openrob
Member
tl;dr
If you want to be the Master - get a Dog.
If you want to be the victim - get a Cat
timetokill
Banned
Exactly. Just as we learn to associate certain colors with words for them. The entire point is that dog brains are working in a way that we once thought was basically the domain of humans and how we created a language.
We don't know exactly how dogs conceptualize words, but we do know that they process the word itself and the intonation separately, in different hemispheres, which is a big indicator of intelligence.
It always seems weird to me when cat owners rush into these threads to try and downplay dog intelligence. Cats are fine pets, especially for apartment owners and people that don't have the time to care for a dog, but there's no question that dogs are more intelligent and more useful to humanity.
But do they understand the same with insults and scolding? my brother loves to fake insult and fake scold his pugs.
Pugs are deceptively smart, but very playful that why they behave like puppies even as adults, but for example, our pugs are the mother and her daughter, we used to think the daughter was dumber because she was mischievous, while the mother was more calm, turns out the "dumb one" pretty much understands commands and intents, and the mother does too, she just doesn't care.
Pugs are also super good at reading your emotions and are gentle with kids, i recall one time the older pug really bonded with my kid cousins to the point that she would defensively bark at their mom is she scolded the kids.
Pugs are deceptively smart, but very playful that why they behave like puppies even as adults, but for example, our pugs are the mother and her daughter, we used to think the daughter was dumber because she was mischievous, while the mother was more calm, turns out the "dumb one" pretty much understands commands and intents, and the mother does too, she just doesn't care.
Pugs are also super good at reading your emotions and are gentle with kids, i recall one time the older pug really bonded with my kid cousins to the point that she would defensively bark at their mom is she scolded the kids.
Omegasquash
Member
Then why the fuck wont my dog listen?!
Talk to it nicer.
My dog (Puggle) is a runner. If the gate is open, he will fucking sprint out of the house. I've given pursuit, calling him, offering him treats, and gotten within arms reach before, only to have him stop, look, and run.
My wife goes after him, says his name, he stops, comes to her immediately.
I guess my dog just thinks I sound like an asshole. Either that or it's because I don't talk to it like it's a cute baby or something.
These conclusions are interesting to me and kind of surprising because my friend cracks me up by praising dogs in a high pitch with absolutely bleak or meaningless phrases that totally contrast the tone of his voice, and the dogs still get excited and it makes me laugh.
"Who's a dog?? You are!! Who has no soul and will be dirt and worm food when they die? Yes, that's you! Yes, what a dog you are!" And the dogs get all excited because they don't understand what he's saying but hear the tone lol.
"Who's a dog?? You are!! Who has no soul and will be dirt and worm food when they die? Yes, that's you! Yes, what a dog you are!" And the dogs get all excited because they don't understand what he's saying but hear the tone lol.
Cindi Mayweather
Member
Either way, they can't do anything by themselves. Gone for a few hours? Freak out when you come back. You can't leave a dog alone for an entire work day. Have to go home and let the dog out so it can pee right after work. You can't go straight to the gym or whatever. Is it the 8th day in a row its been raining? Guess what? You're going to be taking that dog for a walk and it doesn't matter. Pick up the poop scooper, slave. Dog owners brag about all the tricks you can teach dogs, but you still have to teach and reinforce them. It's not like it's something a lot of dogs come programmed in. Dogs are molds and bend to their owners whims and needs. Many dog owners find this to be an admirable trait; outside of dogs used to assist the disabled, I find it to be pathetic. I'm not sure how an animal that bends over backwards like that is exactly an admirable trait. All that whining and begging and need for attention. It's a pathetic animal.
For all the talk about cats treating you like slaves, a slave is exactly how I felt as a dog owner. Don't plan on owning another one in my life. I'm not seeing how any of this marks any real intelligence if a dog has to be taught and told how to do so many basic things like merely existing without assistance.
crimzonflame
Member
Fuck yes.
Cindi Mayweather
Member
Why do so many people attach human emotions to dogs? Capable of love? Really?
No he just respects your wife more. Same happens with my dad
Who's to say they aren't capable of love?
There has been a bunch of research coming out within the last several years that seems to point towards dogs feeling the chemical reaction we call love in much the same way we do. They experience it when they look at their masters especially.
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/348/6232/333
There is significant evidence that dogs feel "love" as we define it.
GODDAMN
TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared
Member
So much cat envy in this thread.
QuantumSquid
Member
While it is fun to joke that cats don't care, cats are very capable of love. And the only people who can't see that are those that don't know how to "read" a cat and don't pay any attention to them.
Tell my siamese that passed away this year that fawned over me more than most dogs fawn over their owners she's not capable of love. The one who would bury her head under my chin and wanted to always be on my lap and loved it when I hugged her. The one that would relax more if I was around and who would brave her fears (She was afraid of most other non cats) to come out to get attention from me when I had company over (bravery is not not being scared, it's facing your fear). The one that when I took her to the vet wanted me to comfort her from her bad day soon as I got home (didn't even pout or anything, straight to hold me mommy!). And now I'm sad cause I miss that cat
.Tell that to my Maine Coon who wants to be my only cat/focus (she was very jealous of the siamese and doesn't really care for the new kittens either). Who would keep me company when I was stuck on the couch with a broken foot (and would sit on it and purr <- and they have shown cat purrs actually help in healing/bone healing... saw an article about it). Who wants to jump up on my shoulder and snuggle right next to my head. Who loves to be held and always wants to be where you are (Even if she's not int he mood to be pet she wants to be where you are. PUt a door between her and you and she'll get very upset).
Tell that to my first cat who would comfort me if I was upset. Who would jump up between me and my mom and meow if we were yelling at each other. Who only came out for me and was definitely my cat. I've only had one dog that was as aware of how I felt as that cat was (well it was my parent's dog as they got him when I went to college but he was pretty aware of how people were feeling. When the cat I talk about died and I came home for the first time after, he was an obnoxious puppy but he could tell I was upset and just stayed calm and came up and put his head on my lap. In my experience animals that are very intune to your feelings are not that common, cat or dog. Even my current dog who is really smart doesn't seem that aware if I'm feeling sad).
People who seriously think cats can't love (or can't be loyal) don't know a damned thing about cats.
Oh, and definitely this as well.
AbortedWalrusFetus
Member
My dog is trained to use pee pads when we aren't home to give it walks. I can leave the house for hours at a time without having to worry. Plus the piss and shit doesn't smell as bad as cats do. My dog is pretty small though, about 17 pounds.
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