STUDY: DOGS UNDERSTAND AROUND 89 WORDS

Researchers from Dalhousie University in Canada discovered that the average dog appears to know around 89 words and phrases. However, highly intelligent dogs respond to over 200 words. The team surveyed 165 dog owners, counting words or phrases which made each dog look up, whine, run, wag their tail, or perform a specific action — like sitting.
– Most dogs know the basic commands “sit,” “come,” “down,” “stay,” “wait,” “no,” “OK,” and “leave it.” Most frequently respond to their own names. Many of the dogs in the study could also understand words like “treat,” “breakfast,” and “dinner,” and playful words like “ball” and “squirrel.”
– The least responsive dogs only reacted to 15 words, while the most responsive pups had a vocabulary of 215 words.
– The most responsive dog breeds include the Australian Shepherd, Border Collie, German Shepherd, Bichon Frise, King Charles Spaniel, and Chihuahua. Beagles and Boxers finished among the dogs with the smallest vocabularies.
* They could learn more words, but with their paws they can’t navigate the Dictionary dot com website.
* But how many words do you really have to know to be a dog? It’s not like they’re designed to converse.
* Seems to me dogs only really need to know ‘sit,’ ‘stop sitting’ and ‘get off of my leg.’
* 89 words, seven more than the average teenager.
* What’s weird is, one of those 89 words dogs know is the word “whimsical.” No one can figure out why.