DOGS do understand human words and not just their owner’s body language or presence, a shock new study has revealed.
Scientists launched an investigation after a flurry of viral videos on TikTok and Instagram claiming to show four-legged friends “talking” with soundboard buttons.
Bunny, a sheepadoodle, is one such famed example who has reportedly learned 92 words – see a video of him in action above.
Experts decided to look into whether dogs were truly communicating or merely responding to cues from their owners.
Researchers from the University of California San Diego have found that pups trained with soundboard buttons can indeed understand specific words and produce a contextually appropriate response.
The study was conducted in person with scientists visiting 30 dogs across the US to test how they responded to soundboard buttons.
A second phase was carried out by 29 dog owners themselves at home under remote guidance.
They found that dogs responded appropriately to words like “play” and “outside”.
And surprisingly, they seemed to understand regardless of whether the words were spoken by their owners or triggered by pressing a button.
It also didn’t matter whether the buttons were pressed by the owner or an unrelated person.
The findings suggest that the four-legged friends are not just “reading” their owners’ body language or presence but appear to be processing the words.
“This study addresses public skepticism about whether dogs truly understand what the buttons mean,” said associate professor Federico Rossano, from Department of Cognitive Science at UC San Diego.
“Our findings are important because they show that words matter to dogs, and that they respond to the words themselves, not just to associated cues.
“We’re just scratching the surface in this study.
“Future studies will explore how dogs actively use these buttons, including the meaning and systematicity behind sequences of button presses.
“Our research underscores the importance of studying animals in their home environment, providing a more ecologically valid understanding of their abilities.”
The findings were published in the PLOS ONE journal.
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