Can Dogs Understand Us?

Having a pet is an exciting experience. It always adds to your learning curve, especially dogs are one of the most intriguing animals to pet. They are not only faithful but also exhibit unique traits. You can easily communicate with dogs as the research confirms the fact that they understand us. 

Let us have a look at to what extent this is true.

Language skills and Canines

When it comes to “understanding” your language, your dog is likely to identify and relate to some commonly used words. If you say “sit!” your dog would sit down or “Let us take a walk”, they would go get their leash. This behaviour of dogs implies that they do understand us. Now, this brings us to the question, “How do they understand us?”

How do dogs understand us?

This is an exciting aspect of canine language skills. Dogs have different cognitive processes in their brain. They focus more on “how” the words are being uttered rather than “What” words are being said. They are very observant and watch our body language and physical signs; to understand what we want them to do. For example, if you offered your dog food with a smiling face, they would also be excited and come to their feeding bowl. But if you say something with a growl or an angry face, they could go into their shell and whine. 

Another way for dogs to understand us is their ability to relate different words. The behaviour is quite similar to human infants. Like human babies, dogs might not understand the whole sentence, but they would associate different words. For instance, they would relate “trees, grass, walk, birds” to going for a walk. 

What do Dogs understand?

The mechanism mentioned above is not the only one to work. Some dogs understand the words irrespective of the fact how you utter them. According to recent research on dogs’ brains and their working, they have 2 sides in their brains. The left side processes the meaning of a word, whereas the right side makes the interpretation. Now it depends on the dog what side of the brain they make better use of. If your dog utilizes the left side of their brain more than the right one, they will understand the word as it is. 

How and What goes hand-in-hand

In some research, it has been found that sometimes the dogs draw a balance and use both sides of their brains. In such cases, the dogs try to grasp both the words as well as the body language of the humans. Well, this is yet another interesting way of nature that they tend to process the words and then interpret them considering the way they are spoken at the same time. 

The Take-Away

In the light of the above scientific research and observations, it is safe to say that dogs happen to be intelligent creatures, who not only understand us but are also able to process the information in their own way.