Does your dog really know their name? An explanation of how dogs understand words

Well, kinda. But maybe not in the way that you know your name.

The concept of words doesn’t exist to dogs. So while we choose “words” to have meanings for dogs, the dog’s aren’t hearing words. They’re hearing sounds. And when you think of a word as a sound, you may begin to realize how many sounds you can make with one word. See where this is going yet?

Let’s look at the word “Good”. Which is often a marker word that is used in dog training. The word “good” can be said in a staccato and to the point way— “Good.”. Or you could say “goooOooOoOod” in a more upbeat, excitable tone. To humans, both mean “good” but for a dog without any prior conditioning? Those are two different sounds, and therefore they are two different words. This is why your tone and inflection is so important to be aware of when communicating with your dog because you could change the word completely from the dog’s perspective by just changing how you say it.

Now how does a dog come to understand what a word or sound means? Through association. For example, a dogs’ name is often taught through calling the dogs’ name, and then offering a reward to the dog when they acknowledge you making that sound. Eventually that sound, if repeated consistently enough, becomes a cue for that dog that you have something for them. And if what you’ve been offering is valuable enough, they’ll start looking for you when you call their name. But it’s not because they’re thinking “oh! That’s me, I’m ‘Clyde’. I’ll be right there!” They’re just playing out a pattern that has been conditioned over time.

Which brings me to the question that some of you may have: can you change a dog’s name? You can! It’s really not that big of a deal, and you can very easily change your dog’s name through conditioning. So if you’ve had your eye on that one rescue dog and you just can’t stand the name ‘Darla’ — don’t let that stop you from getting that dog!

And the next time you’re communicating with your dog with words, think about the sound you’re making and notice how your dog responds when you change the inflection or tone a little bit. Have you conditioned your dog to understand those words? Or are you creating more confusion?