[Dailydrool] Talk to the dog

[Riche Churchill]

I counted the words and phrases Sandi Wittenberg's dogs know (32) and am 
envious and impressed and all my dogs are in a deep depression. However, 
they did point out that Sandi's dogs apparently don't know any other 
languages, while mine smugly remind me that they know a number of words 
in German, Spanish and Censored. They also know the spelling of some 
words, and even resorting to Pig Latin doesn't always fool them.

That being said, I still don't think dogs in general know quite as many 
words as we humans imagine they do. A lot of what they understand or 
"translate" has much to do with tone and body language. As an example, 
we have two deaf dogs who respond just as quickly to verbal commands as 
the others do. Much of the reason for this is that we humans are giving 
off body signals that we generally aren't aware of, but the dogs are 
very alert to posture, hand signals, even facial expression, not to 
mention whatever you have in your hands (car keys, leash, biscuit, etc.) 
in addition to awareness of time of day and general routine.

Words in print often don't convey what one meant. Most anyone on this 
list knows how often statements are misinterpreted because they are just 
words, with no accompanying smile, frown, hard stare or mischievous 
glint in eye to assist with interpretation. When I started this thread, 
it was meant to be humorous, not statistically correct. I know perfectly 
well my dogs know more than the few words I listed, but I also know I 
have a bad habit of speaking to or questioning them in long sentences 
they do not grasp, as in "Does anyone here know who left the puddle in 
the hallway?" Depending on HOW I ask, they either all continue sleeping 
or all jump up and look guilty. I know perfectly well who left the 
puddle, but no one else would know from the reactions. (And no, I don't 
know why I even bother to ask...unless it's a sort of stress reliever).

Riche (educated but not the world's authority on all things dog)