But anyway, have you ever wondered if your dog knew what you were saying?  I always have.  How can my dog differentiate “want a treat?” from “bad girl!”?  I always thought it was based off the tone of your voice, because obviously when you’re yelling it’s a much more stern tone, rather than when you’re cooing at them.  

Studies show that the average dog is able to understand approximately 165 words. Now I’m not saying dogs are born with a select vocabulary of 165 dog-related terms, for it does take some training.  Obviously dogs are more likely to pick up more quickly on words like “leash” “treat” “walk” and other words you use frequently, though a dog’s vocabulary has the ability to be a little more advanced.  I’d like to believe my dog knows can distinguish everyone in my family based on hearing their names.  For instance, whenever I say “Lucky, where’s Thomas?! (my little brother)” she will in fact run over to him.  It’s amazing that dogs can understand you and do what you say without having to say anything back at all.

In addition, dogs can sense when you’re feeling sad, angry or happy.  Although your tone of voice has a lot to do with it,dogs are able to pick up on changes in your mood. For instance, dogs are more likely to approach a crying person than a person just sitting there, because they are both interested and feel an emotional attachment to you.  Essentially, a dog is the friend you need when you’re crying, they comfort you without saying anything that could make it worse.

And to top it all off, here’s a picture of my dog.  I talked about her enough so you definitely deserve to see her