The thing I miss most about home is easily my dog. Coming home everyday to someone who is genuinely happy to see you no matter what the situation is such a nice feeling. Pets have a way of making their owners happy in ways that no one else can. My dog’s super small and I know that even if I’m being clumsy and he runs under my feet and as a result I accidentally kick him, he’ll still love me regardless. Dogs don’t hold grudges, but that makes me wonder how much dogs do understand?
Does my dog really know when I’m upset, sick, excited, or happy? Recently, we have discovered how truly amazing a dogs nose is. Apparently, according to Jeffery Masson, dogs senses are so strong that they can sniff cancer. Also, since we perspire significantly more when we’re afraid or nervous, dogs can smell this odor. This is the same is with adrenaline and stress. If you think about it, dogs can tell what we’ve done all done due to their incredible sense of smell. They can sniff out where we went, what we ate, and what activities we did. However, can they really understand what we are saying when we speak?
According to the New York Post, a dog’s particular vocabulary ranges from dog to dog. Some have a vocabulary of 4 and others can recognize up to 200 toys by name. Horowitz explains that when a dog is listening to us speak, they’re not really listening to the words we say, but to the sounds we make and our body language when we pronounce them. For example, as we walk to the door and say, “Who wants to go for a walk?” he’s not really listening to the words, but to the sounds and is paying attention to how we walked towards the door. Also, dogs can tell when an emergency is occurring. This is because dogs use routine to learn things, so when something is out of routine they immediately react.
Since dogs are used to routines set by their owners, that’s how they learn “right or wrong.” After a dog does something deemed “wrong” but its owner, then it usually puts its head down and will avoid eye contact with the owner. But I began do wonder if without routine the dog would understand right from wrong, sort of like the way that humans innately do. Different studies have been done, and recently scientists are beginning to recognize that humans aren’t the only ones who innately know right from wrong and that animals do, too! However, I think if humans and animals are the same with this concept, then there will obviously be animals who do value right from wrong more than other animals, like how it is with humans. The conclusion that animals completely understand things and “right from wrong” cannot be completely verified because of so many third variables. I personally believe that, like humans, it depends completely on the dog and its own individual personality.
http://nypost.com/2010/11/14/what-dogs-really-understand/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/5373379/Animals-can-tell-right-from-wrong.html
This post is really interesting and I notice it in my dogs. They run to the door when we ask if they want to go out, or run to where their treats are when we mention the word as well. I find it interesting that two different species can effectively communicate.
This post is so interesting, especially because I’m a huge dog lover myself! It’s nice to know that I’m not aimlessly talking to my dogs (I kind of feel less crazy now). I’ve always heard that dogs respond to the pitch of our voice rather than understanding the actual words coming out of our mouths, but it makes sense that they adjust to routine too. For example, when ever I say, “Do you guys want to go outside!?” and walk towards the back door, my dogs hop off the couch and run to the backyard, because they know it’s time to go to the bathroom. Maybe dogs and humans aren’t that different after all.