Does your dog pick up on conversations?
Discussion
Sometimes our Golden does stuff and it seems as if he's picked up and understood a conversation. Interested to hear other experiences.
Mostly we've thought he's just picked up on a 'command' word contained within a sentence and acted on that, which seems as if he's understood the sentence and the context.
For example one day he's trying to get his blankets which after washing had been folded and put in the corner on top of his crate. He's up on his hind legs trying to get them and can't, he knows he can't reach them but still tries. At the other end of the room I whisper that "I wonder why he's never tried to jump on top?" Wham, literally a second later the dog jumps on top of crate.
Our reasoning then he picked up on the word jump and acted accordingly.
However tonight it got us wondering further as we've started to avoid using 'command' words in situations like that. He has a marrow bone, gets it for a few hours every so often and then it's put to one side for a break. It's getting a bit manky now, half the knuckle end left. So as I've got ready to take him out for his late night walk have a nod and a wink, nudge nudge conversation with Mrs FiF for her to pick up said bone while we're out and dispose of it. We never mentioned the word bone, or gestured to it, or in any way signalled what we were discussing. Or so we thought.
Turned round to find the dog has followed me in from the kitchen, he gave me the dirtiest of looks, promptly went and picked up his bone, and took it on his walk.
WTF!
Mostly we've thought he's just picked up on a 'command' word contained within a sentence and acted on that, which seems as if he's understood the sentence and the context.
For example one day he's trying to get his blankets which after washing had been folded and put in the corner on top of his crate. He's up on his hind legs trying to get them and can't, he knows he can't reach them but still tries. At the other end of the room I whisper that "I wonder why he's never tried to jump on top?" Wham, literally a second later the dog jumps on top of crate.
Our reasoning then he picked up on the word jump and acted accordingly.
However tonight it got us wondering further as we've started to avoid using 'command' words in situations like that. He has a marrow bone, gets it for a few hours every so often and then it's put to one side for a break. It's getting a bit manky now, half the knuckle end left. So as I've got ready to take him out for his late night walk have a nod and a wink, nudge nudge conversation with Mrs FiF for her to pick up said bone while we're out and dispose of it. We never mentioned the word bone, or gestured to it, or in any way signalled what we were discussing. Or so we thought.
Turned round to find the dog has followed me in from the kitchen, he gave me the dirtiest of looks, promptly went and picked up his bone, and took it on his walk.
WTF!
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