Can your dog understand you?

I have no doubt she understands when we talk to her. She loves swimming and knows that if we ask her if she wants to go to the river, she's going swimming. She knows what going camping means, and we can ask her who lives here and she runs to the front door and back door and barks to let everyone or anyone outside know she lives here. And she really knows what 'want ice cream?' means lol

I think some dogs can develop an understanding far greater then basic commands. I had a beag-a-poo (part beagle and poodle) that was incredibly smart. She knew all the basic tricks and some that were very unique. But tricks are taught. However, this dog could count up to seven. At night, we'd give her different numbers of treats and tell her how many we were giving. We didn't think anything of it until she started howling and walked off and turned her back to us. We couldn't figure out why. Obviously she was mad. A few days later, she did it again and we realized we had short changed the number. This dog also had three different leashes: green, blue, and pink. Again, if you even said or spelled the color (not relating to a walk), she'd grab the correct leash. If you didn't specify a color, she would not get excited for any reason. The dog also knew most of my relatives by name, which provided alot of enjoyment. Especially in a house full of company where she would get lots of treats.

They recognise the sounds and the tone of your voice and associate these words with actions that you use too. It is just familiar for them. He sounds gorgeous though.

lol. our dogs know "What are you doing in there?!, You better not be chewing on that!, Do you want a biscuit?, Move along nothing to see here-shows over!, and last but certainly not least "play nice!!" and like yours...they both have selective hearing and the youngest likes to "back talk" when you tell him no about something. lol its funny cause you can hear him walking away just grumbling under his breath.

I believe that they understand the things that you say, but I believe it is tone of voice too. I tell my Miko "outside" or "inside", do you want a treat?, what's the matter?, do you wanna play?, things like that and he responds. Most of the time he lets me know what he is wanting. They are great communicators. If his water dish is out of water, he will flip the dish over and over until I put water in it, same with his food dish. If he wants something he has learned to talk to me. He makes little yipping sounds and hops from paw to paw until I go to find out what he wants. Usually he wants a treat from the pantry or he wants to go outside to sit in the yard. He is an old fella and likes to just sit and watch everything. SO, yeah, I believe that they understand things we say!

My three dogs go nuts when you ask " wanna go out?" My female german shepard starts prancing around its so cute. When I ask " do you wanna treat" my male german shepard runs to the kitchen barking all the way. They both do little thing like this for just about any question you ask that pertains to them. Somtimes I ask where a certain child is an the two german shepards bring him/her to me. That is my favorite trick.

I think they can too. Not just dogs, but other animals too. Our dogs understand inside, outside when I want them to come in or out of the house. One of the dogs can be a little aggessive with the cats. He understands my tone of voice if not the words when I remind him to leave the cats alone.

yes, I think so , most of my friends all think so , I think dogs are best friend of human being, they can understand more than other animals, like cat , pig and others, even you know in the police office lots of dogs help do lots of work that human being can't finish. I have a little dog ,named billy, he is very cute. every day I come back from work, he will await me near the door. I love that little guy.

Dogs can most assuridly understand what you say, you just have to teach them just like you would a child if you expect them to understand. I used to help my family train dogs, and we had to teach them every day. We would go over the same command like a hundred times a day, it teaches the dog and imprints the command into they're mind.

yeps my dog understands me, a simple tossed in my hand he can easily understands what i meant.. run, sit, stand, jump, lie down, fetch, a simple command my dog understands it..

I have two cats. One of them is deaf. Neither one of us speak sign language. I had to find another way to comunicate with her. She does speak water bottle! LOL I saw a really great dog trainer on Oprah yesterday!

i am only able to teach my dog, sit, up and down only. :P I teach a neighbor's dog how to fetch stick back to me though. I just don't know why i couldn't teach my own dog to do that. They just want to play catch me if you can. And they never understand what im saying except for the three words.

I think they do know what other words or sentences mean. If we say "go outside or pee" they run for the door, "ready for work" is the sign to jump in the van for work, and my personal favorite is "go tell sissy" is what my mom tells them so they come find me. They know a few more but these are my top ones. Animals are smart, I wish I could teach them the one about the leash though.

yes... dogs understand what we people are trying to say... they really do... it takes love to understand...

i do believe that my dog knows me a lot. she knows when i am angry or happy and sad. when i am angry, she will just behave and stay put. when i am happy, she plays around with me. when i am sad, she lays her head on my lap and looks at me wondering. when i am talking to her... like "how are you?" or "are you okey?" she look at me straight in the eye while her head twists wondering. i potty trained her and she got it quick. i mean, dogs are really fun to be with if one just gives them time to spend with. and i am glad i have a dog who understands me. makes my day a lot brighter. happy myLotting!

my dog understands everything i say, they are both so human like its not funny. i include them as part as my family, they are my kids basically.

Mostly dogs respond to tone of voice but recognise that if they produce certain behaviour in response to their owner making certain noises (words and phrases)this elicits reward by the owner and by extension other humans. This is conditioning not understanding of a language, the sounds do not represent objects or actions but are merely tokens associated with particular behaviour. all the best urban

Sorry,i dont have a dog and i dont intend to keep one but still those are very interesting facts that u told us.

my dog understands me definitely. when i'm upset, it just sit in one corner be sad at the same time... my former puppy which i really took care of knows what i like. it kinda helps me do things easier by cheering me up!

yes, I know he can understand me, not in words though but in feelings, when I am sad, he is always there at my side, yes, very unusual but he did really stays at my side, hays. really! my Dog is my bestfriend.