# Verbal Intelligence



## will fernandez (May 17, 2006)

When I start a young dog in bitework coming out of the patrol car...I always say "where is that bad man" after a few bites the connection is made....That the phrase means hunt and bite the bad man. Does that mean they are smart or dumb? He also recognizes the bite command as yes, ok, a click, vast and stellen..dumb or smart? Just curious


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## Sarah Platts (Jan 12, 2010)

If I remember the argument it was basic commands: sit, stay, down, heel, fetch, over (jump), come, crate, dog's name, no. And that's 10. 
And they don't understand sentences, and only really, really smart dogs can effectively learn more commands and respond to them correctly or consistantly.

I'm not going to argue whether this is accurate or not. I've already done that argument several times both on the lists and in real life. I know that in an idle moment I made a list of the commands/phrases my sar dogs respond to and quit when I got to 60. I didn't see the point to continue. And I'm constantly adding in new stuff as the situation demands it. My experiences tell me that I consistantly underestimate my dog's scenting capabilities and their mental cognition. But then I have dogs bred for intelligence and they must make command decisions without me (it's that wilful disobedience thing again).


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## will fernandez (May 17, 2006)

I am not trying to argue....I am sure that a dog can respond to many verbal and non verbal cues...


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## Sarah Platts (Jan 12, 2010)

will fernandez said:


> I am not trying to argue....I am sure that a dog can understand many verbal and non verbal cues...


yeah, I know but after seeing some of the posts on other strings it makes me leery. Never realized there were so many closet cat people masquerading as dog folks.


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## will fernandez (May 17, 2006)

I just never thought of it as verbal intelligence...just thought it was training


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## Alice Bezemer (Aug 4, 2010)

will fernandez said:


> When I start a young dog in bitework coming out of the patrol car...I always say "where is that bad man" after a few bites the connection is made....That the phrase means hunt and bite the bad man. Does that mean they are smart or dumb? He also recognizes the bite command as yes, ok, a click, vast and stellen..dumb or smart? Just curious


Very good question and topic. I wonder if its verbal intelligence or good reading of the handler/trainer? Tone of voice and demeanor towards the dog are a huge impact on the words we use as commands so do they really take the meaning of the words or do they asociate the tone of the command with what is being asked?

I don't see it as verbal intelligence tho? Its training, the dog associates one word with one action. It does not comprehend the meaning of the words, it just knows that one sound demands a certain reaction and it goes from there. 

I use a ton of words during a lot of exercises and it has happened to me often enough that I made the mistake of using the wrong word but the dog still responded in the correct manner.... So for me, verbal intelligance, no.


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## Thomas Barriano (Mar 27, 2006)

Alice Bezemer said:


> Very good question and topic. I wonder if its verbal intelligence or good reading of the handler/trainer? Tone of voice and demeanor towards the dog are a huge impact on the words we use as commands so do they really take the meaning of the words or do they asociate the tone of the command with what is being asked?
> 
> I don't see it as verbal intelligence tho? Its training, the dog associates one word with one action. It does not comprehend the meaning of the words, it just knows that one sound demands a certain reaction and it goes from there.
> 
> I use a ton of words during a lot of exercises and it has happened to me often enough that I made the mistake of using the wrong word but the dog still responded in the correct manner.... So for me, verbal intelligance, no.


+1

I'm betting the dog is reading body posture and tone of voice etc. more the the actual words you're saying


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## Lynn Cheffins (Jul 11, 2006)

I think dogs are good readers/observers of human actions/behaviours and creatures of habit. You can use a the wrong word in the right context and vice versa and still get the desired action. My housedogs all spring into action when I put put socks on in the morning, because that leads to shoes and that leads to going outside. If I am delaying puttiing on socks they will get excited if I go to the sock drawer as sock selection means the start of that chain of events. If I put socks on before bedtime- no reaction - we're done for the day. Posture, body language, behaviour ticks can become part of the command and the dog can look like it doesn't know the "word" and he doesn't he knows the whole group of actions even if we aren't aware of them.


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## Kat Hunsecker (Oct 23, 2009)

I think dogs are hardwired to understand us, they have to be very observant and have to have a sense of verbal intelligence... Not saying they understand the meaning of a word.

Lots of experiments were done and are done, to test this, to see how capable the dog is in understanding the human. and with this his verbal communications. Puppies do understand the finger pointing with 8 weeks already, what other mammal does?!? The dogs does nothing better then study us all day to bridge the communication gap, to make the relationship work. And this cannot be achieved with only figuring out the body language. Though this is the most effective way. But why do you think handler help is penalized in a lot of competitions? There is a reason for that....


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## Joby Becker (Dec 13, 2009)

I watched the show about this dog.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wo...-border-collie/story?id=12875750#.Uc39TvnqmSo

the dog recognized over 1000 different objects by name. the dog also can immedieately learn the name of a brand new item, by the procsess of elimination.

meaning if a new toy is introduced, amidst 50 other toys that already have a name, and the dog is told to "find BINKY", and there is no toy present that already had the name BINKY, but also a toy that the dog has not seen yet and is unamed, the dog will bring back that unnamed toy, and recognize it as having that name for future reference..

not sure if this relates to much of the topic, but was fairly interesting for sure.


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## Sarah Platts (Jan 12, 2010)

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/science/18dog.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Article on Chaser, another experiment in dog vocabulary.




will fernandez said:


> I just never thought of it as verbal intelligence...just thought it was training


All language is training. You are not born knowing language but learn it through direct example, repetition, and training. I do not believe its so different for dogs. Maybe instead of calling it verbal intelligence it should just be intelligence. Some dogs (and people) pick up complex tasks quickly, some need more time or help. And some will never get it.


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## Sarah Platts (Jan 12, 2010)

Kat Hunsecker said:


> I think dogs are hardwired to understand us, they have to be very observant and have to have a sense of verbal intelligence... Not saying they understand the meaning of a word.


I think there is some validity to this. Since dogs have for generations been selected for close collaboration with humans I think they will have acquired some of the traits that make it easier for them to understand us.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

will fernandez said:


> I just never thought of it as verbal intelligence...just thought it was training




Ditto!
I've seen dogs that had weird words used for different commands. It's nothing more then a recognition of a sound in connection with a behavior. Trained or self taught. Doesn't matter.
If a person talks to their dog(s) all the time it may seem they are actually understanding whole phrases. I'm one that tlaks with my dogs and they DO understand but it's nothing more then connecting sound voice inflection and body language we give with those sounds.
If I walk outside and tell the dogs, in a high pitched, friendly voice that I'm going to skin the hide off of them if they come near me, will they run or come to me. 
If I'm in a crappy mood it doesn't matter how nice I talk or what I say, they know it! The wife sure knows and she tells me "No training". 8-[


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## Meg O'Donovan (Aug 20, 2012)

If the dog associates the sound its human makes with a particular action, place or item, that's a meaning.

For example, my dogs learn through me saying the same thing every time we do a routine thing. When we go out the door, I say "out to the yard" (which means 90 degree right turn) or "out to the car" (90 degree left turn). 

I've quizzed my Mal on this by standing behind her when giving the command, avoiding a physical cue. She distinguishes between the two words and knows easily where to go with either of those two commands. 

If I am walking up the mountain and say "out to the car", I doubt she will hang a hard left turn. I'll try it. I'll wait and see if she associates it with a direction, or with the vehicle itself. I suspect the latter, if anything. She may just stand confused because my usual command to return to the car after being in the woods is "load up". So, in the mountain context, if I say "out to the car" and if she goes to the car, that means she associates the word "car" with vehicle, not just direction.


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## John-Ashley Hill (Jan 5, 2011)

I agree it is not as much verbal intelligence as the dog reading the handler and recognizing the scenario or rituas/actions of the handler. My prior patrol dog knew we were tracking as soon as I popped the trunk and got out his harness and 15 ft. leash. I could have said any word I wanted once he was hooked up and ready and he would have tracked because he already knew what was going to happen. Likewise, I ran into a problem at one time with narcotics detection on vehicles. The dog knew that when he sat for a while in the back of the car and could hear other dogs in vehicles close by that narcotics training was going to happen. When I opened his door I could have said any word and I wanted and he would search any vehicles in the area. I uninentionally taught him this through the same routine/ ritual. Pull up in a parking lot with a few other handlers BS for a minute put some dope out on cars and then work each dog one by one. On the other side my dog also didnt need a command to conduct a free air sniff for narcotics on a vehicle that I conducted a traffic stop on. Same ritual and the dog learned. Chirp the siren, get out and talk to driver come back with leash in hand and he would search no matter what word I made up. I quickly learned to change up both rituals as Renzo to keep him true and not let become a cheat.


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