Some Super-Smart Dogs Can Learn New Words Just By Eavesdropping (npr.org)
(Thursday January 08, 2026 @10:30PM (BeauHD)
from the toddlers-with-fur dept.)
- Reference: 0180550729
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/01/08/2249216/some-super-smart-dogs-can-learn-new-words-just-by-eavesdropping
- Source link: https://www.npr.org/2026/01/08/nx-s1-5667604/genius-dogs-learn-new-words-eavesdropping
An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR:
> [I]t turns out that some genius dogs can learn a brand new word, like the name of an unfamiliar toy, [1]by just overhearing brief interactions between two people . What's more, these "gifted" dogs can learn the name of a new toy even if they first hear this word when the toy is out of sight -- as long as their favorite human is looking at the spot where the toy is hidden. That's according to a [2]new study in the journal Science . "What we found in this study is that the dogs are using social communication. They're using these social cues to understand what the owners are talking about," says cognitive scientist Shany Dror of Eotvos Lorand University and the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna. "This tells us that the ability to use social information is actually something that humans probably had before they had language," she says, "and language was kind of hitchhiking on these social abilities."
>
> [...] "There's only a very small group of dogs that are able to learn this differentiation and then can learn that certain labels refer to specific objects," she says. "It's quite hard to train this and some dogs seem to just be able to do it." [...] To explore the various ways that these dogs are capable of learning new words, Dror and some colleagues conducted a study that involved two people interacting while their dog sat nearby and watched. One person would show the other a brand new toy and talk about it, with the toy's name embedded into sentences, such as "This is your armadillo. It has armadillo ears, little armadillo feet. It has a tail, like an armadillo tail." Even though none of this language was directed at the dogs, it turns out the super-learners registered the new toy's name and were later able to pick it out of a pile, at the owner's request.
>
> To do this, the dogs had to go into a separate room where the pile was located, so the humans couldn't give them any hints. Dror says that as she watched the dogs on camera from the other room, she was "honestly surprised" because they seemed to have so much confidence. "Sometimes they just immediately went to the new toy, knowing what they're supposed to do," she says. "Their performance was really, really high." She and her colleagues wondered if what mattered was the dog being able to see the toy while its name was said aloud, even if the words weren't explicitly directed at the dog. So they did another experiment that created a delay between the dog seeing a new toy and hearing its name. The dogs got to see the unfamiliar toy and then the owner dropped the toy in a bucket, so it was out of sight. Then the owner would talk to the dog, and mention the toy's name, while glancing down at the bucket. While this was more difficult for dogs, overall they still could use this information to learn the name of the toy and later retrieve it when asked. "This shows us how flexible they are able to learn," says Dror. "They can use different mechanisms and learn under different conditions."
[1] https://www.npr.org/2026/01/08/nx-s1-5667604/genius-dogs-learn-new-words-eavesdropping
[2] http://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adq5474
> [I]t turns out that some genius dogs can learn a brand new word, like the name of an unfamiliar toy, [1]by just overhearing brief interactions between two people . What's more, these "gifted" dogs can learn the name of a new toy even if they first hear this word when the toy is out of sight -- as long as their favorite human is looking at the spot where the toy is hidden. That's according to a [2]new study in the journal Science . "What we found in this study is that the dogs are using social communication. They're using these social cues to understand what the owners are talking about," says cognitive scientist Shany Dror of Eotvos Lorand University and the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna. "This tells us that the ability to use social information is actually something that humans probably had before they had language," she says, "and language was kind of hitchhiking on these social abilities."
>
> [...] "There's only a very small group of dogs that are able to learn this differentiation and then can learn that certain labels refer to specific objects," she says. "It's quite hard to train this and some dogs seem to just be able to do it." [...] To explore the various ways that these dogs are capable of learning new words, Dror and some colleagues conducted a study that involved two people interacting while their dog sat nearby and watched. One person would show the other a brand new toy and talk about it, with the toy's name embedded into sentences, such as "This is your armadillo. It has armadillo ears, little armadillo feet. It has a tail, like an armadillo tail." Even though none of this language was directed at the dogs, it turns out the super-learners registered the new toy's name and were later able to pick it out of a pile, at the owner's request.
>
> To do this, the dogs had to go into a separate room where the pile was located, so the humans couldn't give them any hints. Dror says that as she watched the dogs on camera from the other room, she was "honestly surprised" because they seemed to have so much confidence. "Sometimes they just immediately went to the new toy, knowing what they're supposed to do," she says. "Their performance was really, really high." She and her colleagues wondered if what mattered was the dog being able to see the toy while its name was said aloud, even if the words weren't explicitly directed at the dog. So they did another experiment that created a delay between the dog seeing a new toy and hearing its name. The dogs got to see the unfamiliar toy and then the owner dropped the toy in a bucket, so it was out of sight. Then the owner would talk to the dog, and mention the toy's name, while glancing down at the bucket. While this was more difficult for dogs, overall they still could use this information to learn the name of the toy and later retrieve it when asked. "This shows us how flexible they are able to learn," says Dror. "They can use different mechanisms and learn under different conditions."
[1] https://www.npr.org/2026/01/08/nx-s1-5667604/genius-dogs-learn-new-words-eavesdropping
[2] http://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adq5474
Well, MY Golden Retriever is super-smart! (Score:2)
by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 )
Problem is, she also has the attention span of an ADHD toddler.
... Unless there's something you don't want her doing. Then she's seemingly able to focus for hours or even days.
I have a dog (Score:2)
by RitchCraft ( 6454710 )
I have a dog that is as dumb as nine rocks. I love him mind you. But just .. so .. dumb.
Some Terriers Lean Words Quickly (Score:2)
by crunchygranola ( 1954152 )
I know from experience. I had a Jack Russel Terrier mix who on his own (not taught) learned a couple of hundred words I estimate. The word "vet" would make him dash off and hide. Any word for a food he liked he would learn quickly -- if we said it he would bark loudly. Also words about going outside. We began spelling food words or using euphemisms ("canine doctor"). Not quite as impressive as the dogs described here, but then he was never tested like that so maybe he could have done it.
Dog intelligence (Score:2)
Some of my dog friends are certainly smarter than some people I am familiar with (although for some of those people it is not an especially high bar).
Re: (Score:2)
There's a fun quote I can't find the source of, about why bear-proof trash cans are a tricky problem. "The intelligence of smart bears overlaps that of dumb tourists." Or something like that.