Dogs do understand when you say 'fetch the ball', research suggests

Dogs don't only understand commands such as "sit" and "stay", but will also understand words referring to their favourite objects, for example in the phrase "fetch the ball", a new study shows.

Research carried out in Hungary has found that beyond being able to respond to commands like “roll over,” dogs can learn to associate words with specific objects — a relationship with language called referential understanding that had been unproven in dogs until now.

It suggests animals genuinely activate a mental image in their minds when they hear the name of an object, something that would suggest a deeper grasp of language, similar to the kind that humans have.

"When we are talking about objects, objects are external to the dogs, and dogs have to learn that words refer, they stand for something that is external to them,” Marianna Boros, a cognitive neuroscientist and co-lead author of the study conducted by the Department of Ethology of the Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest, said. The study, which has been peer reviewed, was published in the science journal “Current Biology.”

It involved 18 dogs and a non-invasive EEG procedure using electrodes attached to dogs' heads to measure brain activity and register brain waves.

Dog owners participating in the study would play an audio clip in which they said the name of their dog's toy — like “ball” or “frisbee” — and then they would show the dog an object.

The researchers measured the dogs' brain activity when the object in the recording matched the object that was displayed, and also when it differed.

"We expected that if a dog really understands the meaning of the object's word, it will expect to see that object. And if the owner shows a different one, there will be a so-called surprise reaction in the brain," Ms Boros said. “And this is exactly what we found.”

The study found a different brain pattern when the dogs were shown an object that matched the word, compared to when it didn't.

Lilla Magyari, also a cognitive neuroscientist and co-lead author of the study, said that while other animals have been shown to have some degree of referential understanding of language, those animals have typically been highly trained to do so.

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In dogs, she said, the findings show that such capacities appear to be inborn and require no special training or talent.

While the study has received praise, some experts have expressed doubts about its findings.

Behavioral scientist and professor of psychology at Arizona State University, Clive Wynne, said in a post on Facebook that he believes that all the study shows is that dogs respond to stimuli — but that they don’t actually understand the meaning of specific words.

Scientists believe the first dogs began to be domesticated by humans up to 30,000 years ago, and have lived closely alongside us ever since. But whether dogs acquired their apparent capacity to understand referential language during that evolution remains unclear.