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Understanding of Referential (Social) Language in Dogs

Written by Edda Bevilacqua

It is well known that dogs can be taught to follow basic commands such as “sit” and “stay.” Object words, however, are learned more “referentially,” or socially. A study from Hungary showed that dogs can recognize object names by hearing them from their owners, even if they didn’t have a large vocabulary for such words. Marianne Boros, a scientist from Budapest, said “Dogs don’t react with a learned behavior to certain words. They activate a memory of an object when they hear its name.” 

This ability to make such connections was not related to how many item names they knew. It was more social and relationship based. Such social, or “referential,” language learning is based on the relationship a dog has with its owner and on other social relationships the animal forms.