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Do you think animals can understand humans???

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    #32
    uprising
    Closed Accounts Posts: 790 ✭✭✭uprising


    I believe some dogs are more intelligent than others,like us humans, you have very intelligent dogs that understand everything from very complex commands and instructions to very supple changes in human mood/feelings, while others just think life is about balls and sticks.
    But really we dont know how their brains function and what senses they have that we dont, like the tsunami for instance, all the animals fled to the hills long before it arrived while the humans lay on the beach.
    But the answer to your question is "no"they dont understand us, they (animals in general) watch us destroy the enviroment, their habitat, hunt and kill them, lock them up for our viewing pleasure etc..
    Sometimes I cant understnd humans myself.


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    #33
    Jay P
    Registered Users Posts: 4,944 ✭✭✭Jay P


    I remember reading a while ago about training a dog. You can train the dof to do any of its routine tasks, such as going for a walk, by saying the same phrase so it gets used to hearing this. You can also train the dog to go to the jacks when You want just by training him with a certain word!


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    #34
    4zn76tysfajdxp
    Closed Accounts Posts: 27,944 ✭✭✭✭4zn76tysfajdxp


    emeraldstar wrote: »
    Had he any interesting insights to offer?

    My dog told me that it was going to be ruff.


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    #35
    javaboy
    Registered Users Posts: 15,094 ✭✭✭✭javaboy


    Brenda Pitiful Passenger wrote: »
    My dog told me that it was going to be ruff.

    You used to be cool Brenda Pitiful Passenger.


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    #36
    4zn76tysfajdxp
    Closed Accounts Posts: 27,944 ✭✭✭✭4zn76tysfajdxp


    javaboy wrote: »
    You used to be cool Frada.

    No I didn't. :confused:


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    #37
    Sharpshooter
    Registered Users Posts: 31,859 ✭✭✭✭Sharpshooter


    jumpguy wrote: »
    Same way as when we see a red-mite or something we have no idea what it's doing wandering around on top of the wall.

    I hate them feckers.:mad:

    I was reading in the garden a couple of weeks ago when we had the really hot weather and I closed my Bret Hart book to go inside for a cold drink, not realising one was on the page.:mad:

    Now it's stained with the spider mite's blood.:mad:

    I went inside and got Jeyes Fluid and took the whole lot of them out with one pour.

    My poor book.:(


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    #38
    anniehoo
    Registered Users Posts: 6,596 ✭✭✭anniehoo


    FearDark wrote: »
    Yap yap yap...

    Pant...
    *gives dog biscuit* Clever boy!

    *cant believe that was my 1000th post yay though :D


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    #39
    jumpguy
    Registered Users Posts: 7,962 ✭✭✭jumpguy


    Sharpshooter wrote: »
    I hate them feckers.:mad:

    I was reading in the garden a couple of weeks ago when we had the really hot weather and I closed my Bret Hart book to go inside for a cold drink, not realising one was on the page.:mad:

    Now it's stained with the spider mite's blood.:mad:

    I went inside and got Jeyes Fluid and took the whole lot of them out with one pour.

    My poor book.:(
    I grieve for your poor book. Them red-mites are like book-ruining kamikaze's, aren't they? Today I was walking home and I saw them on my pier. There was an exciting battle going on between these grey mites and the red ones. The red ones were being defeated at the Battle of the Yellow Pier. Nonetheless, I felt sorry for the plight of the little fellow's, and blew away all the brown mites to give the red ones a chance for a counter-attack.

    I like to think I changed many lives today.


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    #40
    FearDark
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 9,425 ✭✭✭FearDark


    anniehoo wrote: »
    *gives dog biscuit* Clever boy!

    *cant believe that was my 1000th post yay though :D

    *wags tail*

    Enough...! I wanna talk again!

    Closing in on my 1000th! :D


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    #41
    FearDark
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 9,425 ✭✭✭FearDark


    Sharpshooter... whats yer deal with Bret anyway? Surely at this point you know everything there is to know about the man!!! Come on, Well he is a legend and all and I still have the pink shades from when I was in primary school, seriously - your stalker material though!!! :pac:

    Dogs would defo snarl and bark at you, stalker!


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    #42
    anniehoo
    Registered Users Posts: 6,596 ✭✭✭anniehoo


    FearDark wrote: »

    Closing in on my 1000th! :D
    Careful AC will whip it off ya if ye make it too obvious. Back to dog mode :D


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    #43
    conchubhar1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,653 ✭✭✭conchubhar1


    seriously tho

    they dont understand humans - they learn to understand through doing it so much

    if you went ''boogawoogadingdong'' everytime you wanted to walk them - they would act the same

    thats not to say they are stupid


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    #44
    ScumLord
    Registered Users Posts: 28,789 ✭✭✭✭ScumLord


    Most people underestimate other animals while the rest overestimate their ability's.

    All animals are as intelligent as they have to be, dogs have a head start though, they're very in tune with people they've been by our side for thousands of years and where a very social animal to begin with.

    conchubhar1 wrote: »
    do you think humans can understand animals?

    like woof - is bad
    but a bark - they mean business

    polly wanna cracker?
    Definitely, I walked into my friends house the other night, the dog was asleep and popped up. He scared the **** out of me (because I scared the **** out of him) but once he saw it was me he calmed down to a (WTF don't sneak up on me like that) bark.


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    #45
    Zillah
    Registered Users Posts: 17,371 ✭✭✭✭Zillah


    javaboy wrote: »
    Most if not all of that is just association. Say walkies when you feed him and foodies when you walk him and you'll get my point. They just learn to associate the noises and tones with the actions through experience.

    It's basically conditioning: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_conditioning

    And how exactly do you think we learn language?
    It's the same thing, just more complicated

    So yes, animals can understand, they're just really stupid and take a long time to learn even a little.
    conchubhar1 wrote: »
    if you went ''boogawoogadingdong'' everytime you wanted to walk them - they would act the same

    If you said "boogawoogadingdong" to a baby every time you turned on the TV, when he get's older he'll point at the TV and say boogawoogadingdong. If you say "SmushMush" everytime you got in a car he'd think a car was called smushmush.

    That's how animals (including humans) learn language. It's called context.


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    #46
    conchubhar1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,653 ✭✭✭conchubhar1


    yes - but no one else would say those things

    and the kid would learn eventualy, slightly confused as to why the **** their parent was a nutcase, and go on learning (the ''correct'' words and ways).

    a dog doesnt do this.


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    #47
    javaboy
    Registered Users Posts: 15,094 ✭✭✭✭javaboy


    Zillah wrote: »
    And how exactly do you think we learn language?
    It's the same thing, just more complicated

    So yes, animals can understand, they're just really stupid and take a long time to learn even a little.

    I know how we learn initially. It evolves from simple association though. As for whether the animals understand, I guess that depends on your definition of understanding.


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    #48
    conchubhar1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,653 ✭✭✭conchubhar1


    its more recognising the sounds than understanding the language


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    #49
    orestes
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,972 ✭✭✭orestes


    Animals can associate sounds/actions with certain things, Pavlov and all that. They can also be quite good at picking up on emotional queues through body language. I think they can react to humans but not understand them if ya know what I mean?
    Tomebagel wrote: »
    Me and my dog had a full blown conversation yesterday,we talked about the recession.

    Your dog posts on AH too?
    445279.ie wrote: »
    Well how do you explain Lassie and Flipper then :confused:

    Skippy taught them
    My name is URL wrote: »
    If I told him not to he probably would. =p

    Seriously, sometimes I drag him half off the sofa so that his front legs are on the floor and he just sits with his arse on the couch looking at me..

    I know he's laughing inside

    That's different, your dog is clearly just an evil bastard :D
    Tomebagel wrote: »
    Its affecting him badly,he was let go from the pound.

    What a waste of a good potential for a currency related pun :(
    FearDark wrote: »
    Sharpshooter... whats yer deal with Bret anyway? Surely at this point you know everything there is to know about the man!!! Come on, Well he is a legend and all and I still have the pink shades from when I was in primary school, seriously - your stalker material though!!! :pac:

    Dogs would defo snarl and bark at you, stalker!

    Oh now you've gone and done it

    /leaves thread before Sharpshooter gets back


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    #50
    mateo
    Closed Accounts Posts: 147 ✭✭mateo


    My dog understood the word we used for going in the car. He loved going in it, bless him.


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    #51
    Sharpshooter
    Registered Users Posts: 31,859 ✭✭✭✭Sharpshooter


    orestes wrote: »
    Oh now you've gone and done it

    /leaves thread before Sharpshooter gets back

    What makes you think I ever left?:cool:

    Tosses orestes back to PW.:P


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    #52
    Cupcake_Crisis
    Closed Accounts Posts: 21,448 ✭✭✭✭Cupcake_Crisis


    uprising wrote: »
    I believe some dogs are more intelligent than others,like us humans, you have very intelligent dogs that understand everything from very complex commands and instructions to very supple changes in human mood/feelings, while others just think life is about balls and sticks.
    But really we dont know how their brains function and what senses they have that we dont, like the tsunami for instance, all the animals fled to the hills long before it arrived while the humans lay on the beach.
    But the answer to your question is "no"they dont understand us, they (animals in general) watch us destroy the enviroment, their habitat, hunt and kill them, lock them up for our viewing pleasure etc..
    Sometimes I cant understnd humans myself.


    You just killed my buzz man!

    When i say 'bath' my dog hides under the stairs and cries. Its oddly touching :o


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    #53
    Belinda_Coopers
    Closed Accounts Posts: 15 ✭Belinda_Coopers


    I have Bearded Dragons, and from time to time I like to think they "get" me :D


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    #54
    ScumLord
    Registered Users Posts: 28,789 ✭✭✭✭ScumLord


    Belinda_Coopers wrote: »
    I have Bearded Dragons, and from time to time I like to think they "get" me :D
    Are you a bearded dragon too by any chance?


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    #55
    Belinda_Coopers
    Closed Accounts Posts: 15 ✭Belinda_Coopers


    ScumLord wrote: »
    Are you a bearded dragon too by any chance?
    ya, no! I just like Lizards that's all. I do have Chinchilla's does that make me sound more warm and cuddly? ;)


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    #56
    ScumLord
    Registered Users Posts: 28,789 ✭✭✭✭ScumLord


    Had to google them things.
    Belinda_Coopers wrote: »
    ya, no! I just like Lizards that's all. I do have Chinchilla's does that make me sound more warm and cuddly? ;)
    No it just makes you weird. :pac:

    I have two Turtles that prefer human flesh to turtle food.


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    #57
    DarkJager
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,960 ✭✭✭DarkJager


    uprising wrote: »
    I believe some dogs are more intelligent than others,like us humans, you have very intelligent dogs that understand everything from very complex commands and instructions to very supple changes in human mood/feelings, while others just think life is about balls and sticks.
    But really we dont know how their brains function and what senses they have that we dont, like the tsunami for instance, all the animals fled to the hills long before it arrived while the humans lay on the beach.
    But the answer to your question is "no"they dont understand us, they (animals in general) watch us destroy the enviroment, their habitat, hunt and kill them, lock them up for our viewing pleasure etc..
    Sometimes I cant understnd humans myself.

    /lays violin on shoulder

    /plays sad song


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    #58
    stovelid
    Closed Accounts Posts: 27,252 ✭✭✭✭stovelid


    javaboy wrote: »
    Most if not all of that is just association. Say walkies when you feed him and foodies when you walk him and you'll get my point. They just learn to associate the noises and tones with the actions through experience.

    It's basically conditioning: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_conditioning

    I've just asked my cat about this and she said it's all bollocks.


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    #59
    Rosedale6
    Closed Accounts Posts: 160 ✭✭Rosedale6


    conchubhar1 wrote: »
    its more recognising the sounds than understanding the language


    Very true, if i say something in a normal voice then i get ignored but change the tone and its a different story.


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    #60
    tSubh Dearg
    Hosted Moderators Posts: 5,555 ✭✭✭tSubh Dearg


    Illustration of what dogs understand:

    http://z.hubpages.com/u/209782_f520.jpg


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