Do you think animals can understand humans???

useful_contacts · 03-07-2009 10:56pm #1

Was going to post in animal and pet issues- but its a general question not just for pet owners.

Personally i think they can, i mean when i say "dinner" my cat tears across the house like he is on fire. the other day when he was crying to me for his fave toy and i couldnt find it i said "wheres your toy honey" and he trotted off and led me to it(caught between two big pipes donno how he got it in there- but basically he needed me to get ot out for him)

My dog when i was 10 understood everything i said (i think) when i said the word "sad" or "kiss" he licked my face, when i said "play" he ran and got his ball

I mean what do ye all think- can animals understand humans or is it like the simpsons (ie- bla bla bla sit)

Random · 03-07-2009 10:57pm

My dog understands everything, says nothing, and knows I'm a cnut.

bronte · 03-07-2009 10:58pm

My cat can.

She knows when she's done something wrong!
Edit: If you pretend to cry she jumps up and comforts you!

javaboy · 03-07-2009 10:59pm

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

brummytom · 03-07-2009 10:59pm

Our cat's the same... call him by his name, he'll look at you, shout any other name, he doesn't.

Same with the word "dinner" he definitely knows what it means, because he'll go to his bowl and wait.

He doesn't seem to understand that we don't want him bringing in half-dead mice/birds into the house though.

My name is URL · 03-07-2009 10:59pm

My dog knows that when I say the word toilet, its time to jump up on the couch and refuse to move

Tomebagel · 03-07-2009 10:59pm

Me and my dog had a full blown conversation yesterday,we talked about the recession.

03-07-2009 11:00pm

I think thats more to do with routine than anything else, e.g Like if i go to put my shoes on the dog will think its going for a walk. If i go to the press with his food in it he'l think he's being fed.

Trinity · 03-07-2009 11:00pm

Yeah everything except come back ya cnut.

ah if i ask my dog for a hug he wraps his paws around my neck and if i say do the baby he lies back in the crook of my arms

My rabbit comes when ya call him, chases the dog, jumps out at him when hes not expecting it, great craic watching them

But i suppose it could also be repetative behaviour, i show him what a hug is and he associates the word with the action

Eire-Dearg · 03-07-2009 11:02pm

My dog definately knows most of what I'm saying, before when I was telling him to do something or go somewhere I'd point but nowadays I just say the word and he does it easily enough. I think dogs are a great way to relax, you can talk away to them and sub-consciously believe they know what you're saying.

CreepingDeath · 03-07-2009 11:02pm

useful_contacts wrote: »

Do you think animals can understand humans???

Nah, it's just simple animal psychological conditioning.
In the same way that mods will ban people for certain keywords.

galwayrush · 03-07-2009 11:02pm

Intelligent animals or educated \ trained ones?:P

enniscorthy · 03-07-2009 11:02pm

D.E.F.O. M.A.T.E.

Ruu_Old · 03-07-2009 11:02pm

If I am having a lie down to get rid of a headache, they come in and sit by me to make sure I'm ok. Sometimes I might even get my hair cleaned. hehehehahaooo

Whosbetter? · 03-07-2009 11:04pm

Ah animals, they don't understand us when we need something.
On the other hand, when they need something, they understand us perfectly!

Bit like tourists/foreigners/your kids, really.:rolleyes:

enniscorthy · 03-07-2009 11:05pm

Whosbetter? wrote: »

Ah animals, they don't understand us when we need something.
On the other hand, when they need something, they understand us perfectly!

Bit like tourists/(some)foreigeners really.:rolleyes:

mate:D:D:D:D

Sharpshooter · 03-07-2009 11:07pm

Most dogs are trained by a verbal command coupled with a hand gesture. (

) then a reward.
They get to associate the two = the reward.

Having said that my dog absolutely knows if I am a bit below par and won't leave my side on those occasions.

My name is URL wrote: »

My dog knows that when I say the word toilet, its time to jump up on the couch and refuse to move

He goes on the couch?:D

emeraldstar · 03-07-2009 11:07pm

Tomebagel wrote: »

Me and my dog had a full blown conversation yesterday,we talked about the recession.

Had he any interesting insights to offer?

445279.ie · 03-07-2009 11:07pm

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

Well how do you explain Lassie and Flipper then

javaboy · 03-07-2009 11:08pm

445279.ie wrote: »

Well how do you explain Lassie and Flipper then

People in costumes obviously.

Sharpshooter · 03-07-2009 11:10pm

445279.ie wrote: »

Well how do you explain Lassie and Flipper then

No, you are not getting it.
Lassie and Flipper did the explaining.;)

My name is URL · 03-07-2009 11:13pm

Sharpshooter wrote: »

[...]

He goes on the couch?:D

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

Ghost Girl · 03-07-2009 11:17pm

Oh yes they can understand, maybe conditioning what ever, but I know they understand when i saw how my dog hides on me when he doesn't want to come in from his walk. The dog defends our child from strangers, when we;re sad or sick, he knows some thing is up, and is going around with his ears down all day.

Knows routines, knows when we're leaving the house in the car - will be watching us until we get into the car, he's suddenly at our feet, no hide and seek then!!

Tomebagel · 03-07-2009 11:20pm

emeraldstar wrote: »

Had he any interesting insights to offer?

Its affecting him badly,he was let go from the pound.

anniehoo · 03-07-2009 11:24pm

Lovin the thread title! I flick between here and Animal and Pet mainly so am dying to give the long convoluted reason why animals dont think like us...but i wont:D:D . Short answer is animals are more intelligent than we give them credit for,but they dont "think" the same as us..although some AH posters would make me question that:D

Pets have an amazing capacity to learn sounds and actions but of course wont understand an entire sentence. Its a tone of voice and an action that they learn so yeh, id go as far as to say they "understand" us to a certain degree as long as we try and understand them back.

conchubhar1 · 03-07-2009 11:35pm

do you think humans can understand animals?

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

polly wanna cracker?

anniehoo · 03-07-2009 11:42pm

conchubhar1 wrote: »

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

polly wanna cracker?

Proves my point exactly

FearDark · 03-07-2009 11:45pm

Rarrrrrr rarrrrrrrr.... snarl.... bark bark bark bark.... snarl.

Pant...

Pant.....

Pant.......

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR-BARK BARK BARK BARK!!!

anniehoo · 03-07-2009 11:49pm

FearDark wrote: »

Rarrrrrr rarrrrrrrr.... snarl.... bark bark bark bark.... snarl.

Pant...

Pant.....

Pant.......

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR-BARK BARK BARK BARK!!!

Conchubhar1 is wreckin your head...yeh??Good boy!!

jumpguy · 03-07-2009 11:49pm

Naaah, doubt it. Sure we can't understand dogs or birds or anything. They might know what we're up to but I'd say they're confuzzled by alot. Like, why do we were clothes? Why do we live in such large dwellings yet so little people live in it? How on Earth do we work those large moving machines? Why do they always stop randomly?

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.

FearDark · 03-07-2009 11:50pm

anniehoo wrote: »

Conchubhar1 is wreckin your head...yeh??Good boy!!

Yap yap yap...

Pant...

uprising · 03-07-2009 11:53pm

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.

Jay P · 03-07-2009 11:53pm

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!

4zn76tysfajdxp · 03-07-2009 11:54pm

emeraldstar wrote: »

Had he any interesting insights to offer?

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

javaboy · 03-07-2009 11:56pm

Brenda Pitiful Passenger wrote: »

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

You used to be cool Brenda Pitiful Passenger.

4zn76tysfajdxp · 03-07-2009 11:57pm

javaboy wrote: »

You used to be cool Frada.

No I didn't.

Sharpshooter · 03-07-2009 11:59pm

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.:(

anniehoo · 04-07-2009 12:03am

FearDark wrote: »

Yap yap yap...

Pant...

*gives dog biscuit* Clever boy!

*cant believe that was my 1000th post yay though

jumpguy · 04-07-2009 12:05am

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.

FearDark · 04-07-2009 12:07am

anniehoo wrote: »

*gives dog biscuit* Clever boy!

*cant believe that was my 1000th post yay though

*wags tail*

Enough...! I wanna talk again!

Closing in on my 1000th!

FearDark · 04-07-2009 12:10am

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!

anniehoo · 04-07-2009 12:15am

FearDark wrote: »

Closing in on my 1000th!

Careful AC will whip it off ya if ye make it too obvious. Back to dog mode

conchubhar1 · 04-07-2009 12:41am

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

ScumLord · 04-07-2009 12:55am

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.

Zillah · 04-07-2009 12:56am

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.

conchubhar1 · 04-07-2009 1:41am

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.

javaboy · 04-07-2009 1:52am

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.

conchubhar1 · 04-07-2009 1:59am

its more recognising the sounds than understanding the language

orestes · 04-07-2009 2:04am

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

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

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

mateo · 04-07-2009 2:05am

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

Sharpshooter · 04-07-2009 2:13am

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

Do you think animals can understand humans???

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