Some dogs grasp category words like humans.
Dogs with large vocabularies can understand category words, not just object names.
Why it matters
- Some dogs can understand abstract concepts, like categories, similar to human children.
- Offers insights into language learning and evolution.
By the numbers
- Study involved 10 talented dogs, mostly border collies.
- Dogs chose correct toy category 2/3 of the time, well above chance.
The big picture
- Dogs can learn and apply words based on function, not just appearance.
- This ability is similar to how human children learn language.
What they're saying
- Dog owners share similar experiences with their pets.
- Some users have observed comparable behaviors in their dogs.
Caveats
- Study dogs are exceptional; most family dogs don't build such vocabularies.
- Small sample size of only 10 dogs.
What’s next
- More research into language-related abilities evolution in non-linguistic species.