Some dogs don't just learn words; they want to share

An international team of researchers, led by Dr Andrea Sommese (University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Austria), compared dogs that quickly learn the names of toys with typical dogs that do not possess this ability. The findings challenge the common belief: learning object names doesn't seem to affect how dogs explore toys. Instead, it appears to be related to their motivation to engage socially with humans using toys.

Gifted Word Learner dogs did not show more interest in labelled or novel toys compared to other dogs. Instead, what stood out was that they were significantly more likely to bring toys to their caregivers and actively start an interaction.

Only a few dogs can learn the names of dozens of objects just through everyday play with their owners. These Gifted Word Learners offer a unique occasion to investigate how vocabulary acquisition connects with other cognitive and social behaviours in non-human species.

To investigate this, the researchers tested 10 Gifted Word Learner dogs and 21 typical dogs, all Border Collies. Over two weeks, the dogs played at home with four toys: two whose names their caregivers repeatedly called, and two that were played with but never named. Later, dogs were tested in a free-exploration task including those toys and also new toys, while their caregivers stayed passive.

Based on research in human infants, the team initially expected that labelled objects might attract more attention, especially from Gifted Word Learner dogs. This did not happen.

"All dogs, regardless of group, showed a strong preference for novel toys," Sommese explains. "But there were no differences between Gifted Word Learners and typical dogs in how much time they spent interacting with labelled, unlabelled, or new objects."

This finding indicates that, unlike in human infants, hearing object labels does not automatically change dogs' attention to those objects, even in dogs that can learn many names.

The key difference emerged when researchers looked at how dogs behaved toward their caregivers during the test.

Gifted Word Learner dogs were notably more inclined to pick up a toy, particularly a new one, and bring it to their passive caregiver, clearly trying to start interaction. In contrast, typical dogs spent more time in passive physical contact, like staying close or leaning against their owner.

"This looks less like a difference in curiosity, and more like a difference in social style," says Sommese. "Gifted Word Learners seem particularly motivated to involve humans in object-centred interactions involving novel toys."

The researchers cautiously suggest that this behaviour might mirror early communication attempts in human infants, like pointing or showing objects to caregivers to attract attention.

"The way these dogs actively recruit humans into interactions around novel objects is intriguing. It raises the possibility that social motivation plays a role in why some dogs end up learning object names," says Sommese.

The study does not prove that social motivation directly leads to vocabulary learning. The authors highlight that other explanations, like variations in owners' play styles, still require testing. However, the results move the emphasis from the objects themselves to the social interactions involved.

"Our results suggest that to understand why some dogs learn words, we may need to look less at the toys and more at the relationship," Sommese concludes. "This opens new directions for studying how language-related skills can emerge in species that live so closely with humans."

Cover credit: Cooper photo (Max the dog)