My dog speaks perfect English - well sort of

[madmav]

I'm deeply impressed by the number of words my dog understands. I reckon it's about 100. Along with the usual commands and encouragement vocab words, such as sit, wait, walkies, etc., he has picked up on a wide array of other things. For example, if I say, 'Go away' he now associates that with a fly annoying me and will rush in to kill offending insect -even if I've said it to the kids!
Does this mean a) My dog is extraordinarily intelligent or
b) In the words of my teenage children, I am a sad loser and spend far too much time talking to my dog?
But considering stupid things he does most of time...fear it's b)

 

[Tia]

What breed is your dog?

My 3 year old Malinois is very intelligent and she seems to zone into my psyche as she knows exactly what I am about to do.

My 5 year old Springer is intelligent but sadly on a different planet to me, LOL!

My 6 month old Akbash is not intelligent I don't think - but she is very lovable and although she is enormous already, she is very very gentle and wants to lick every living thing.

 

[madmav]

He's a schipperke, small black furry thing, originated in Netherlands (the breed, not just him) to guard barges in old days. May be boat men had a lot of time on their hands to talk to their dogs...
He spends most of his time trying to second guess what I'm about to do, I usually end up falling over him when he correctly anticipates where I'm going and gets there faster than my old bones

 

[Tia]

Aw they are such cute little dogs. Perhaps it's the guarding instinct which heightens their awareness.

 

[woolly]

People who talk constantly to their dogs with associated behaviour can teach them a surprising amount of vocab. Our knew well over 100 words as usually they were backed up with actions. My wife was home all day with him whilst I was at work and she always talks to herself whilst doing the housework etc. The dog would pick up on this as it was backed up by routine. He then began to form his own behaviour on those patterns e.g/
My wife would say:
"I am going to put the washing out, you want to come?" and the dog would help pull the washing out of the machine. He then associated the bleep of the washing machine door lock with the finishing of the washing and therefore my wife didn't need to say it anymore!!!!
This was the case with many many other words/commands.
Oddly enough the best one was that we play our stereo (at an appropriate level) in the car whilst the dog was in it going to a walk which was several times a day. My wife tends to play several of her fav. songs over and over. We were in the house back from a walk, dog snoozing and an advert with Kuala Shaker's 'Hush' came on (one of my wife's favs) and up got the dog went to the door. We put his lead on thinking he wanted the toilet which was unusual and off he went to the car!!!! Did this several times when the song came on. It was an association.
Sorry for the waffle but love to hear about dog behaviour!!!
Your dog does by the way sound very intelligent!

 

[CAYLA]

LOL