Some dogs can learn words by eavesdropping, tests suggest

Whether it is a piece of food or a four-letter expletive, words can be learned by young children overhearing adults - but now researchers have found certain dogs can do something similar.

- Nicola Davis Science correspondent

Scientists have discovered that canines with the unusual ability to learn the names of myriad objects can pick up such labels by eavesdropping on conversations. The team believe such abilities rely on a host of social cognitive skills, from identifying the relevant word within a conversation to using cues from people's gaze, gestures and voices to understand what the word refers to.

"There is a lot of complex social things that are happening here and we don't know if the dogs are doing it the same way as the kids," said Dr Shany Dror, the first author of the research from the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna. "But on the surface level, we see that the outcome seems to be the same."

Writing in the journal Science the team report how they made their discovery by working with "gifted word learner" dogs.