# Do dogs know their names? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 26, 2012, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dogs-know-their-names/635850 "2012-09-26T02:50:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dogs-know-their-names/635850/42 "2012-09-26T17:09:45Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > One of the exercises in advanced formal Obedience is called the Directed Retrieve, where three gloves are laid out widely spaced at the end of the small practice area and the dog must go and get only the one the trainer points to. It is surprisingly hard to teach. Pretty much, you teach them to line up with your feet and look the direction you are looking. Once they focus on a glove that’s the one they’ll retrieve whether it’s the right one or not, so you have to have a specific set of practiced movements to get the bead on the right one the first time. > > So my daughter is maybe 16 months old and in a backpack my husband is carrying, and we’re in a museum. There’s an old-fashioned overhead fan, and I point to it and say, look, a fan. She looks at my finger, follows the imaginary line I have drawn from my finger to the fan, sees the fan, and smiles. > > That there is the difference. Dogs can only get “look where someone else is looking.” They don’t do abstract. If I said look! and pointed, without looking at the object, a dog would keep looking at my finger forever. Except that I trained my lab (who was devilishly clever, which is why he got the name “Dickens”) to do exactly that. I’d hide a treat somewhere in the living room, and would point to where it was hidden. It took 50 or so trials, but he eventually learned to see where I was pointing and go get the treat. Usual caveats about single anecdotal data points apply tho. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dogs-know-their-names/635850/43 "2012-09-26T17:13:26Z")
> [@Kevbo](#): > > Retrievers are routinely trained to understand directional hand signals. (right, left, farther, closer). This does require focused training, though, not something they pick up on their own. I’m sure dogs could be trained to do just about anything. I’ve found hand signals without motion just aren’t recognized by dogs. You could probably train a dog to follow printed arrows –\> in a certain direction though. So I’d say they have the ability, but wouldn’t easily develop it on their own. ETA: ‘on their own’ meaning through normal interaction with humans. > [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > Have to say, I’m very sceptical about the bolded part. Are you sure he isn’t picking up on cues? > > Please bear in mind everyone, there is a gap between anecdote and controlled experiment. I have no doubt he’s picking up on cues. He just knows there’s a weekly cycle and different things that happen each day. However, he is good at keeping track of things is noticeably aware of a change in the routine. ---
**Author:** ![auRa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@auRa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auRa)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dogs-know-their-names/635850/44 "2012-09-26T17:42:22Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > That there is the difference. Dogs can only get “look where someone else is looking.” They don’t do abstract. If I said look! and pointed, without looking at the object, a dog would keep looking at my finger forever. Actually, the first part of the video I linked to a few posts up seems to say that dogs, different from other animals like chimps, actually _do_ interpret human pointing or even eye movement correctly. It’s part of a BBC documentary series called The Secret Life of the Dog which argues that dogs have evolved to be extremely good at reading human cues because they’ve lived with us for such a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dogs-know-their-names/635850/45 "2012-09-26T17:57:11Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I point to it and say, look, a fan. She looks at my finger, follows the imaginary line I have drawn from my finger to the fan, sees the fan, and smiles. > > That there is the difference. Dogs can only get “look where someone else is looking.” They don’t do abstract. If I said look! and pointed, without looking at the object, a dog would keep looking at my finger forever. > [@TriPolar](#): > > As decribed above, he can’t understand finger pointing, no dog I’ve ever heard of can, but that’s a dog thing. I don’t think finger pointing even registers with dogs Now this is just silly. _Both_ popular treatments of dogs in television and books _and_ scientific studies have famously made much of the fact that dogs respond to human finger-pointing gestures with great skill. [It’s much-commented on that dogs understand human finger pointing](http://www.google.com/#hl=en&sugexp=les%3B&gs_nf=1&cp=24&gs_id=6&xhr=t&q=dogs+understand+pointing&pf=p&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&oq=dogs+understand+pointing&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=52fbdfba5bb4845f&biw=1280&bih=842), I’m not describing something obscure. Here’s a scientific article on the famous, much-talked-about observation that [dogs _outperform chimpanzees_](http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0030913) at interpreting human finger-pointing. It’s not even close, either. [This article](http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0006584) indicates dogs perform better than wolves early on, although wolves seem to catch up. [Here’s](http://www.psych.ufl.edu/~wynne/Ontogeny.pdf) a psychology article with a quotable passage: > [@](#): > > Numerous recent studies show that domestic dogs are able to follow human points to locate hidden food or other desired objects (Miklósi et al. 1998; Hare & Tomasello, 1999; Soproni, et al., 2001; Soproni, et al., 2002; Udell, Giglio & Wynne, 2008; Udell, Dorey & Wynne, 2008). My dogs demonstrably understand when I point at something, even if they’re not always motivated to do anything about it. On the question in the OP, when I trained Simone, one of the exercises was to teach her to look when her name was called, and reward the look. I got to the point where I could wait until she looked away, then drone out in a monotone a whole series of words that (to me) sounded like her name, and she got to be pretty consistent about looking over at me only for her actual name, not for the rhymes or similar sounds. “Shinbone, my own, dethrone, thin stone, reloan, bemoan, **Simone** , it’s alone, re-flown, Stallone, regrown, **Simone** …” with various filler (that did not sound close to Simone) words thrown in. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dogs-know-their-names/635850/46 "2012-09-26T19:10:29Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > Now this is just silly. _Both_ popular treatments of dogs in television and books _and_ scientific studies have famously made much of the fact that dogs respond to human finger-pointing gestures with great skill. > > [It’s much-commented on that dogs understand human finger pointing](http://www.google.com/#hl=en&sugexp=les%3B&gs_nf=1&cp=24&gs_id=6&xhr=t&q=dogs+understand+pointing&pf=p&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&oq=dogs+understand+pointing&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=52fbdfba5bb4845f&biw=1280&bih=842), I’m not describing something obscure. > > Here’s a scientific article on the famous, much-talked-about observation that [dogs _outperform chimpanzees_](http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0030913) at interpreting human finger-pointing. It’s not even close, either. > > [This article](http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0006584) indicates dogs perform better than wolves early on, although wolves seem to catch up. > > [Here’s](http://www.psych.ufl.edu/~wynne/Ontogeny.pdf) a psychology article with a quotable passage: > > My dogs demonstrably understand when I point at something, even if they’re not always motivated to do anything about it. > > On the question in the OP, when I trained Simone, one of the exercises was to teach her to look when her name was called, and reward the look. I got to the point where I could wait until she looked away, then drone out in a monotone a whole series of words that (to me) sounded like her name, and she got to be pretty consistent about looking over at me only for her actual name, not for the rhymes or similar sounds. > > “Shinbone, my own, dethrone, thin stone, reloan, bemoan, **Simone** , it’s alone, re-flown, Stallone, regrown, **Simone** …” with various filler (that did not sound close to Simone) words thrown in. Ignorance fought. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dogs-know-their-names/635850/47 "2012-09-26T20:32:08Z")
My dog is my cite. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dogs-know-their-names/635850/48 "2012-09-26T20:44:58Z")
My former boss had two Yorkies. If they were asleep in her upstairs office, I could say “Mommy’s here” and they would be downstairs waiting by the outside door in a second. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dogs-know-their-names/635850/49 "2012-09-26T20:48:26Z")
> [@Dr.Colossus](#): > > i had a kind of crazy girl trying to send me messages on any chat programs she could catch me on for a while. finally i replied “iu am ddo0gg. ithis iuwsd dog anjimalk typoimjng, masrtger ius dead[=, masrtere ois daed on grrounjfd,” Priceless. ---
**Author:** ![Simple\_Linctus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Simple\_Linctus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simple_Linctus)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dogs-know-their-names/635850/50 "2012-09-26T20:48:34Z")
I want to take this time to recommend a fantastic book [In Defence of Dogs: Why Dogs Need Our Understanding](http://www.amazon.co.uk/In-Defence-Dogs-Need-Understanding/dp/014104649X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1348692443&sr=8-2) which is a must read, it covers the history of dogs, dog psychology, all kinds of things. Most importantly it uses an evidence based way of looking at things. Anyway it’s very skepctical about these 1000 word knowing dogs. Apparently the experiments with new objects don’t control for smell (for example). ---
**Author:** ![Simple\_Linctus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Simple\_Linctus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simple_Linctus)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dogs-know-their-names/635850/51 "2012-09-26T20:51:20Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > That there is the difference. Dogs can only get “look where someone else is looking.” They don’t do abstract. If I said look! and pointed, without looking at the object, a dog would keep looking at my finger forever. This is not true, or at least not quite true. It is true that dogs will not follow your finger. However, if you point with your entire limb then over 80% will. This has been proven in many studies. See the book I recommended above. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dogs-know-their-names/635850/52 "2012-09-26T21:33:12Z")
> [@Simple\_Linctus](#): > > This is not true, or at least not quite true. > > It is true that dogs will not follow your finger. However, if you point with your entire limb then over 80% will. > > This has been proven in many studies. See the book I recommended above. cool. I am so reading this book. Ignorance being fought onsite. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dogs-know-their-names/635850/53 "2012-09-26T22:25:01Z")
> [@For You](#): > > My _cat_ reacted when she heard her name spoken on a TV show (“Nefurtari” is not something that comes up often). That’s kind of how I named my previous cat. We spent a few days getting to know each other, during which time he made it quite clear that the name the shelter had given him (Soldier) was not HIS name. Then I started trying out various names, with little to no reaction until I tried Felix. I had his attention right away, and the reaction was consistent, so Felix he was for the next sixteen years, until we lost him to old age last November. A friend of ours experimented with whether it really was his name he reacted to by trying other two-syllable words with similar sounds. The cat consistently only reacted to his actual name. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dogs-know-their-names/635850/54 "2012-09-26T22:52:39Z")
I’ve seen substantial differences in breeds. Our golden had to be trained to follow my arm when I threw a ball - before she would run off where she wanted first. However retrieving was built-in. As a guide dog puppy she was not allowed to play ball. When she became a breeder and was released from this training regimen she picked up retrieving immediately, with no training. Our border collie, on the other hand had a large vocabulary. We tested him with our backs turned and speaking in a monotone to reduce the number of cues. He could also abstract. We taught him to sit at the corner before crossing. He taught us that when he sat in the middle of the street he wanted to cross. ---
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dogs-know-their-names/635850/55 "2012-09-26T23:41:13Z")
We have three dogs and they will only respond to their own names. Gunner the Great Dane respond to his name and the crinkling sound of any bag or container that hooks foods. Sometimes you can tell his name and he won’t move if he’s taking a nap, but rustle a bag of chips and he wakes like he was shoot out of a canon. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dogs-know-their-names/635850/56 "2012-09-27T00:59:49Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I’m sure dogs could be trained to do just about anything. I’ve found hand signals without motion just aren’t recognized by dogs. You could probably train a dog to follow printed arrows –\> in a certain direction though. … This is a whole different cup of tea. The iconic cues here (the abstract concept represented spatially) are beyond dogs, I believe. They process outside phenomena in the order of smell, hearing, and only then vision, and even there color first, and touch. God knows what their proprioception is like. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Colossus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.colossus/32/9423_2.png) [@Dr.Colossus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Colossus)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dogs-know-their-names/635850/57 "2012-09-27T04:04:38Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > Priceless. beware of doug is why i named my dobie Doug. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dogs-know-their-names/635850/58 "2012-09-27T04:29:16Z")
And then there was the dyslexic atheist who didn’t believe in his dog. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dogs-know-their-names/635850/59 "2012-09-27T04:42:51Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > This is a whole different cup of tea. The iconic cues here (the abstract concept represented spatially) are beyond dogs, I believe. They process outside phenomena in the order of smell, hearing, and only then vision, and even there color first, and touch. God knows what their proprioception is like. I’m not sure where it all picks up and leaves off. I think I’ve mistaken some dog’s failure to recognize pointing as failure to give a damn instead of inability. Certainly dogs can be trained to do some very complex tasks and show the ability for rudimentary abstraction, but I don’t know if they’d recognize an arrow as pointing in a direction as opposed to being trained in a particular response to that particular symbol. I have seen clearly that hand signals accompanied by movement are very readily picked up by dogs. I’m curious about where the line between rote training and more complex thought is. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dogs-know-their-names/635850/61 "2012-09-27T13:03:38Z")
reported ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dogs-know-their-names/635850/62 "2012-09-27T16:37:17Z")
If dogs reliedin eye movement to get signals from their owners, then they wouldn’t be much use as guide dogs for the blind. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dogs-know-their-names/635850.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-dogs-know-their-names/635850.md?page=4)