# Does your dog (or pet) know your name? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 3, 2010, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-dog-or-pet-know-your-name/523470 "2010-01-03T02:54:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-dog-or-pet-know-your-name/523470/1 "2010-01-03T02:54:12Z")
Most of my dogs knew to come to me if someone said “go find khadaji” My new one doesn’t. We live alone and so no one speaks my name. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-dog-or-pet-know-your-name/523470/2 "2010-01-03T03:12:34Z")
One of my cats knows my name. In fact, she knows that I am referred to as Lynn and as Mama. She makes a vocalization that sounds like Mama, too, though she’ll make this sound at anyone if she thinks it will get her the attention she craves. She knows the names of various rooms in our house. Occasionally she’ll flounce her way up to my husband, holler at him, and he’ll tell her “your mama is in the kitchen” or “your mama is in her bedroom” and she’ll stomp off to the correct room, and then holler at me for not being where she expected me to be. Yes, she’s Siamese. She’s very smart, and very demanding. ---
**Author:** ![Electric\_Warrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Electric\_Warrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Warrior)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-dog-or-pet-know-your-name/523470/3 "2010-01-03T03:15:32Z")
Ha, now I know I’m not crazy! I think my family’s cat learned to vocalize something similar to my name (let’s say my name is Christina; she went meow MEOW meow, same syllable pattern), which she would do to wake me up. Unfortunately I think she forgot it now that I’m living away from home. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-dog-or-pet-know-your-name/523470/4 "2010-01-03T03:16:46Z")
I doubt Dolly knows my name. She lights up at “mommy,” “grammy,” “grampy”, “uncle,” “auntie” and “cousin” tho. I call my brother “uncle daddy” when my dog and his dog are together, so they have a 50/50 chance of knowing who we’re talking about 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-dog-or-pet-know-your-name/523470/5 "2010-01-03T03:48:31Z")
They know us as Mama and Papa. I don’t think they know our names. We don’t use our names, anyway; we call each other “dear,” usually, or “sweetie.” ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-dog-or-pet-know-your-name/523470/6 "2010-01-03T03:51:47Z")
Yeah, pretty much. When I was younger, my family taught our Golden Retriever puppy the names of the family members by sitting in a circle and directing him to different people by name. At first it was understandably random who he went to, but he eventually got it down. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-dog-or-pet-know-your-name/523470/7 "2010-01-03T12:10:29Z")
Yeah, we can say “Where’s X?” and the dog will run to the person in question. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-dog-or-pet-know-your-name/523470/8 "2010-01-03T13:21:42Z")
I don’t know. There are normally two humans here, so each of us is the only human the other would refer to. But, most of our dozen cats know their name, or more accurately they respond to their name. I doubt they understand the concept of a name and only credit them with having learned that the sound of their name predicts something worthwhile happening. One cat, though, that we lost a few months ago to my tremendous grief, exhibited what I think is unusual intellegence for a cat. Among his several impressive accomplishments: when we would speak the name of another cat, he would often immediately look at that cat. Thus he seemed to know their names, and perhaps have some understanding of what names are for. ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-dog-or-pet-know-your-name/523470/9 "2010-01-03T14:33:29Z")
Yep. Both dogs know our names, but respond better to “Mummy” and Daddy". They also know each others names. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-dog-or-pet-know-your-name/523470/10 "2010-01-03T15:02:24Z")
He knows my wife is “mama” and I am “papa” ---
**Author:** ![Neeps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a183cd/32.png) [@Neeps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neeps)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-dog-or-pet-know-your-name/523470/11 "2010-01-03T15:36:10Z")
Our border collie knows all the members of the family by name, including the other dog and cat. You can also get her to go to individual members and give them kisses, depending upon the name you use. Come to think about it, I’ve never tried to get her to do that to the other dog - must give that a go. The other dog doesn’t have a clue, though. Or if she does, she doesn’t let on. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-dog-or-pet-know-your-name/523470/12 "2010-01-03T15:41:42Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > They know us as Mama and Papa. I don’t think they know our names. We don’t use our names, anyway; we call each other “dear,” usually, or “sweetie.” Same here, though we are mama and daddy. Around here, our daughter and the dog are the only ones whose names are actually used.