Our dog Zoe will come when we call her, when we mention her name in a normal tone, when we call either of the cats, when we baby talk to the baby, when one of us is on the phone (wtf?), or when one of us is acting excited about something.
On the other hand, she’s figured out something I would not have thought a dog could figure out. My husband and I have one car, and work similar shifts. So I usually drop him off at work on the way to my work, then at the end of the day I pick him up on my way home. Sometimes, though, he has to work late. On those days I go home by myself and wait for him to call me to come get him. Zoe loves car rides, so I usually take her with me to go get him. This happens maybe 3 or 4 times a month.
Zoe has figured this out.
If I come home from work by myself, any time my phone rings, she looks up and starts wagging her tail. If I hang up the phone and go back to whatever I was doing, she goes back to whatever she was doing. But if I hang up the phone and then get up, she runs right to her leash and spins in excited little circles. She only does this on days that I come home from work by myself. Occasionally my husband will bum a ride from one of his co-workers so I don’t have to go pick him up. When that happens Zoe runs to greet him, then sits down and looks confused. It’s like she’s thinking “Wait a minute, what about my car ride?”