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If you own a golden retriever, then there’s no doubt that they’re a close companion and another part of the family. They work with us, live with us, but can your golden retriever understand your words and emotions?

So, Do Golden Retrievers Understand Humans?

For a long time, despite the claims from dog owners, scientists and other experts believed that when a dog appeared to understand their owners, that it was merely a combination of learned behavior and the owners projecting their human qualities onto their golden retriever. More recent studies have raised the question again, “ do golden retrievers understand humans?”

So, what has all of the research discovered? Well, it seems that all those dog owners insisting that their dogs do understand them are right, or at least to some extent.

Can Golden Retrievers Understand Speech?

In 2004, a science magazine published a study about a border collie named “Rico” who they were working with. The border collie took the scientific community by storm by demonstrating its uncanny ability to “fast-map” new words. Rico was able to learn the names of over 200 specific items and was able to identify them not only by name but also retrieved them four weeks after first learning them.

A more recent study conducted by researchers found that Golden Retrievers can not only pick up on emotional cues in our speech but can also distinguish between gibberish and meaningful words. Another study found that dogs, like humans, use different parts of the brain to process these aspects of speech. To be more specific, they process emotional cues on the right side of the brain, using the left side of the brain for understanding the meanings of words.

Can Golden Retrievers Understand Body Language?

Another study found that dogs can understand human social cues, even to the point of being influenced by them. In the study, dogs were given two different servings of food of different portion sizes. The dogs were encouraged to make their choice, leading to the majority of dogs naturally going for the larger serving. But once people got involved, things changed. The dogs were shown a person’s positive reaction to the smaller portion, which convinced the dogs that the smaller serving was better.

In a similar study, researchers looked at the ability of dogs to interpret more subtle forms of communication in humans. During the study, dogs were shown two different versions of the same video. In one version, a woman appeared and looked at the dog while saying, “Hi, dog!” in a motherly tone before directing her gaze to a nearby pot. While in the other version, the only difference was that the woman kept her gaze down and spoke in a more subdued voice before looking at the pot. When shown the first version, the dogs would pay attention to the woman, following her gaze. Based on the dog’s reaction, the researchers concluded that the dogs had the same cognitive ability as a 6 to 12 month old human baby when it comes to recognizing when they’re being directly addressed and having information conveyed to them.

Can Golden Retrievers Understand Emotion

A more recent study made headlines for discovering that dogs have the ability to understand and perceive human emotions. Conducted in a joint effort by researchers, the study found that dogs form abstract mental representations of positive and negative emotional states.

During the study, dogs were shown pictures of both humans and other dogs looking either angry or happy. The pictures were also accompanied by audio clips of vocalizations that were also either happy or angry/aggressive. When the vocalization matched the emotion in the image, the dogs spent a significantly longer amount of time examining the facial expression in the image.

Why Can Our Dogs Understand Us?

The reason why our dogs are capable of understanding us so well remains a mystery, but the majority of researchers believe that it’s a product of necessity and evolution. Humans and dogs have lived closely together for thousands of years, and during that time they’ve come to depend on us more, compared to other species for their well-being. It’s also possible that selective breeding has played a part, as dogs were always chosen for breeding based on certain apparent cognitive abilities. In any case, it makes sense that a species that lives so closely with us is so dependent on us that over time has developed the ability to understand and communicate with us.

What Does This Mean For You And Your Golden Retriever?

Now that you’ve got a better understanding of your dog’s ability to somewhat comprehend not only your verbal words and commands but also your emotional queues, what does this mean for you and your golden retriever? First off all, it gives you the reassurance that your golden retriever has the ability to learn more than just “sit,” “stay,” and “shake.” Dogs have the amazing ability to pick up on hundreds of words just like the dog Rico from above, or more recently Chaser, a dog that was able to learn more than 1,000 words. Chaser’s ability to fast-map is incredible, to the extent that she can pick out a toy based on context. If she’s asked to find a toy that she doesn’t recognize the name of from a pile of other regular toys, she understands that the one toy that she doesn’t recognize must be matched with the name she’s not familiar with. This ability just proves how smart our dogs are.

Have you ever noticed that when you’re having a rough day, your golden retriever seems to be closer to you and tries to snuggle more? It could be their way of saying that they understand that you’re having a bad day, and they are there for you. Knowing this about your golden retriever could help strengthen your relationship, as you learn to react to each other’s emotional states, sharing the highs and lows together in true family fashion.

Can your golden retriever understand you? Indeed, in many ways, they can. So, the next time you catch yourself having a conversation with your retriever and they seem to actually be listening, rest assured that it’s not all in your head. Although your dog may not understand every word or the exact meaning behind them, your retriever may understand you better than you think. More importantly, your retriever is capable of understanding that you love them, so there’s no need to feel silly for telling them so.

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