How Many Words Does Your Grey Know?

[sarabz]

I realized Bella knows a few words really well -

Leave it - first thing we taught her as we lived in NYC at the time and there's all manner of nastiness for a dog to get into

OK - opposite of "leave it", as in "ok, you can have that treat". A friend of ours gave her part of a steak one time and she waited until she heard "ok" to take it!

Off - to get her to remove herself from furniture

Out - out of the kitchen. She has two spots to watch all of the action

Bed - to go to her bed when we sit down for dinner

Walk, car ride, potty, cookie - these, of course, result in bouncing, play bows and abbreviated zoomies

 

 

 

[Fostr_Mom]

Wow, thinking about it, my dogs seem to know a lot of words. Kyle knows the difference between "bakery biscuit" and just plain biscuit. Bakery biscuits are special. They know the usual, sit, stay, down, come, walk, M&G, wait, off, out, potty, final potty, finish up, go to bed. Plus other like cheese, yogurt, ice cream, let's eat, it's not time yet, and a few more I could come up with. They are pretty smart.

[schultzlc]

My Luna has a massive vocabulary, and can pick out quite a few words from a normal human-to-human conversation. She's a very intelligent dog, but I also chat with her like she's a person (the product of it having been just her and me for three years).

 

Nova Noodle, on the other hand, has learned 5 words in the past 7 months since she came home to me. She knows outside, kibbles, cookie, no-no, and her name.

[NeedlenoseJake]

I'm not sure if Jake really knows that many words besides his name, but he knows inflection and hand signals very well. He knows paw, lay down, touch, wait, treat, walk, ride, and leave it (knowing is not always the same as complying...) However, unless I use my special dog voice, I don't think he could pick those words out of a normal conversation. Maybe someday.

Edited October 9, 2014 by NeedlenoseJake

[ramonaghan]

It depends on the day and her mood! She's at 100% with "Hungry?" and "Wanna go for a ride?" though....

[DesiRayMom]

Dinnertime, Walk, Potty, Bed..........Desi's main interests in life.

[Guest karilynn]

My hound, Bullet, knows quite a few words/phrases. He knows "go to your bed" "lay down" "leave it" "dinner" "cookie" "present" "peanut butter kong" "bone" "car ride" "walkie" "grandma" "daddy" "dog park" "go outside" "potty" and he also knows the names of my best friends and my sister. I can also ask him "Bullet, do you want to go to ____" and he gets excited and goes to the door. And I can ask him "Bullet, do you want ____" and he knows he's getting food or a treat. Or I can say "who is here?" and he knows somebody is coming over. He's pretty smart!

[Jenbo]

Myka knows probably 25-30 words. She knows the difference between cookie and cucumber, and knows cookies are in the pantry while the word cucumber will hve her pointing her nose at the fidge. The slow part of training is my figuring out how to lwt her know what I want her to do.

[JohnF]

Peggy 'knows' plenty of words and decides not to listen to a lot of them

 

Ah-Ah No! (stop it), Noooooooooo!! (better not do that), c'meer, leave-it!, stay, go to bed, goodbye, walkies, in-the-car!, dinner, lead, cat!, squirrel!, greyhound, dog (yes she can tell a greyhound from a different breed and go see it), and the names of various family people 'go and see... x, y, z)

 

 

She's good at picking up voice inflection of her own name - perhaps the weaknesses of exasperation too.

[rascalsmom]

Phoebe knows several words--out, wait, stay, sit, shake, but her favorite words of all are ICE CREAM. Yes, we have created a monster by taking her for ice cream a couple of times!

[Feisty49]

Want a kiss? (which means she gets lots of petting and loving)

Give me a kiss, and she'll come to me and lean while I give her some loving.

Want to go for a ride? (or just ride)

Want to go for a walk? (or just walk)

Got to go potty?

Let's go potty, said in a firm voice with my finger pointing at the door, because she often doesn't want to bother to go potty and will go 6+ hours without poking her nose outside.

Wait

Noooooo (with a tone of shock in my voice that says, "What are you doing???)

Want your breakfast/supper?

Are you hungry?

Want a treat?

Time to brush your teeth, and she comes walking to me.

Time to do your nails, said while she's on her bed, and she'll lay on her side so I can dremel.

Time for your meds (eye drops), and she comes walking to me.

Go lay down.

Time for bed, and she usually goes upstairs to her bed in my bedroom.

If I say to her, "I'm gonna get that tail (or skinny butt)," she sorta smiles at me and jumps around so she's facing me.

 

And she knows that the letters w-a-l-k mean something good. They always get her up out of bed with an inquisitive look on her face.

Edited October 10, 2014 by Feisty49

[Mercsmom]

Let's not forget "Ally Oop!" which means hop in the car.

I try to remember that our dogs learn all the time so we should try to get them to learn what we want them to know/do. I taught a dog "enough!" (leave off) without even realizing I was doing it. As they say.... it's the owners who get trained. :-)

[Guest normaandburrell]

We have only had Iceman 4 months, but he has quite a vocabulary. Anything to do with going out or food, including the words "ice cream." If we aren't giving him any, we have to call it "frozen dairy delight." He also knows quite a few words for no, including "stop! leave it! don't eat that!" He just thinks they mean "chew faster, cause it's gonna get taken away." He is learning sit, down, and go to bed. If I ask "Where's Dad?" he will look for DH.

[winnie]

I'm pretty certain Celeste thinks her name is "Cookie" because it is the only word she'll actually move for.

 

Our girls all seem to know "Walk," "Outside," "Go to bed," "Go lay down," and "Leave it." For Celeste, just add "Cookie" to any of them if you expect action.

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

A lot of my commands to my hounds are hand signals, so on top of the regular every day obedience and fun words, they also know about 10 hand signals.

[Burpdog]

Huston knows lots of words and I have to carry on a conversation with him to get to the appropriate place he wants me to be.

 

Woof! Want a cookie? Ok -- have one.

 

Woof! Well, ok, one more.

 

Woof! No more cookies!

 

Woof! WOOF! Listen, if you are that hungry, go lay down and I'll feed you. Depending on whether he is hungry or just asking for cookies, he may lay down Or, he may take a break and go outside.

 

He lays down and I put something down and he sniffs it and looks at me with "the look". This is when we have to have the conversation to determine whether he will give in and eat what is there or he is disgusted by what I've given him and he figures out if he is hungry enough to argue. Arguing amounts to flopping down in disgust, then when the food is taken away, starting half woofs and escalating to full woofs and large woofs until I get it right.

[NeedlenoseJake]

He also knows quite a few words for no, including "stop! leave it! don't eat that!" He just thinks they mean "chew faster, cause it's gonna get taken away."

 

I wouldn't say he's wrong!

[Houndtime]

Enough to hold a conversation with me.

[cleptogrey]

mmm...

back-backs up in reverse

take-takes an object when i point to it, be it a ball under a bush, stick or just something i point to

slow

fast- both when walking

ready- looks me in the eye and is allert

blanket- waits for blanket on couch or is felix thinking blanket when he goes near the couch, he never goes up w/o it being covered

off

down

sit

wait

stay

come

finish- comes to my side and turns around

turn-turns himself around

through- through a hoop/tire, ect

over- over a jump or log, etc

under-

kennel

car- runs into or up to the car from the open gait or when we are at the beach etc.

house- into the house from the car

knock it off- lays his head back down when trimming nails in a down position

touch- noses a target

kong

treat

cookie?

to bed(runs to the extra bedroom)

leave it

back seat- moves from the driver's seat to the rear car seat

ball

wubba

walk

debbie

collagio

bubby

marisa

c.j.

joe(he goes ballistic over people he knows and loves)

and i'm sure there's more

 

and yes, annie too comes to me when it's "time for your medicine"- eye meds too feisty. also, why should annie learn any of these, she just follows.....

Edited October 15, 2014 by cleptogrey

[Guest elizabeth7418]

I think Addy knows a ton of words, but it's probably more my inflection that she recognizes. I also talk to her constantly, haha. The one thing for sure that she will not ignore is the sound of the peanut butter jar lid hitting the countertop. She could be in the room the farthest away from the kitchen, but she'll hear that and come running. She also recognizes the sound of pill bottles, and comes running even if it's just me getting some ibuprofen for myself.

[MauCarden]

Treat. Evidently it is the word for come, bed, sleep, jump in the car.

 

Out, as Iceman's mother says, "chew faster."

[gracegirl]

By far, Fenway's favorite word is BEACH. He's up like a rocket when he hears that word and becomes my shadow until we get in the car.

 

The other favorites are Hobbes (my parents westie), Uncle Geoff (my brother), kitty, bunny, car, treat, walk, outside, go and hungry.

 

Brusha-brusha will send him running to the kitchen because he knows he gets a treat when we are done brushing teeth.

 

Beyond that he knows a ton of tricks. Sit, down, shake, other paw, crawl, tell me, whisper, sing, spin, jump, give me a hug and we are trying to teach yoga. (The airedale knows all the same tricks and has already mastered yoga.)

[Guest chickenpotpie]

I think Lucky knows way too many! Her favorite words are cookie, yogurt, wanna eat (ok thats too words), ride, and kisses.

[Guest OhCatastrophe]

Cleo knows so many and hand signals!

 

Sit

Stay

Wait(great for cars!)

Kennel (which means go to your kennel)

Lay down

Go lay down ( this means lay on your bed)

Leave it

Let's go ( her release phrase)

Bathroom - this isn't what you'd think! It's actually for her to go into my bathroom when I take showers and stuff, she paces outside the door if she's not in there with me

Outside (which means go outside and go potty)

Treat

Bone

Ball

Shake also specific paws ( with hand signals for L paw and R paw)

Come

She's started to pick on on "excuse me". I tend to say that when she breaks a stay or does something I just told her not to do and she has started to go back to doing what I had her doing in the first place.

Give me hug ( my mom tells her this and cleo stands in front of her and allows mom to give her a hug lol

 

Dogs are so smart and there is so much you can teach them!!

Edited October 19, 2014 by OhCatastrophe

[Tracey]

I think Chase knows them all. He's selective in his listening, but he understands everything we say to him, I know it. The others all know several words and phrases, but I'm pretty sure that if Chase were suddenly gifted with the ability to speak human that he could hold a compete conversation. One that would probably be full of a lot of complaints.