• Question: Do dogs think like humans for example if you give him a treat, in his mind does he say treat?

    Asked by 374evoa44 to Anthea, Chloe, Kevin, Michel, Sean on 11 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Chloe Kinsella

      Chloe Kinsella answered on 11 Nov 2014:

      Unfortunately no, our doggy friends don’t think like humans, and don’t understand words the same way we do. Dogs are great at word-event connections. So when you say “treat” your dog remembers what happened the other times it heard you say that word. Your dog remembers he received yummy snacks and might even walk over to the cupboard where you keep the treats because it remembers that’s where you got them from the last time. My dog makes these word-event connections with other words like “walk”, “car”, “bed” and names of my family members. Some dogs even recognise the word “vet”, that’s the one word my dog hates!

    • Photo: Sean Kelly

      Sean Kelly answered on 12 Nov 2014:

      As far as we know, they don’t. However, it is likely that they experience similar emotions to us. For example, we would feel happy when someone tells us they bought us a present or a treat. Similarly, a god might feel happy. The dog probably doesn’t understand the meaning of the word treat, but as Chloe explained below, they will associated the word ‘treat’ with good experiences.

    • Photo: Anthea Lacchia

      Anthea Lacchia answered on 12 Nov 2014:

      And the association of the word treat with the rewarding experience is why training dogs with treats works! You can get a dog to do almost anything for a treat, which helps when you are dealing with problematic behaviours such as biting etc.

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