Hey Professor Fido! Tell me, do dogs really know what words actually mean?
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Meet Claudia Fugazza, lead researcher on a fetching study of brainy pups. They played with unusually clever dogs!
Here, owners used two toy types: tug-of-war “pulls” and fetchable “throws.” Dogs learned each toy’s name through repeated playtime.
Then, they saw the brand-new toys with no names. When asked to bring a “pull,” the dogs picked the right one, based on how it was used, not how it looked!
Turns out, some dogs do know what words mean!
Who’s a good semantic thinker? You are! Now go “pull” me a lotto ticket!
Reference: Fugazza, C., Sommese, A., & Miklósi, Á. (2025). Dogs extend verbal labels for functional classification of objects. Current Biology, 35(19), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.08.013