DOGS ‘EAVESDROP’ ON HUMANS – STUDY

A new study suggests that dogs may be able to “listen in” on human conversations.

Researchers found that dogs have the neurological ability to pick out meaningful information—like hearing their name—even when it’s mentioned casually within a broader conversation and when the human isn’t speaking to them directly.

Lead author David Reby, a visiting professor at the University of Sussex, noted that this ability might be a result of domestication. However, he emphasized the need for further research on wolves and other wild species to determine whether this skill is unique to dogs or shared across related animals.

“Our research shows that dogs are able to pick out and recognise words relevant to them in a monotonous stream of otherwise irrelevant speech, even in the absence of the intonation cues we usually use to engage them,” he said.

Dr. Holly Root-Gutteridge, a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Lincoln and co-author of the study, said the findings highlight just how skilled dogs are at listening to us—and how much they actually understand.

According to Dr. Root-Gutteridge, dogs recognize their names as a cue for attention, especially when paired with the high-pitched “baby talk” voice many owners naturally use.

But the researchers wanted to dig deeper. They aimed to find out whether dogs respond only to that cheerful tone, or if they can still recognize their names when spoken in a flat, emotionless voice and embedded within a longer sentence.

The study included around 50 dogs from a variety of breeds, including Dachshunds and St. Bernards. Looking ahead, the team plans to explore when puppies first start responding to human speech.