posted June 10, 2004 12:02 PM           

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WASHINGTON (AP) - As many a dog owner will attest, our furry friends are listening. Now, for the doubters, there is scientific proof they understand much of what they hear.

German researchers have found a border collie named Rico who understands more than 200 words and can learn new ones as quickly as many children.

Patti Strand, an American Kennel Club board member, called the report "good news for those of us who talk to our dogs."

"Like parents of toddlers, we learned long ago the importance of spelling key words like bath, pill or vet when speaking in front of our dogs," Strand said. "Thanks to the researchers who've proven that people who talk to their dogs are cutting-edge communicators, not just a bunch of eccentrics."

The researchers found that Rico knows the names of dozens of play toys and can find the one called for by his owner. That is a vocabulary size about the same as apes, dolphins and parrots trained to understand words, the researchers say.
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20040610/D83483901.html

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posted June 10, 2004 12:45 PM         

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hey proxie, thanks for the cool article. I know my dog has a good vocabulary...when you say "bath" or even spell it, he runs and hides Also, he knows the words "walk", "treat", "bye bye car", "snack", "go outside", and "kisses".

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posted June 10, 2004 10:09 PM         

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hey Proxi ~ great news! How is Meghan?

I really believe dogs and cats know a lot of words! my mother's Dobies knew *so many* words and phrases! I have always talked to my pets so I think they understand a lot!

Jasmine knows a lot, let's see;

Sit, Down, Stay, Wait, Come, Cookie, Bone, Toy, Ball, Touch, Leave-It, Dinner, Water, Kiss, Potty, No!, "Go get your water", "go get a ball", "let's take a nap", "leave me alone, I have to do my stretches", "I love you".

That's all I can think of right now

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posted June 11, 2004 08:46 AM         

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Ours know: go to bed, brush your teeth, get it, quit, barn time, ride, walk, wheres the rabbit (a game we play) and get down. Plus the usual commands

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If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans. ~James Herriot

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posted June 12, 2004 11:22 AM         

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I used to have a cat that could speak a few words. I'm not kidding. That cat gave me nightmares. But she was very sweet. She used to wake us up by sucking on our ear lobes.

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"Never mentally imagine for another that which you would not want to experience for yourself, since the mental image you send out inevitably comes back to you." Rebecca Clark

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posted June 12, 2004 01:05 PM           

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Nep - Meg's doing great. Right now she's asleep underneath her little play thing...it apparently bored her.

Randall - My cat, Blitz , (currently staying at my Mom's - she has 5 mostly wooded acres surrounded by farm fields to play in there) seems like she can perfectly understand english. When she first went to my Mom's, she started going up the stairs to the second floor. My Mom calmly said, "Don't go up there, Blitzy," to which the cat turned around, stopped, looked at her, and started back down.

From another article on the same subject:
One thing is clear, however: Fischer and her colleagues aren't going to be looking at another popular household pet anytime soon. Felines, it seems, are just more trouble than they're worth. "I am sure that cats also pick up a lot, both about words and about other sounds," Fischer said. "However, clearly, most cats are not so keen on working with you, so it's more difficult to figure out."

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posted June 12, 2004 08:09 PM         

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Randall,

WELL? What words did she say? You must share!

Proxi,

My cat Yoda looked just like Blitz. I have always spoken to my cats, just like people or dogs. They understood a lot. They would come when called. Once, Yoda said to me, " MmmmmYYYYYOOOOOOMMMMMMMYYYY" I swear!

He was always very verbal, and during the night when dreaming, he would make these ghost howling noises in his sleep. I swear once there was a ghost in my living room, but it was him dreaming.

great subject

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posted June 12, 2004 10:39 PM         

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OUT was the most common one. She was a house cat, but occasionally she wanted to roam about. Sometimes she would say EAT (we then knew to run to her bowl, because it was empty). After waking us up by sucking on our ear lobes, she would either say HEY, HI, HELLO, or LOVE YOU.

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"Never mentally imagine for another that which you would not want to experience for yourself, since the mental image you send out inevitably comes back to you." Rebecca Clark

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posted June 15, 2004 12:27 AM         

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I have an African Grey parrot who has about a two hundred word vocabulary, not to put down dogs or anything. He understands what every word means, and he talks to us as though he were a four year old. Our favorite one is when one of us is in the bathroom, he will come and knock on the door with his beak and we'll say "Who is it"? and he'll say "Go poop Carl" (or Mary)
One time my husband and locked ourselves out of our apt. and the locksmith came. As he was trying to open the door, our bird Phil said whoooo is it"? and "Carl where are you"? The locksmith looked at us like, there's someone in there! We just said casually, "That's our bird".
So many other things he says too! And for all of you cat lovers, when he sees a cat he will say, "Here kitty, kitty, kitty".

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posted June 15, 2004 09:25 PM         

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Randall, I believe you I can imagine your cat saying those words

Philbird, I LOVE birds! They are so cute, curious, interesting, eloquent. You must post a picture of your bird! What is his name? I would sure have a blast talking to him!

Well I am being nudged on the arm as we speak and Jasmine just put her paw on the keyboard. I have been on the computer for about 3 minutes but I guess that is my limit for tonight

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posted June 15, 2004 11:56 PM         

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Nep,
His name is Phil, or Philbird. I'll try to post a photo when we recover one somewhere on a disk.
He puts sentances together and sometimes he makes up his own. When people are over our house Phil wants to get in on the conversation, so he starts talking, and it sounds like english) with pauses saying "HHHMMM" or "OK" or "Yak,Yak,Yak".
One time he was in the kitchen with me and I dropped a tupperware container on his head and he said "OOOUUUUCCCCH, what's the matter with you, naughty". He actually yelled at me! He sings "Bad Boys". When we come in the door from being out, Phil will make the answering machine beep if we got a message.
By now.

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posted June 16, 2004 11:44 AM         

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Too

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posted June 21, 2004 09:52 AM         

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Awww.. I love animals and feel real protective to them in general, mainly cos they can't speak up for themseves - apart from Philbird's parrot, or Nep's cat!

I love our two boys (Ridgebacks) that live with my dad.. miss them looooads

I used to speak to them all the time and suprised by how much they understand / choose not to!! It's in they're EYES - the understanding is heartbreakingly beautiful! Arr heck.. I'm so emotionally stirred today for those who read Free-For-All.. I blamed it on the Solstice!! They know;

'I LOVE YOU!' usually accompanied by lotsa huggin and kissin'/tailwaggin'

'Gimme kiss' awwww

'Are you huuuungry??' *look of concern*

'Gimme your paaw..' When either checkin for thorns or cleanin them.

Gonna stop cos look I'm all teary. Silly girl!

for all the fur and feather babies!!

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"Be humble for you are made of earth. Be noble for you are made of stars." Serbian proverb

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posted July 01, 2004 03:50 PM         

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I totally talk to my dog when I need her to do something - and I'm certain she understands, even if it's in a most basic way (which is fine, 'cause usually it's something fairly basic that I want her to do, like don't do ________, get away from
______, do your business, want a nummy snack? etc). I've heard you're only supposed to give them one word commands, but I get a better response when I talk to her like she's a person.

Wow Philbird, I'd love to have a large bird like that. One of my cockatiels can say "pretty boy", "pretty girl", and "hello", albeit not too clearly. He can however whistle quite intricate tunes (I whistle the Star Spangled Banner and Blue Danube among others to him on a regular basis - he takes all the bits and pieces and strings it together into his own song, all in tune ).

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“The good things which belong to prosperity are to be wished, but the good things that belong to adversity are to be admired.” Seneca

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posted July 01, 2004 11:17 PM         

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posted August 05, 2006 12:45 AM         

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*bump*

My neighbours cat can say his own name!!!

He came to my door the other day and said "NEKO"...

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posted August 07, 2006 09:55 AM         

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"There is no use trying," said Alice; "one can't believe impossible things." "I dare say you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." Lewis Carroll

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posted August 07, 2006 02:24 PM         

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posted August 08, 2006 09:17 PM         

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my jack russell knows several. outside, ride(she loves rides in the car)ball, petted?hungry?, water?, bubbles, hop up, all commands such as speak, sit, lay down, roll over. if you tell her to give you a hug, she gets on your chest and puts a paw on each side of your neck and rubs her face against yours.
i didnt even know it was debated that dogs could understand words. im sure anyone whos ever had a dog knows.

the great thing about my dog is that when she needs anything, she will come and sit by my feet and very quietly make this growly whiney noise. if i ignore her she will bark until i look at her. when i do she will look at me and wag her tail until i ask her "what do you want?" then she will run to whatever it is she wants. if shes out of water she will jump at the sink. if shes hungry she will jump at the refrigerater(i keep her food on top). if she wants outside she'll jump at the door. sometimes she comes and gets me if her toys are stuck under the couch, or if she wants me to blow some bubbles for her to pop. and sometines she just wants some loving. she will jump in my lap and lay on her back.
theres no doubt in my mind that she is trying to communicate with me. how can anyone not see this?

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posted August 10, 2006 03:49 PM         

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"There is no use trying," said Alice; "one can't believe impossible things." "I dare say you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." Lewis Carroll

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posted August 12, 2006 05:50 AM         

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We should remember that to be human is to be flawed. We can marvel when our pets speak our language, but if we praise or reward them for doing so, we are acting like colonisers, showing no respect for the animal kingdom. I have thought about this a lot and I think it is better for a dog to be a superb dog than a third rate human.

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And I will give thee the treasures of darkness
Isiah 45:3

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posted August 13, 2006 11:53 PM         

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posted August 14, 2006 06:16 AM         

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artlovesdawn, why do I get this feeling we've met before?

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And I will give thee the treasures of darkness
Isiah 45:3

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posted August 14, 2006 05:20 PM         

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,,

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posted August 16, 2006 01:07 AM         

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Thanks for the appreciation. Your name seemed like an anagram, or lexigram, almost Lotus heart one, scrambled. I could never be as pure as you have described. I follow Neitzche's advice, deliberately performing impure acts to avoid the pitfall of spiritual pride.

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And I will give thee the treasures of darkness
Isiah 45:3

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