Does your dog understand when you say ‘fetch the ball’? A new study in Hungary says yes

By JUSTIN SPIKE
Associated Press

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — A new study in Hungary shows that dogs, beyond being able to respond to commands like “sit” and “stay,” can learn to associate words with specific objects. Such a relationship with language is called referential understanding and has not been proven in dogs until now. Science has had trouble determining whether dogs genuinely activate a mental image in their minds when they hear the name of an object. The study, conducted by the Department of Ethology of the Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest, shows a different brain pattern when dogs are shown an object matching the word for it than a different one. This suggests dogs can conjure a mental image of the object on hearing its name.