'Good boy!' Dogs do understand us, says new study

Washington: Whether dogs truly understand the words we say as opposed to things like tone and context clues is a question that has long perplexe...

Washington: Whether dogs truly understand the words we say -- as opposed to things like tone and context clues -- is a question that has long perplexed owners, and so far science hasn't been able to deliver clear answers.

But a new brain wave study published Friday in Current Biology suggests that hearing the names of their favorite toys actually activates dogs' memories of those objects.

"It definitely shows us that it's not human-unique to have this type of referential understanding," first author Lilla Magyari of the Eotvos Lorand University in Hungary, told AFP, explaining that researchers have been skeptical up to this point.

With a couple of famous exceptions, dogs have fared poorly on lab tests requiring them to fetch objects after hearing their names, and many experts have argued it isn't so much what we say but rather how and when we say things that pique our pooches' interest.

Yelling "Go get the stick!" and having a dog successfully bring the object back doesn't conclusively prove they know what the word "stick" means, for example.