Silly Question...If a dog is owned by a person that speaks, lets say Chinese, will it come when you call it..?

Question

in English? Do dogs just go by levels of your voice or do they understand the sounds of our words?

Answer 1

It all comes down to what language the dog is taught and if sign language is used. Obedience dogs are taught with both. My friend has a dog that is fluent in English and French. It is really amazing the capacity of a dog's brain when trained.

Answer 2

That is a very good question! My guess is that it would probably respond to a command given in Chinese and most likely come when that language is spoken to it and not spoken in English.

I base my assumption on what I remember a Police officer saying when I went to a demonstration of a K9 unit. The dog was trained with commands spoken in German. So if he said search in English the dog didn't respond but when he said it in German it went into search mode and began searching.

I guess it would also depend on the discipline of the dog. Some dogs will respond to a tone of voice that is friendly no matter what you say. Like you could literally say I want to throw you off a bridge in a nice voice and the dog will respond happily to the tone and you could say I love you in a harsh voice and they will most likely cower or become agressive.

So my final anwer...(I know, finally) would be that it depends on the way the dog was raised and how it was taught to obey. So language and tone would both play a factor in their response to you.

Now I bet, after that answer you are sorry you asked..lol!!! have a great week and thank you...now you have me thinking! I hope this helps!

Answer 3

well its a little of each they learn a few key words (try dinner to your dog) and fill in the rest by body posture & tone. If they are taught they can learn a more key words & will rely less on body posture.
My sister had a pup from a french canadian breeder it already knew come - in french. the first time she called in english the pup ignored it, and my sis had to go get her. the second she looked confused & stood there visibly dithering (that means something I'm not sure what) but happly came when my sis gestered encouragingly. That gradually progressed through hesitant slooow comming, to finally happy comfident "I know this". This was much faster than the pup she ended up with that had no idea the noises comming from a humans mouth could have any pertance to him even though that dog had always only heard english

Answer 4

Maybe. Your tone, demeanor, etc. may be enough to get the dog to come to you. Some dogs do "understand" some words, but the tone and your body language also convey meaning. If your dog has only heard Chinese commands, don't expect him to quickly respond to your English ones! He can learn but be patient. Back to basics...help him to understand "sit, stay etc" in English just as if he was a new puppy learning for the first time. If he already has learned the behaviors, it won't take him long to "understand" English commands if they are properly introduced and reinforced.

Answer 5

Dogs (like most domesticated animals) respond to the cadence and timber of the speech of humans. Also, when we call an animal, we make clicking or clucking or some such sound. This sounds the same in any language (a condition known as universal in the species). Yes, if the dog is well behaved it will come when called in any language.

Answer 6

Dogs can be trained to understand certain words. So it follows that if the owner speaks Japanese words to the dog, the dog will come if the Japanese word for it is issued. However, dogs do understand voice inflection and body language. So if you stand before a dog and look inviting, pat your leg and have a warm friendly tone in your voice, the dog'll probably come to you no matter what language you speak.

Answer 7

Dogs couldn't understand the sounds of our words but they can understand the voice tone and if you watch dogs u can find them communicate together by motion and signs, but anyway your dog will understand your commands to him after a short period of time

Answer 8

No. Unless it is taught by gestures and certain movements. I went up to Lac La Croix which is a small Indian village in Canada. They mainly speak Native American. I was trying to tell this one dog to go away and it wouldn't go. My cousin said, "Goo-chi-ma" and the dog left. They also seem to go by tones of voice. I'm sure the same is true in different languages.

Answer 9

Not sure about the inflection, that might work, but I do know that some dogs are trained in different languages, and will only respond when given the proper command in the proper language. For instance, I have known of dogs trained in German, that will only respond if the proper German command is given.

Answer 10

I don't think dogs understand what you're saying whether it's english or not. It's all about the tone of your voice.

Answer 11

Dogs do not understand languages. They respond to the tone of the voice so u can say "your the dumbest doggy, yes u r!" in a sweet voice and it wont know the difference.