Do Pets actually Respond to Their names?

Question

i called my neighbours dog by a completely different name and it still responded and came to me, just like it does when i call him by he's actual names?

do animals respond to their names or just the sound and tone of your voice?

Answer 1

It's almost all about tone of voice.

You can do an experiment, calling your dog by various names like Stinky, or Fred (presuming the dog is called neither of these things!), and doing it in various tones of voice. My dog responds to just about anything if you say it encouragingly and energetically!

Another experiment you can do to specifically test your dog's name (or another trained word such as 'food'), is drop it into conversation with another person, and see if the dog responds. Mine was fairly oblivious, and seemed to be able to tell when i was addressing him or someone else.


Hope this was helpful :)

Answer 2

My dog will look up when I call his name or even if I am talking and use his name he will look. But, he will also come running no matter if I use his name or not....they absolutely do respond to the tone and sound of a person's voice.

Answer 3

Both, some know their name even in a different tone of voice, but many of them are mainly responding to your tone of voice. However, we humans do the same thing! We often greet each other with other than names, like "Hey there, how ya doing!?" -and the person would respond the same as if you had used his name. Kind of like we all fake it if we've forgotten someone's name, and usually we get away with it unless we have to introduce them to someone else, LOL! So much of verbal expression is in the tone,not the actual words.

Answer 4

names :)

Answer 5

No not all the time because you can call them by their own name or a name thats not theirs and they will still come to you. I think its the tone of your voice and the type of mood they are in weather they respond or not. Just like babies, when you call them they know their name but call them something else and they still respond some dont even respond to their own names, but other names, that goes for pets and babies. PS. Jamieson u r Hott!!

Answer 6

Some may respond to the tone you say it in. If it's friendly and inviting, you could say "Come here stupid" and the dog will come running, tail wagging.

But a lot of dogs do recognize their name. I can be having a conversation with my roommate and I'll say the dog's name just casually, not changing the tone or pausing or anything, and her ears will perk up and she'll look over at us.

Answer 7

I would say it's the sound/tone of the name and if someone would say something similar they would probably respond as well. A majority of animals seems to end with 'ie' or 'y' (the eeee sound) for some reason someone once told me pets respond and pick up on names that end that way best.

Answer 8

Tone of your voice mostly, if you called your neighbours dog in a friendly positive voice it may have just come over to you because it was curious and thought it was going to get rewarded.

Answer 9

Dogs respond to cue words and repetition in behavior if you keep calling them a certain name they eventually pick up on it and understand that's them and they also respond to the tone in our voices.

Answer 10

Good question that mate I think say in the case of a cat you call it and its lying on a sofa. If he is the only one there and a cushion he is hardly going to think hey he must want the cushion **** it I will sleep ha ha.
Mind you some of these pets are smart when they have good food and get pampered why leave home especially in this weather.