Dogs understand words we use shows new study

A new study has found that dogs can understand words as well as the tone they are said in. Scientists from Hungary scanned the brains of 13 dogs while each was played the sound of their trainers voice to see how they reacted.

Jo Wrigleworth, dog trainer at a puppy training school and behaviourist, visited 5 live with Lupine dog Zeus and his owner Jemma. Jo said: “As a dog trainer, this sort of research is great - we know when we are teaching them they pick up body language first, but then they learn words through repetition.”

The research has shown that dogs process speech in a similar way to humans, processing meaningful words with their left hemisphere and intonation in the right hemisphere.

“They can learn so many different things, they are a lot smarter than we give them credit for,” added owner Jemma.

This clip is originally from 5 live Drive on Wednesday 31 August 2016.