Do German Shepards speak German?

1. 72

   KevinC9998posted 12 years ago

   Do German Shepards speak German?
   
   It sounds silly but do dogs understand language or just respond to the tones of our voices? I believe they actualy understand the language and futhermore can determine our emotions. What do you think?

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2. 60

   iiimusicfreak27posted 12 years ago

   I think, like us humans, they understand what they're taught to understand... If you raise them speaking German, they'll understand German, and the same with any other language. So I agree... they understand the language and can determine our emotions:)

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3. 60

   duffsmomposted 12 years ago

   I think researchers have established that certain breeds of dogs can identify quite a few words.  I've heard the G. Shepherd dog compared to the intelligence of a 4 year old child.  And whatever breed will learn to respond to whatever language is consistently used with them.

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4. 92

   Rochelle Frankposted 12 years ago

   My late brother-in-law who was Chinese/German raised in Italy, taught his dog commands in German, so the dog responded to his words and not those of others who tried to give him English commands.  If you are consistent, a dog can learn to associate a behavior with any word or sound you make. It's not that they understand different languages, but they do learn to associate sounds or words that are taught to them.
   I have heard that some police dogs are trained with uncommon words for commands so that only the officer/trainer has control.

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5. 61

   Dubuquedogtrainerposted 12 years ago

   Dogs can learn the names of objects. The language or relevancy of the name does not matter.
   
   I could teach my dog to roll over and call it banana so that every time I say "banana," my dog takes that as a cue to roll over. I have taught one of my dogs to back around me and call it "git" so that if anyone ever tells her to "Git!" she will make backwards circles around them - which , by the way did not occur to me until after I had taught her the cue.
   
   Dogs can also learn the words that indicate what to do with an object. They can also learn concepts such as left or right. So, for example, I can cue my dog to touch a target on the left.
   
   They can be taught to select an object that is the same as another object and select an object without a name among other objects with names the dog knows. 
   
   In addition to learning the names of objects, dogs also learn the names of specific actions, for example "sit" or "come" or lie "down."  We can even teach dogs to "copy" what another dog does.
   
   No matter what pitch or volume of voice, a cue should elicit an immediate response from the dog if the dog has been trained by a knowledgeable trainer.

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