Like most households with dogs, there are certain words you just can’t say. Of course the same holds true for households with children or grandchildren but generally they’re not the same words.
Depending on your dog and your lifestyle they may deviate slightly from other dog households but generally there are some words you just can’t say around your dogs.
In our house, they are words like hike,walk, and ride to name a few. These are generally referred to as H-I-K-E, W-A-L-K, R-I-D-E, (as we spell words in order to communicate with each other, without alerting the dogs to what we are thinking
In Delilah’s case, we need to spell out things such as D-I-N-N-E-R, B-R-E-A-K-F-A-S-T and any other food related word.
Sampson is so smart and picks up so many words that we’ve taken our code to a new level.
W-A-L-K has now become W – shortened to DUB.
The other night I looked at Sampson and said, Do you want to take a dub?
And Hubby said, “Oh sure, go ahead and teach him that, so we can’t say that either.”
Good point Hubby.
Last night Sampson and Delilah were wrestling. They’re loud when they wrestle. Well actually Sampson is the vocal one, Delilah is very quiet. It’s always the quiet ones you have to look out for, isn’t it?
Anyway, the TV is on, the dogs are wrestling like it’s their job and I said to Hubby, Do you want to dub?
All activity stopped and Sampson’s ears perked right up.
Sort of like that, but he cocked his head to one side.
Hubby and I looked at each other and laughed.
It didn’t take him long to learn that.
What kinds of words do your dogs pick up on? Do you have any code words you use to help you communicate with each other, so the dog doesn’t know?
That is funny. As you know, we don’t say “squirrel” and lately we don’t say “Storm” in front of Thunder. I think that is it for words. But don’t go near the training collars, bumpers or leads, and don’t, whatever you do, put your gun case out overnight because there will be no sleep that night!
LOL oh yes! I didn’t even get into the actions you take that will get them going. For instance most weekend mornings if I get up off the couch to use the bathroom I am followed because they don’t want to miss me getting dressed for a walk. 🙂 They know my walking clothes, shoes etc….it’s funny.
I can just see them, sitting, waiting for the action to begin!
Woof! Woof! Anything that is FOOD related. Somehow I know FOOD Words … Happy Saturday Blog Hop. Lots of Golden Woofs, Sugar
How is it that you picked up on that Sugar? Why does Delilah know dinner but not come? These are the questions I want answers to! LOL
We know many more words than mom thinks we know but we only react to ones that are really good or really bad like walk, dinner, good words…bath, groomer, ears…bad words. We have the spelling down on some words too!
LOL Emma, Delilah reacts to bath too, just not in the same way she reacts to food. 🙂
I had a King Charles Cavalier much like Sampson. He new how to spell walk, car, well pretty much everything he loved. Became impossible to discuss virtually anything 😀
It’s funny the things they pick up and how they do evolve. 🙂
PS – at one point, I thought Litchi was the most intelligent dog on the planet and new hundreds of words, until I realised that she reacted to anything with the word “go” in front of it 🙂
LOL that’s funny!
So Jodi. Why not switch her come command to DINNER as your emergency recall and of course give her good treat. My gsds are obsessed with the laser light…I can’t say light in front of them…they go crazy…sooo…I took my clicker and everytime I click they come running….and I give them the light…..that is my emergency recall…my Kayla even stopped mid chase of a deer with that. It’s amazing.
The humans think we don’t get V-E-T…
Sigh.
Purrs
I don’t think there is much of anything we could say or spell that my dogs wouldn’t understand.
Nice post. We can’t say walk any more either. So we switched to hike…Like you I just found out that our dog knows that word too! Dogs are always so much smarter than I give them credit for!
Oh dear you are in trouble! We have exactly the same problem but ours aren’t quite so quick on the uptake. Unfortunatel they’ve taken our favourite call to action (ie get up and actually do the thing you’ve been planning): ‘lets we do it!’ to mean the dub thing 😉 doesn’t make any difference what time of day you say it either.
In our house, it would be “upstairs” and “go” but the big thing that gets things going is if I pick up the camera bag. lol
In this house, THE word is “out”. Then there’s go, treat, breakfast, dinner, walk, car. And just getting close to the door to the room downstairs (that’s the way to the back yard). But “out” is the one that gets them all going at once, so we resort to spelling it. But I swear Shadow even picks up on the spelling at times! 🙂
Silas isn’t too apt to pick up words in conversation, but he can hear me making the bed from across the entire house. That cues the “you’re trying to make the bed let me stand in the middle of it” game.
Too funny Jodi. We have to be careful with “Out. Dinner. Cookie. & Treat.” Notice three out of four have to do with food? It’s fun to own Labs, isn’t it?
Love the photo of Sampson on the sofa. What a cutie! 🙂
We’ve gotten good with synonyms so we amble, stroll, and sashay. I think by mixing it up it keeps them guessing longer. 🙂
Lila’s favorite words are “hungry,” “food,” and “eat.” Go figure! She takes after her Mom!
Haha! I purposely don’t say any words with excitement, nor do I follow any of those important words with instant action so that the dogs don’t get all excited – I don’t know what I’d do with two excited 40kg ridgebacks! They do sit up when I pick up the car keys and my shoes though, so I can’t hide my intent completely.
There doesn’t seem to be any particular word, but somehow blind Hiker knows if I am taking her with me somewhere. She gets super excited when she hears her collar and leash and bounces and bounces around.