Can you teach a dog to talk this way?

[dstebbins]

Dogs can't talk... at least, now in the same language as humans.

 

However, there are some dogs out there who their masters swear can actually understand what you're saying to them.

 

Well, dogs can't "talk," per se, but they can bark!

 

Could it be possible to teach a dog to bark in morse code?

 

Really makes your imagination run wild, doesn't it?

[farmboy]

I'm not sure that dogs really do understand what we are saying even if people like to think that is true. They have evolved to be good at understanding human body language amongst other subconscious indicators of mood and intent and they seem to act based on this rather than the words which are actually spoken to them.

 

So assuming that is actually true, then I would say no it probably wouldn't be possible to a teach a dog this trick (not an old dog at least lol). Even if I am wrong and they can actually identify some words irrespective of how they are used, I still don't think they would be able to understand the abstract nature of a language like morse code. If say they recognise a word like ''walkies'' it is perhaps because they know that when it hears this noise it is often a precursor to going outside and playing, it isn't that it understands what a walk is and knows that walkies is the way it is described. Then of course morse would be taking that abstraction a step farther requiring the dog to know that some concepts can be broken down into a series of symbols which can be conveyed using a series of taps.

Edited April 9, 2011 by farmboy

[Marat]

It is certainly not true that a dog just reads human body language to understand the significance of what people are saying via an indirect method, since I can call my dogs from another room where they can't see me and they still come.

 

But you raise an intriguing question of what it means really to understand a word rather than just respond to a sound as a stimulus-response reaction. If a dog runs when it hears a tree behind it which is about to fall and hit it, the dog is certainly not responding to the concept of 'tree' or 'falling tree,' but is just running away from a loud, threatening noise without further conceptualization, the way Pavlov's dogs salivated at a bell they associated with being fed. Similarly, when you say, 'Shall we go for a walk?' to a dog, the dog may just fall into a stimulus-response pattern without really conceptualizing the situation presented to it.

 

One way to get at this might be to test whether dogs can operationalize words and use them in ways related to their basic meaning but with variations appropriate to a number of new contexts. I have found that my own two dachshunds seem to be able to operationalize the concept 'mouse,' since when my house was invaded by mice one Spring, by associating 'mouse' with the animal for the dogs' benefit, I could then get them to hop up to try to get into the cage on a shelf in which I had placed one trapped mouse, dig behind some boxes in the celler to get at a hiding mouse, or start sniffing around the floor to find mouse tracks. The fact that the dog could develop all these three very different patterns of behavior -- all relevant to the reality of a mouse understood as a conceptual label for a thing with many different predicates and significations according to the different environments in which it might be found -- just from the single sound-cue 'mouse,' suggests it really did understand the word rather than just fall into a simple stimulus-response mode at the sound.

[farmboy]

I didn't say that they only read body language dude, I said body language and other subconsious indicators. For example speech pattern, tone etc. Try calling your dogs from another room some time, don't use their names or whatever command you normally use, but make sure to keep volume, tone etc the same. I know with every dog I've ever had there is no difficulty getting them to come from another room just calling out random words but in the way I have described.

 

Also when you describe the different behaviour exhibited by your dogs relating to the mouse, did you simply say mouse and they went off and did all those things themselves, or did you perhaps give them any indication as to what you thought they should do? If it the former, I think you may well have a point dude.

[Marat]

Yes, the instruction was just 'mouse' with no (conscious) pointing or other directions.

[ai4hv]

With an e-collar it may be possible, not sentences but one letter commands. The collar needs to be very responsive, Dogtra 282 is what I am using with my deaf lab. Using pager mode and working out morse code signals for specific commands.

 

So, no the dog may not answer in Morse Code, but you may be able to command a dog using Morse Code using an e-collar. I imagine it would be a good thing for a service dog and a person who could not speak commands due to a handicap. If this is an interest to someone I will post updates as I progress.

[John Cuthber]

At least one dog has a vastly better vocabulary than most people would believe.

Chaser can't talk, but she plainly remembers names of toys

[dimreepr]

Dogs can't talk... at least, now in the same language as humans.

 

However, there are some dogs out there who their masters swear can actually understand what you're saying to them.

 

Well, dogs can't "talk," per se, but they can bark!

 

Could it be possible to teach a dog to bark in morse code?

 

Really makes your imagination run wild, doesn't it?

 

 

My dog certainly understands the word ‘squirrel’; I know that’s rather a cliché but several times during ordinary human conversation when the word is uttered, she excitedly goes off in search of her favourite quarry.

 

She is also able to communicate her wants and needs quite well, but I think morse code maybe a step to far; as John’s post suggests dogs may be able to learn the code but I doubt a meaningful conversation is possible.

Edited April 9, 2016 by dimreepr

[ai4hv]

Here is my inspiration:

 

https://youtu.be/tVB0hLsZEj4

 

I do not think I can teach the whole alphabet to a dog and it understand. But if Omar can teach Jumpy directions to this level. I believe that it is possible to learn patterns with a pager collar and tie an action to the pattern. The reason for using morse code, is there is already a list of patterns in morse code that do not repeat. I don't think I can do it in five minutes but I expect a dog may learn a few patterns in a few months tied to actions I want the dog to perform. Basically a remote control dog. My deaf Lab already knows any time she gets a long vibration, I want her by my side. Three quick vibrations she sits down beside me. Now the question is, does she just sit down naturally or does she recognize the pattern I send her. So my next step is try to teach her the down command and send her the letter D for down. The mneumonic for D would be "Dog Did It" for Dah DIt Dit to help the home owner to remember the command with the pager. I thought it would be a fun experiment to try. And this experiment came up after a online conversation with Kelly Blackwell a trainer in FL who uses pager collars on Deaf Dogs. I think it can be done with a pager collar over time.

Edited April 12, 2016 by ai4hv

[ai4hv]

Here is my German Shepard, she knows the letter T ( _ )means to come toward me or to me. The letter S (...) means I want her to sit, and the letter D (_ ..) means to lay down. As seen in the video but may not be obvious she may not pick up on the command the first time I send it without voice. So I may end up sending the command several times before she picks it up. The trick to make this technique work is to send the pattern slow enough that the dog recognizes the pattern as being unique. No my dogs cannot speak back in Morse Code, but a trainer with imagination might be able to teach a dog to tap out a letter for food for example by ringing a bell with a certain pattern. There are trainers that do math tricks with dogs for animal shows. So I am of the opinion that what you can teach a dog is only limited by the trainer's imagination.

 

[DrP]

My Grandparents had a small dog that was very cleaver. You could say "get your ball" and it would go and get it. You could also change ball for bone or rope or doll or rag and he would go and get the correct object every time indicating that it could differentiate between the words spoken.

 

Even so, I don't think you could teach a dog morse code as it would need to be able to have an understanding of letters and language and be able to spell, which I think is asking a bit much. OK - we used to spell out the word W. A. L .K. and L. E. A. D. when discussing dog walking times other wise the dog would go crazy when it heard the word walk or lead.... but that doesn't mean it can spell... it just associated the sounds of the letters as a word which meant the same thing.

 

IMO - Animals are a lot more cleaver than most people think... but they aren't as cleaver as some people think they actually are.