January 9, 2026, 1:18 pm | Read time: 7 minutes

There are terms my husband and I no longer say since we got our dog. These include “ball,” “frisbee,” and even “pretzel.” Either we describe the objects (“Shall we get a baked good from the bakery today?”) or we spell them out (“Where is the B-A-L-L?”). Because if any of these words are mentioned, Yumi—our five-year-old Pomeranian—gets very excited. And we never taught her the word “pretzel.” She must have picked it up on her own.

Apparently, many dogs have this ability, as a study has now scientifically proven for the first time.

Do Dogs Learn in a Similar Way to Children?

A research team led by Shany Dror and colleagues from Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest investigated whether dogs with exceptional language skills can learn new words simply by overhearing conversations. The results were published in the journal “Science.”

The researchers used methods from child research to determine whether dogs can learn from social situations in a similar way to children. It was found that some dogs not only understand targeted commands but can also pick up new terms from indirectly overheard words—without direct address—and correctly associate them.¹

Listening and Learning Require a Range of Social Skills

Even 18-month-old children can learn new words by watching and listening to conversations between other people—even when no one is speaking directly to them. “In toddlers, it is the case that by about 1.5 years old, they learn new names for things (‘objects’) by ‘eavesdropping’/listening to conversations between two other people, without being shown the object themselves,” explains Prof. Dr. Christoph Kleinschnitz, director of the Department of Neurology at the University Hospital Essen, upon request. This requires a range of social skills, such as following the gaze of the person being overheard, listening to a conversation, being able to empathize with someone else, or understanding a person’s intention.

Dogs Are Considered Particularly Receptive to Human Communication

While language is considered a purely human ability, some animals exhibit remarkably similar learning strategies. Especially dogs, which have adapted to life with humans over millennia, are considered particularly receptive to human communication.

Previous studies have already shown that some so-called “gifted word learner” dogs—highly gifted word learners—can spontaneously learn the names of objects. Whether they can do this by merely overhearing human-to-human interactions was previously unclear. This study specifically addressed that question.

10 Talented Dogs vs. 10 Typical Family Dogs

The researchers conducted several experiments with two groups of dogs:

1. ten “gifted word learner” dogs with proven vocabulary and
2. ten typical family dogs without special language skills.

First, it was tested whether the gifted dogs could learn new object names when their owners spoke to them directly (Experiment 1a). Then it was examined whether the same dogs could also learn new words by “overhearing”—simply by listening to a conversation between two people (Experiment 1b).

Additionally, it was tested whether typical dogs could also learn under the same conditions (Experiment 2). In a third experiment (3a and 3b), it was tested whether the gifted dogs could learn words even when the object and name were presented separately in time.

All dogs received short learning sessions over four days, consisting of naming, joint play (without naming), and free play. They were then tested to see if they could correctly identify and bring the new objects on command.

Not All Dogs Learn by Listening

The “gifted word learner” dogs successfully learned new object names in all three experiments. In the direct learning context (Experiment 1a), the success rate was 92 percent, and for mere overhearing (Experiment 1b), it was 83 percent—both values were significantly above chance. There was no clear difference between active learning and passive overhearing.

Even in the first query of each new term, success rates were 80 percent (direct) and even 100 percent (overhearing), showing that the dogs had already learned the words before the test.

Typical family dogs, on the other hand, did not show clear learning behavior. Although six out of ten animals chose a new toy more often than expected (with a baseline of 9 percent chance hits), closer analysis showed that this was more due to preferences for new objects than actual learning. In the third experiment (3a), the gifted dogs could also learn new words when there was a time gap between naming and seeing the object, with a median success rate of 79 percent. Two weeks later (Experiment 3b), they still reliably remembered the new terms.

Also interesting: Can Dogs Communicate via Soundboards? Studies Provide Initial Clues

Especially Talented Dogs Learn Just by Listening

The results show: Some dogs possess a remarkable level of social-cognitive abilities similar to those of toddlers. They can learn not only through direct address but also by observing human-to-human interactions. This ability to observe triadic interactions and gain information from them was long considered exclusively human.

The fact that certain dogs can learn new terms in this way—and without active training, just by listening—suggests that some of the cognitive foundations of human language development may also be present in other species.

“Until now, it was only known that dogs could associate action commands (‘sit,’ ‘stay’),” explains Prof. Dr. Christoph Kleinschnitz. This study now shows that this also applies to objects (“This is a toy”). The performance of the dogs for this association was, in some cases, even better than that of the toddler comparison group.

“The study shows that dogs (as was already known with bonobos and certain parrots) can learn complex social skills similar to humans/toddlers,” says the expert. “Moreover, learning object names by eavesdropping is obviously independent of the ability to speak (dogs cannot speak), so it seems to be a very old socio-economic mechanism in terms of developmental biology. In short: Dogs are incredibly smart and more similar to humans than previously thought, but dog owners probably always knew that.”

More on the topic

Study shows Dogs can remember the names of toys for up to two years

Finally Confirmed Dogs Actually Have Favorite Toys–and Know What to Do With Them

Why Only Some Dogs Have This Talent Is Unclear

The study provides compelling evidence that a few dogs can learn similarly to toddlers under certain conditions. It was carefully controlled whether the animals had actually learned a new word-object mapping or were just choosing by the process of elimination. Particularly noteworthy is the differentiated study design with multiple experimental conditions, repeated tests, and appropriate statistical analyses.

However, it remains unclear what exactly causes this learning ability in “gifted word learner” dogs. The authors point out that this ability is very rare and likely due to individual peculiarities—possibly genetic factors, environmental conditions, or a special motivation. Even though the sample size with ten animals each is relatively small, the results are consistent.

Conclusion: Language-Like Learning Is Not an Exclusively Human Ability

A small group of highly gifted dogs can learn new words by simply listening to conversations between humans—comparable to toddlers. This discovery provides fascinating insights into the social and cognitive abilities of some dogs and raises questions about the evolution of language-like learning mechanisms.

For typical family dogs, however, these results do not apply. Nevertheless, the study shows: Language-like learning is not an exclusively human ability—at least not in every respect. Future research should investigate what factors enable this special learning type in dogs and whether targeted training can promote such abilities.