“Yappy Hour” at Gateway Sounds…Pawesome, Ahead of Study That Finds Dogs Know What You Say
This weekend launches a month of “Yappy Hours” at various locations in Columbus — the first of the bunch will be held at Gateway on Sunday, starting at 2pm.
So what is Yappy Hour? It’s an all out party featuring an “Adopt Me” fashion show by Bailey & Bella, raffle, pet-themed vendors and food, doggie pools, War Dog bandanas, the CD102.5 Scene Team, and a handful of Central Ohio’s top rescue and animal advocacy groups.
You’ll be able to have fun with your pooch in the sun, check out dogs looking for adoption and check out some vendors. I don’t know what this means but there is a special appearance by The Adventures of Smokey and Jason! Let’s keep it a surprise. Sometimes going in a little blind is the spice of life.
Most interesting for dog owners this week though is a study that comes out of Berlin that found our lil’ doggies can actually understand the words that are coming out of your mouth.
Researchers in Hungary scanning some doggy brains as they tuned into what their trainers were saying and found out which parts of their brains were being used. They discovered that dogs process words with left hemisphere while intonation was processed with the right — just like people!
I spoke with the owner of Buckeye Dog Training, Mollie Phythyon, who felt this discovery proves what a lot of dog owner’s already knew.
” I see [this discovery] brought to life everyday with my own dog and the dogs I train – that’s why I hear a lot of owners say things like, ‘When I come home and Fido has chewed the rug, he knows that he did something wrong!’ The tone of our voice has a lot to do with that. And really what is happening inside the dog’s head is that they are learning patterns more than the meaning of a word.”
Some other animals might also possess the mental acuity to understand speech like domesticated dogs do, but they simply don’t care about human language — apparently making it difficult to test, said Lead researcher of the project Attila Andics according to 10tv.
“Obviously my dog cannot define what a walk is. But she knows that when I say, ‘Do you want to go for a walk?’ that I tend to follow up those words by grabbing her leash and taking her outside. And she likes to do that, so she gets excited now that she’s learned this pattern whenever she hears me say those words strung together. But again she doesn’t know what walk means – if I called a walk by another word, like pineapple, she would learn that when I say, “Do you want to go for a pineapple?” she would have the same reaction because I would still grab her leash and take her outside. It’s the association we are making with those words, reinforced by the tone in our voice, that the dog is really learning. But it’s neat science nonetheless.”
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