I believe they do recognize their names. And if I recall well, one of my friends had a dog that had one name from her and another from her ex-husband, and was responding to both names. People might say it has to do with voice tone and/or body language but I don't think so.

I think dogs are pretty much body language experts. Obviously I know they respond to verbal commands, but I think its debatable how much is understanding specific syllables.

I think the body language theory is how packs communicate, I think they are far more attuned, at a level we can't really process, to very subtle body cues. Its even possible that with the advent of spoken communication in humans we "lost" this ability somehow.

I'm sure everyone who has a dog can relate to this situation. You and dog are sitting on the couch together, you decide you will take the dog for a walk, its a random time, not a normal schedule you normally bring it....you make no verbal command to the dog. As you start getting up to put on your shoes, the dog instantly jumps up and runs towards their leash.

I've long puzzled over how my dog can distinguish delivery men (UPS, USPS, even our yard worker) from strangers walking up the drive way. The dog can be on the couch with me with no sight to the window....but somehow tell the footsteps are not a delivery man. How?

I see none of you have ever seen Beethoven, or Airbud

Sian did a talk in my local area a few years back, it was a really interesting event.

I can see that my dog doesn't understand her name in the same way we conceptualise a name. But she does recognise the word, and links it to an action. I want her to look at me I call her name, so to her she hears her name being the command word for look at me. When she listens ofcourse she's going through that teenage stage of ignoring every command 🤣🤣

My dog does recognise the name but I hardly believe it knows it's her name. Because more than her name, sge responds to my shouting for aggression or calling her for food saying 'come'.

This topic is super interesting, I’ve actually tried this test with a bunch of dogs, and honestly, it felt like no matter what I said, they pretty much acted the same way. They’d just look at me and wait for some kind of command.

I just believe they have a high sense of understanding which is in them

Dogs might not know their names like humans do, but they definitely recognize the sound and associate it with attention, food, or love shown to them. So yes, they respond just in their own way.

If only I was a dog, I could easily let you know

Deep study, My dog just answers and I take it as intelligence

It depends on the dog. Some dogs are dogs. Other dogs are something else.

That's a really interesting point. It makes sense, too. It's less about the name itself and more about the sound-action association

Haha, dogs might not self-identify, but they sure knows when it’s treat time! Maybe they are just living their best life without overthinking the name thing

I think they can somehow read our thoughts. I'm speaking for the cat and the dog. In other creatures close to humans may also be a kind of thought-reading. When their name is said out loud, they know it for sure. If I give an example from my cats, I can say this; Because I take care of a lot of cats, I sometimes find it too late that some cats don't come to eat every day. In such cases, I get worried. And that cat never leaves my mind. It's unbelievable, but it comes out after a very short time. I don't know how many times I've been through this. A huge number of them.

So they're more like biological AI. Still smarter than today's AI.

So when a dog responds to their name, what's happening from a scientific perspective?