Dogs are able to understand human words.
Dogs are able to understand words spoken by humans
Scientists conducted an investigation after a series of videos on social media claiming to show pooches "talking" with the aid of soundboard buttons.
The US researchers analysed whether the dogs were actually communicating or just responding to cues from their owners and found that canines trained with soundboard buttons are capable of understanding specific words and producing appropriate responses.
Federico Rossano, from the Department of Cognitive Science at the University of California San Diego, said: "This study addresses public skepticism about whether dogs truly understand what the buttons mean.
"Our findings are important because they show that words matter to dogs, and that they respond to the words themselves, not just associated cues."
He added: "We're just scratching the surface in this study.
"Future studies will explore how dogs actively use these buttons, including the meaning and systematicity behind sequences of button presses."