Does anybody else's dog do this? How do they know?

[Elyse]

I always wondered this:

Suka knows a 'command' when I say "Go get Daddy!", he knows to go to my Dad...woo at him, nudge him with his nose, and get his attention (useful for waking him up on weekends, LOL)

He knows this for myself, my Mom, and my brother too...but nobody else.

I think he knows our names...from my perspective, apparently. So he knows my name is Elyse, my brother's name is Kelvyn, and my Mom/Dad's 'names' are Mommy and Daddy respectively.

I don't know how he picked up our names...but maybe its because he hears us refer to each other by name? But, in that retrospect, wouldn't he know my Mom & Dad by their actual names?

And it's not like I trained him to respond to the names. When I first discovered this, about a few months after we got him (3ish years ago), I said: "Go get Daddy!". To my shock, he went upstairs and got Dad's attention.

Of course, whenever he does respond to our names I say, "Good boy Suuuka!!" ... but it seems like he just trained himself to learn our names.

So, I guess my question is this: How can Suka relate us to our names? How did he learn them by himself? He doesn't know who my friends are, who my uncle/aunt/cousins are.

And do any of your dogs do this, can they get 'name of family member' too? Or is it just a Suka thing?

And why does he only see names from my perspective? Is it because he's more 'in-tune' with me and he pays more attention to what I do? (Mom always says I'm Suka's favourite person!)

(I hope my post made sense...)

Edited November 17, 2012 by SolitaryHowl

[BingBlaze n Skyla]

I've not really noticed it with blaze n bings but I often say to skyla get Nathan! N she'll go n start trying to get my brother to play

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[Rosemary]

Makes perfect sense, Micah will find Ozzy if I ask her to. She will also 'fetch' him when I tell her to when it is feeding time, because she knows I will only put their food down if they are both there - she will do anything for food.

They both know 'Daddy' and I can ask them where he is - if he is at work they will whoo at me as if to say don't be silly. But if it is nearly time for him to come home, they will either run to the door to wait for him, or to the outside gate.

They seem to have a pretty good grasp on putting words in a sentence together. If I speak seriously to Micah, and it is not something I usually say, she tilts her head to the side and watches my mouth - very intently. She, more so than Ozzy amazes me with her intelligence.

[sutsibe]

My pack all know each other's names, and I'll swear that sometimes they appear to be calling someone by their version (a version that a Husky can pronounce!) of the name! Rora's name is the easiest, from a dog's perspective - I've heard what sounds like "No, no, Rora!" more than once! I think that they respond more to those names that belong to "their" pack, and anyone not truly belonging doesn't matter as much. I'd hazard a guess that he knows your friends' names, but that he just doesn't care in the same way he does about you, your parents, and your brother!

[Biggles]

Mine know their regular husky meet up friends names. They also know my kids names as well even though one of them hasn't lived at home since January.

[BlueWolf]

I wish! Mine got it mixed up with "Come" it appears! When I ask them to come, they go to Ruth and when she asks them to come, they come to me

[Storm Angel n Auroras Mum]

mine do yes.. they also now know the names of two girls at the school who fuss them.

[Ahny]

Blue knows some names, but he gets really confused when my mom comes over, cuz to him I'm mom, and it messes with his head.

My parents dog Bo is brilliant with names though. he knows me, my mom, dad, sister, brother in law and both nephews. And since I no longer live there, if my parents ask my dog to find me, he runs to front door . . . . and then he checks if anyone is on the phone.

[Princess Maya]

Maya knows most of the families names, the ones she sees daily (we all live close to each other), she knows 3 of her close doggie friends names, she used to know the hamsters name (r.i.p)...:)but she doesn't know my name!!Any time Derek says "get Amanda", she just looks confused like "who the hell is Amanda"!I've been trying to rectify this but it's not happening!!

[Stormy]

Skye knows Shadow thats about it lol

[elenamarie]

Sarah absolutely knows the names of all the people who live here and some who don't. She started recognizing names at about age 6 months and ever since she knows precisely who I'm talking about when I say "where is X?" or "go get Y." Don't ask me how she knows, I can't explain it, but she does.

[Liz Jones]

All my 3 girls know our names and the other dogs names never really thought of it before but does make you think

[Austinville]

Ryn knows many names, even those who might have two or more ways of identification - for instance, 'brother' can be our lab/rottie cross, or my son and she knows by who is in our home, who I am speaking of.

She knows each of Gigi's pack by name and even my co-workers. (She LOVES Tammy!)

And to this day, more than a 15 months after meeting Bella (SidNBella on here), she understands if I say 'where's Bella' she RUNS to the door in hopes her BFF is there. Not to mention what happens when I say 'Jack' (who belongs to huskyhijinx)

[LittleLuka]

Luka knows our family's names. I can say "Daddy's being mean isn't he?" and he'll woo and look at Josh like how could you!? LOL i know i'm horrible.

Josh can tell him to find Mommy and he comes and gets me, I think he knows Knox's name already also. Luka is so talkative i feel like every day i'm having a conversation with him.