{"id":7498,"date":"2021-10-01T18:09:40","date_gmt":"2021-10-01T17:09:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/?p=7498"},"modified":"2022-03-30T11:45:19","modified_gmt":"2022-03-30T10:45:19","slug":"how-do-dogs-know-their-names","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/how-do-dogs-know-their-names\/","title":{"rendered":"How do dogs know their names?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>When you call your faithful companion to your side, they will often run up to you, tail wagging and eyes alert (unless their\u2019s something really interesting like a ball, or another dog or something else that has them engrossed). Because of this, we can deduce that dogs know their names, but how do they work that out? They don\u2019t speak the language after all, so how do they know what we call them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-repetition-repetition-repetition\">Repetition, repetition, repetition<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>While Rex may not know that his name means \u2018king\u2019 in latin, and while Fido may not know that his name means \u2018trust\u2019 in latin, both of them are more than likely to know their names (despite the fact that they\u2019ve never had a latin tutor). They know their own name because we start calling them by their name when they\u2019re puppies and through a combination of deductive reasoning on their part, and positive reinforcement (treats and such) and repetition on our part, they will come to associate that sound with their owner\u2019s desire to want attention. And provided that they see you as being the alpha, or at least above them in the pack hierarchy, they will come running at the sound of your beckoning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is one of the key aspects of training dogs really, and it\u2019s why training has to start at a young age. A two month old puppy is effectively the same as a four year old child, and so it\u2019s time for them to go to school. What\u2019s one of the first things we do at school? We learn to recognise our name (albeit in humans this comes in the form of writing and to be honest, dogs tend to have problems holding the pencil). A dog responding to its own name being called is a cornerstone of any early training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The wild ones<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course wild dogs and their wolf cousins don\u2019t have to worry about things like names, but how do they recognise each other? Wolf conversation tends to centre more around the nightly howl, the smells detected by their powerful noses, and body language. Your own dog will still communicate with other dogs in these ways too (hopefully the nightly howls are swapped in for barking at the park in the afternoon though) but they make a special exception for us. With humans, dogs will learn their own name, but it\u2019s more of a habitual thing that needs to be trained into them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If your dog is excelling at training, why not reward them with a <a href=\"https:\/\/tails.com\/gb\/range\/treats-and-chews\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">delicious dog treat<\/a> from <a href=\"http:\/\/tails.com\">tails.com<\/a> for their efforts?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When you call your faithful companion to your side, they will often run up to you, tail wagging and eyes alert (unless their\u2019s something really interesting like a ball, or another dog or something else that has them engrossed). Because of this, we can deduce that dogs know their names, but how do they work &#8230; <a title=\"How do dogs know their names?\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/how-do-dogs-know-their-names\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about How do dogs know their names?\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":7426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2513],"tags":[340,2598,2531],"class_list":["post-7498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-training-tips","tag-behaviour","tag-fun-facts","tag-training"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.6 (Yoast SEO v27.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How do dogs know their names? - Training - tails.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"You call your dog and they come running up to you - but how do dogs know their names? We find out how dogs come to recognise their name.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/how-do-dogs-know-their-names\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How do dogs know their names?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"You call your dog and they come running up to you - but how do dogs know their names? We find out how dogs come to recognise their name.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/how-do-dogs-know-their-names\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Tails.com Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/tailsuk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-10-01T17:09:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-30T10:45:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/2-2.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tails.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@tailsdogfood\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@tailsdogfood\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"tails.com\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tails.com\\\/blog\\\/how-do-dogs-know-their-names\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tails.com\\\/blog\\\/how-do-dogs-know-their-names\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"tails.com\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tails.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/00b7ae69d4fcb056aa55fcdc6fe6ca27\"},\"headline\":\"How do dogs know their names?\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-01T17:09:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-30T10:45:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tails.com\\\/blog\\\/how-do-dogs-know-their-names\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":446,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tails.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tails.com\\\/blog\\\/how-do-dogs-know-their-names\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tails.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/2-2.png\",\"keywords\":[\"behaviour\",\"fun facts\",\"training\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Training\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/tails.com\\\/blog\\\/how-do-dogs-know-their-names\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tails.com\\\/blog\\\/how-do-dogs-know-their-names\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tails.com\\\/blog\\\/how-do-dogs-know-their-names\\\/\",\"name\":\"How do dogs know their names? - Training - tails.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tails.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tails.com\\\/blog\\\/how-do-dogs-know-their-names\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tails.com\\\/blog\\\/how-do-dogs-know-their-names\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tails.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/2-2.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-01T17:09:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-30T10:45:19+00:00\",\"description\":\"You call your dog and they come running up to you - but how do dogs know their names? We find out how dogs come to recognise their name.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tails.com\\\/blog\\\/how-do-dogs-know-their-names\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/tails.com\\\/blog\\\/how-do-dogs-know-their-names\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tails.com\\\/blog\\\/how-do-dogs-know-their-names\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tails.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/2-2.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tails.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/2-2.png\",\"width\":800,\"height\":500,\"caption\":\"can dogs see in the dark\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tails.com\\\/blog\\\/how-do-dogs-know-their-names\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tails.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How do dogs know their names?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tails.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tails.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Tails.com Blog\",\"description\":\"All about dog food, health, ownership and more!\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tails.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tails.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tails.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Tails.com\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tails.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tails.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tails.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/logo-300-x-300.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tails.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/logo-300-x-300.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":300,\"caption\":\"Tails.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tails.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/tailsuk\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/tailsdogfood\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/tails.com_uk\\\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tails.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/00b7ae69d4fcb056aa55fcdc6fe6ca27\",\"name\":\"tails.com\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c5db52e8a880426f1d62b95925181f192e6881585499603db6c69e7668dff6a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c5db52e8a880426f1d62b95925181f192e6881585499603db6c69e7668dff6a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c5db52e8a880426f1d62b95925181f192e6881585499603db6c69e7668dff6a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"tails.com\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tails.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/tails-com\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How do dogs know their names? - Training - tails.com","description":"You call your dog and they come running up to you - but how do dogs know their names? We find out how dogs come to recognise their name.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/how-do-dogs-know-their-names\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"How do dogs know their names?","og_description":"You call your dog and they come running up to you - but how do dogs know their names? We find out how dogs come to recognise their name.","og_url":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/how-do-dogs-know-their-names\/","og_site_name":"Tails.com Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/tailsuk\/","article_published_time":"2021-10-01T17:09:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-03-30T10:45:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/2-2.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"tails.com","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@tailsdogfood","twitter_site":"@tailsdogfood","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"tails.com","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/how-do-dogs-know-their-names\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/how-do-dogs-know-their-names\/"},"author":{"name":"tails.com","@id":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/00b7ae69d4fcb056aa55fcdc6fe6ca27"},"headline":"How do dogs know their names?","datePublished":"2021-10-01T17:09:40+00:00","dateModified":"2022-03-30T10:45:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/how-do-dogs-know-their-names\/"},"wordCount":446,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/how-do-dogs-know-their-names\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/2-2.png","keywords":["behaviour","fun facts","training"],"articleSection":["Training"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/how-do-dogs-know-their-names\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/how-do-dogs-know-their-names\/","url":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/how-do-dogs-know-their-names\/","name":"How do dogs know their names? - Training - tails.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/how-do-dogs-know-their-names\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/how-do-dogs-know-their-names\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/2-2.png","datePublished":"2021-10-01T17:09:40+00:00","dateModified":"2022-03-30T10:45:19+00:00","description":"You call your dog and they come running up to you - but how do dogs know their names? We find out how dogs come to recognise their name.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/how-do-dogs-know-their-names\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/how-do-dogs-know-their-names\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/how-do-dogs-know-their-names\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/2-2.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/2-2.png","width":800,"height":500,"caption":"can dogs see in the dark"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/how-do-dogs-know-their-names\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How do dogs know their names?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/","name":"Tails.com Blog","description":"All about dog food, health, ownership and more!","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Tails.com","url":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/logo-300-x-300.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/logo-300-x-300.png","width":300,"height":300,"caption":"Tails.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/tailsuk\/","https:\/\/x.com\/tailsdogfood","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/tails.com_uk\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/00b7ae69d4fcb056aa55fcdc6fe6ca27","name":"tails.com","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c5db52e8a880426f1d62b95925181f192e6881585499603db6c69e7668dff6a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c5db52e8a880426f1d62b95925181f192e6881585499603db6c69e7668dff6a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c5db52e8a880426f1d62b95925181f192e6881585499603db6c69e7668dff6a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"tails.com"},"url":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/author\/tails-com\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7498"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7499,"href":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7498\/revisions\/7499"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tails.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}