New research out of Dalhousie University shows dogs can respond to an average of nearly 90 words, phrases

New research out of Dalhousie University in Halifax shows canines can respond to an average of nearly 90 words and phrases, with some responding to even more.

Sophie Jacques, associate professor in the department of psychology and neuroscience at Dalhousie, along with her colleague, Catherine Reeve, surveyed 165 dog owners around the world on what English words and phrases their pets responded to.

In a report in Applied Animal Behaviour Science, it says various mixed and pure breeds responded to 89 terms on average, with commands comprising the greatest response, including the commands come, rollover and down.

The pair of researchers also found that certain breeds, such as herding dogs like Border Collies and German Shepherds, responded to more words and phrases than others did.

"Toy-companion dogs, like Chihuahuas, also had a high response rate, unlike some hounds, terriers, setters and Golden Retrievers which scored lower," explained Jacques in an email to CTV News.

According to Jacques, dogs with jobs are able to respond to even more words – some, up to 120.

"We don’t claim that dogs understand or know all the words that their owners listed. What we measured was the number of words that their owners believed that they responded to consistently," said Jacques. "They might be responding to the word or phrase itself, but they could easily be responding to the intonation or to the context in which owners use these words or phrases."

Overall, the study shows that dogs responded to between 15 to 215 words and phrases.

According to Jacques, the top 25 words that dogs responded to the most include:

1. The dog’s name
2. Sit
3. Come
4. Good girl/Good boy
5. Down
6. Stay
7. Wait
8. No
9. Ok
10. Leave it
11. Bed
12. Want to go for a walk?
13. Yes
14. Want to go for a ride?
15. Outside
16. Walk
17. Who’s that?
18. Treat
19. Go pee
20. All done
21. Off
22. Up
23. Go
24. Drop
25. Where’s *insert name*?