A video of a dog appearing to understand human speech has gone viral on TikTok, where it has garnered over 572,000 views at the time of writing.
The clip shared by TikToker Megan Parkinson (@meganparkinsontiktok) was posted with a caption that read: “[bumble bee emoji] Bumble speaks hooman and just doesn’t appreciate my tone…love her smile tho #dogsoftiktok #goldenretriever #bumble #dogmum #dogmumlife.
The video showed a woman sitting next to a golden retriever. The dog appeared to be panting, with its mouth open and its tongue sticking out.
The woman then asked, “Could you breathe louder?” just before the golden retriever appeared to immediately shut its mouth as the clip ended.
A stock image of a woman and a golden retriever leaning their heads together while sitting on the floor inside a house. A video of a golden retriever apparently understanding human speech has gone viral on TikTok. iStock/Getty ImagesPlus
While it’s not known if the dog in the latest video was prompted to breathe more quietly following the woman’s comment, previous research has shown that because dogs can learn basic verbal commands, “it’s evident that they have the ability to discriminate.” Some aspects of human processing have language,” says an October 2018 study in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience.
The results of the study suggest that “canine processing of human words utilizes fundamental processes such as novelty recognition and may also involve auditory and hedonic representations in some dogs.”
The study found that for people, words are “symbolic placeholders” for different people, objects, actions, and other attributes.
“Just because a dog can match a word with an action like ‘get’ doesn’t mean the dog understands the meaning of the word the way humans do.”
For example, “dogs may rely on other cues to follow verbal commands such as gazes, gestures and emotional expressions, as well as intonation,” the study explained, citing previous research.
“This raises the question of what cognitive mechanisms dogs use to distinguish between words, or even what kind of dog makes a word,” the study states.
@meganparkinsontiktok
🐝 Bumble speaks hooman and just doesn’t appreciate my tone…love her smile tho #dogsoftiktok #goldenretriever #bumble #dogmum #dogmumlife
♬ Original sound – Megan Parkinson
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The latest video has amazed and delighted users on TikTok.
User [email protected] said: “Omg [oh my god] how he stops breathing loudly.”
User traciekirby552 said: “I love how he just quit [crying laughing emojis]’ while user 6770169203872 Carol Ann said, ‘Oh my days this is so funny [crying laughing emojis].”
Boia simply said, “No, he didn’t [surprised face with eyes wide open, crying laughing emojis] I’m dead now.”
Newsweek has reached out to the original poster for comment. This video has not been independently verified.
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