A new study from the researchers of the Department of Ethology at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Hungary reveals that dogs can recognize their owner by voice alone, and they make use of some of the same voice properties as humans do.
Sure, our dogs recognize us. But are they also capable of it, when neither vision nor smell is there to guide them, so by using voice alone? If so, what is it about voice, that helps them? To find out, researchers at the Department of Ethology, ELTE, Hungary, invited 28 owner-dog pairs to play hide-and-seek in the lab. Dogs had to find their owner behind one of two hiding places while a stranger hid behind the other one. They played the owner’s voice from the owner’s hiding place, and a stranger’s voice from the other hiding place, both reading out recipes in a neutral tone. The dogs’ task was to choose from a distance and find their owners. The game had multiple rounds and the owner’s voice was paired with 14 different strangers’ voices, some more similar to the owner’s voice, some more different.
To read the full article click HERE!
Watch the video about the research!
Source: ttk.elte.hu – Dogs can recognize their owner by voice alone