Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Dog Smarts, Leap Year

Dear Matthew Alice:

Can my dog understand me when I talk to him? I can tell him to sit down and to lie down and he does it, so he understands me when I say that. When I say to him “good boy” or “I’ll be right back,” does he understand my words?

— Josh, third grade

Sponsored
Sponsored

Dogs can know a lot of language, that’s for sure. One trainer crammed more than 200 words into his border collie’s brain box. I’m not sure the vocabulary list included “Please make dinner.” So, anyway, dogs’ language abilities have been tested all over the place. And believe it or not, dogs are ranked right up there with three-year-olds. At least in some abilities. As the border collie showed, you can smoosh in a lot of words that dogs will respond to. And that’s one way of judging how much dogs “understand.” You say “sit,” your pooch puts his butt on the ground, and you scratch his ears. One word connected with one action. That’s doggie comprehension. If you look deep into his big eyes and say, “I want to sit in the front row at the Jonas Brothers concert,” it’s likely he’ll hear “Noise, noise, SIT, noise, noise, noise,” and his butt will be on the floor too. There’s a limit to Spot’s ability to comprehend, and that’s where the three-year-old parts company with him. Dogs connect a single word or a word combination with an action or object of some sort.

But what limited things they can do, they do very well. Take the same border collie. Put a bunch of objects familiar to him (he already associates an object with its name) in another room. Say to him, “Ball,” f’rinstance. Collie heads into the other room, picks up the ball, and comes back out. Not bad. But wait. Put a bunch of familiar objects in that same room, then add a ringer. Something he doesn’t know the name for. A roll of toilet paper, maybe. Then say, “Toilet paper.” You may get an odd look, but our border collie will trot into the other room, survey the objects, and 70 percent of the time will come back with the correct object. So, ticking in his canine cranium is, Toilet paper? Well, know I’m supposed to get something and bring it back, so here we go into the other room. I see a ball and a bone and a shoe and the newspaper. I know all those things. But there’s something new here. Could that be toilet paper? It must be, since I know all the others. So, I’ll bring back the big white thing. Dogs, or at least our border collie (a super-smart breed), can use the process of elimination.

As for your “good boy” and “I’ll be back,” “good boy” might ring a bell in your pet’s brain, assuming you give him a treat or scratch his ears or otherwise pet him most times that you say “good boy.” He knows something good is going on and he probably wags his tail furiously. “I’ll be back,” well, that probably just bewilders him. No words in that he can recognize, unless you’ve taught him some behavior that’s linked to the phrase. But anyway, keep talking to your pal. At least you know he’ll stay and listen and he won’t snitch you out to your parents.

Matt:

Re: 2 (two) old ideas! You may have answered this (these) before and I may have (did) missed the answers so could you for all of us out here answer this: “How far back [in time] does ‘leap year’ go [start], and why and do we really need it anymore?”

— EPS, Escondido

Yikes! (Gee!) I (we) hope you didn’t (don’t) expect you could (might) go to NASA or someplace like that (Florida-ish) and beat up the guy who dreamed up leap year. It’s not a government (bureaucratic) plot. Dates back to 45 BC, Julius Caesar (Julian Calendar!), to keep festivals happening at the right time of year, since Earth’s orbit actually throws the time off a bit each year. He created a 365-day calendar with one variable month that would pop up every four years and set things right. February. Remember, 30 days has September, April, June, and November. All the rest have 31, except February, which has 28, but only in years divisible by 4 and century years divisible by 400. And that’s the truth. And no, we don’t need it. We can keep our festivals straightened out.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Melissa Etheridge, The Imaginary Amazon

Events April 1-April 3, 2024

Dear Matthew Alice:

Can my dog understand me when I talk to him? I can tell him to sit down and to lie down and he does it, so he understands me when I say that. When I say to him “good boy” or “I’ll be right back,” does he understand my words?

— Josh, third grade

Sponsored
Sponsored

Dogs can know a lot of language, that’s for sure. One trainer crammed more than 200 words into his border collie’s brain box. I’m not sure the vocabulary list included “Please make dinner.” So, anyway, dogs’ language abilities have been tested all over the place. And believe it or not, dogs are ranked right up there with three-year-olds. At least in some abilities. As the border collie showed, you can smoosh in a lot of words that dogs will respond to. And that’s one way of judging how much dogs “understand.” You say “sit,” your pooch puts his butt on the ground, and you scratch his ears. One word connected with one action. That’s doggie comprehension. If you look deep into his big eyes and say, “I want to sit in the front row at the Jonas Brothers concert,” it’s likely he’ll hear “Noise, noise, SIT, noise, noise, noise,” and his butt will be on the floor too. There’s a limit to Spot’s ability to comprehend, and that’s where the three-year-old parts company with him. Dogs connect a single word or a word combination with an action or object of some sort.

But what limited things they can do, they do very well. Take the same border collie. Put a bunch of objects familiar to him (he already associates an object with its name) in another room. Say to him, “Ball,” f’rinstance. Collie heads into the other room, picks up the ball, and comes back out. Not bad. But wait. Put a bunch of familiar objects in that same room, then add a ringer. Something he doesn’t know the name for. A roll of toilet paper, maybe. Then say, “Toilet paper.” You may get an odd look, but our border collie will trot into the other room, survey the objects, and 70 percent of the time will come back with the correct object. So, ticking in his canine cranium is, Toilet paper? Well, know I’m supposed to get something and bring it back, so here we go into the other room. I see a ball and a bone and a shoe and the newspaper. I know all those things. But there’s something new here. Could that be toilet paper? It must be, since I know all the others. So, I’ll bring back the big white thing. Dogs, or at least our border collie (a super-smart breed), can use the process of elimination.

As for your “good boy” and “I’ll be back,” “good boy” might ring a bell in your pet’s brain, assuming you give him a treat or scratch his ears or otherwise pet him most times that you say “good boy.” He knows something good is going on and he probably wags his tail furiously. “I’ll be back,” well, that probably just bewilders him. No words in that he can recognize, unless you’ve taught him some behavior that’s linked to the phrase. But anyway, keep talking to your pal. At least you know he’ll stay and listen and he won’t snitch you out to your parents.

Matt:

Re: 2 (two) old ideas! You may have answered this (these) before and I may have (did) missed the answers so could you for all of us out here answer this: “How far back [in time] does ‘leap year’ go [start], and why and do we really need it anymore?”

— EPS, Escondido

Yikes! (Gee!) I (we) hope you didn’t (don’t) expect you could (might) go to NASA or someplace like that (Florida-ish) and beat up the guy who dreamed up leap year. It’s not a government (bureaucratic) plot. Dates back to 45 BC, Julius Caesar (Julian Calendar!), to keep festivals happening at the right time of year, since Earth’s orbit actually throws the time off a bit each year. He created a 365-day calendar with one variable month that would pop up every four years and set things right. February. Remember, 30 days has September, April, June, and November. All the rest have 31, except February, which has 28, but only in years divisible by 4 and century years divisible by 400. And that’s the truth. And no, we don’t need it. We can keep our festivals straightened out.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Flowering pear trees in Kensington not that nice

Empty dirt plots in front of Ken Cinema
Next Article

2024’s Best Bitcoin & Crypto Casinos – Play BTC Casino Games Online

Best Bitcoin Casinos (2024): Top 10 Crypto Casino Sites for BIG Payouts
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.