Dragon Baby's (Human) Lexicon

Or words and phrases she seems to understand when I talk to her, at least to judge by her behavior (but then how else would you judge?).
  1. Yes (meaning, "You can do that")
  2. No (meaning, "Stop doing that")
  3. Sit
  4. Wait (with hand gesture: palm flat over eyes)
  5. Okay (typically as a release from "Sit" or "Wait")
  6. Off (meaning, "Stop doing that" as well as "Get out of there")
  7. Out (as in both "Do you want to go out?" and "Get out of the flowerbeds!")
  8. Stay (understood, if not always obeyed)
  9. Breakfast (definitely understood)
  10. Dinner (ditto)
  11. Cookie (ditto)
  12. Porch (as in, "Let's go sit on the porch!")
  13. Go pee
  14. Go poop (probably; less clearly understood than "Go pee!")
  15. Go to your room (meaning, "Go get in your crate, there's a cookie there for you!")
  16. Dry, dry, dry (meaning, "I'm going to get the towel and dry you off")
  17. Rope (meaning, "Stop tugging on my robe/pant's leg/towel and go get that felt rope-thing to tug on")
  18. Tell them who you are (meaning, "Bark back at those big dogs in their yard, don't let them intimidate you!")
  19. Park (meaning, "You can spend this 'walk' sniffing everything!")
  20. Campus (meaning, "I am going to keep you walking, no stopping to sniff everything!")
  21. Stay with me (meaning, "You can sniff for a moment but then we're walking whether you're ready or not," seems to be working; a.k.a. "Heel")
  22. Play (meaning, "I'll throw the balls for you in the backyard")
  23. Go play (meaning, "Go play with the other dogs!")
  24. Bring me the ball (with hand gesture; variable whether I actually get the ball)
  25. Drop it (definitely understood; often obeyed in letter, not spirit)
  26. Inside (meaning, "Let's go inside!"; typically requires reinforcement, unlike "Let's go outside!")
  27. Spritzing (meaning, "Come bark at the SodaStream!")
  28. Let's dry my hair (meaning, "Come bark at the hair dryer!")
  29. Shhh (meaning, "You can stop barking now")
  30. Cat (meaning, "Go find the cat!")
  31. Good girl (meaning, "I love you, you are such a wonderful dog!")
    32. NB what's missing?

Comments

  1. RNSMay 21, 2011 at 9:16 AM

    Nice. I guess dogs are really like permanent toddlers. This sounds like my son's lexicon when he was about 2.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fencing BearMay 21, 2011 at 11:36 AM

    There is, of course, a corollary: my canine lexicon! I sometimes wonder who understands whom better, not to mention how many unconscious signals I'm sending her.

    ReplyDelete

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