Because I am dorky, I started making a mental list of the words the pets understand and/or obey. Obviously I must share it with you.
Monk understands (and reacts appropriately when not excited by squirrels/other dogs) the following words and phrases:
1. No
2. Come/Come here
3. Monk
4. Cab
5. Dogs
6. Cats
7. Sit
8. Down
9. Get your head down
10. Get your butt down
11. Stay
12. Let’s dance
13. Speak
14. Baby/Where’s your baby?
15. Bone
16. Toy
17. Ball
18. Go upstairs
19. Go downstairs
20. Cookie
21. Treat
22. Walk
23. Outside/out (lately he’s also learned what it means when we spell o-u-t to each other)
24. Pee/Go pee
25. Poop/Go poop
26. Hurry up (potty related)/Find your spot (potty related)/Let’s go (potty related)
27. Ride
28. Jail (the vet/dog kennel)
29. Go on (this means he backs away four or five steps, therefore getting out of whatever personal space he’s crowding)
30. Wait
31. Get on your chair
32. Get on the couch
33. Go to bed
34. Food/dinner/eat your dinner
35. Water
36. Leave it
37. Drop it
38. Get it
39. Mommy
40. Daddy/my husband’s name
41. Squirrel
42. Do you want to (fill in the blank)? (He gets excited by the phrase because it is usually followed by something he wants to do.)
I feel like I’m leaving a ton out.
Monk is also capable of multi-step commands, such as “go downstairs and get your baby” or “go upstairs and wait.” We’ve lately noticed he can find us by name, so we can tell him to find Cab or I can say “Go to daddy” and he’ll do it. Like LASSIE.
Words Monk used to understand but we haven’t used enough for retention:
1. Shake
2. Park
3. Roll over
Accidental learned non-verbal communication
1. If I look at Monk, take a tiny little sharp intake of breath, and smile in a certain way, he will start barking and jumping around. Same if I take in a breath and raise my eyebrows at him.
2. If we crouch a little, Monk will start barking/wrestling around
3. If Jut lifts his t-shirt up, Monk will start barking, jumping around, generally acting crazy
4. If Jut’s cell phone rings and I’m not home, Monk will look for me to arrive shortly (result of me frequently calling on my way home)
Words Cab understands:
1. No (sort of)
2. Sit
3. Down
4. Get in your box (his crate)
5. Dinner/Eat your dinner
6. Pee/Go pee
7. Poop/Go poop
8. Hurry up
9. Leave it (sort of) (not really, but maybe a tiny bit)
10. Cookies
11. Cab
12. Dogs
13. Bed/Go to bed
Non-verbal things Cab knows
1. Pointing (this is us pointing to his crate–he’ll walk into it)
Words the cats seem to know, but it is hard to say for sure, because they are cats:
1. Dinner
2. Coltrane
3. Jelly Roll
4. Dogs
5. No
6. Food
7. Milk
Non-verbal cat things:
1. If I hold out a hand, Coltrane will stand on her hind legs to get scratches on the head
2. If I lower my face/head when I am close to her, Coltrane will head bump my head and/or try to kiss me
3. If I rub three fingers together, Jelly Roll will come to me
Non-verbal cat thing that maybe shouldn’t count but I am because I believe it is an expression of love:
1. If Jut grabs Coltrane and swings her up with one hand, and holds her against the ceiling, she will wait limply and calmly until he returns her to solid earth. This is a cat who freaks out, who has bitten me so hard I cried because I petted her one second too long, who growls and hisses crankily, who squeaks dramatically at everything. She is stiff, tense, and angry. But she will let my husband swing her around, hold her precariously over his head, hug her to his chest as if she is a baby. I’m pretty sure this is the greatest expression of adoration she can give.
Monk knows the word “squirrel” extremely well, and he loooooooooooves to watch the squirrels. I’ve mentioned before that he naturally points to birds, squirrels, and rabbits. We’ve been testing “find the squirrel” on him lately as a command, and he’ll look around our yard/the neighboring yards and point if he sees one. Yesterday morning, upstairs in our living room, Jut told Monk to find a squirrel and he went to a few windows, stopped at one, and pointed at a squirrel.
DOG GENIUS.
(Meanwhile, Cab has been very distracted outside by trying to eat the grass Monk has peed on.)
AWESOME,
black sheeped
