Labrador Owner Asks Dog a Question About Tail, Shock at What He Does
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
A chocolate Labrador has melted hearts on TikTok after perfectly responding to his owner's question without even lifting his head.
The August 16 clip shared by owner Caitlyn Stakeley (@caitlyn_stakeley) quickly went viral, racking up 3.2 million views at the time of writing.
The dog called Joey is seen curled up on a sofa with his head buried in a pillow. From behind the camera, his owner asks: "Can you wag your tail?" The Lab looks up briefly, then obliges—gently wagging his tail while remaining comfortably in place.
The video, captioned "He 100% speaks English," has already been liked more than 614,000 times.
Many viewers chimed in to share their own experiences with dogs' apparent language comprehension. One user wrote: "He doesn't speak English. He understands it."
Another agreed, adding: "Told my dog I would give him a special dinner (Freshpet) last weekend but I forgot and gave him kibble. He refused to eat until he got his special dinner. They understand us perfectly."
A third offered a theory: "I saw a theory that dogs can understand words but not full-on sentences. They just use their own version of a thought process by comparing words we say to certain actions. Like if we say 'want to go outside,' they use the word 'outside' as a way of saying 'we are leaving the house to be outside.'"
What Science Says About Dogs and Language
A stock image of a brown labrador lying on the grass.
A stock image of a brown labrador lying on the grass.
Maya Shustov/iStock / Getty Images Plus
The commenters may be onto something—science shows that dogs are remarkably skilled at picking out words that matter to them, though with some limits.
Researchers at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest measured the brain activity of 17 awake dogs as they listened to familiar instruction words alongside nonsense words. They discovered that dogs could reliably tell real words apart from completely different nonsense sounds, but struggled when those nonsense words closely resembled the real ones. This indicates that dogs focus on broad sound patterns rather than the finer phonetic details humans rely on, which may explain why their vocabularies remain relatively small.
At the same time, researchers have also examined the role of dog-directed speech (DDS)—the high-pitched, exaggerated tone owners often use, similar to baby talk.
A recent study, published in Animal Cognition on April 12 and led by experts from the Universities of Lincoln and Sussex in England and Jean Monnet University in France, found that while dogs responded more strongly to meaningful words when spoken in DDS prosody, they were still able to detect important cues—like their names—even when delivered in a flat monotone.
Taken together, the two studies suggest that dogs don't need dramatic tone to understand us, but it helps grab their attention and reinforce meaning. Their strength lies in recognizing key words that signal action or reward, not in parsing the finer details of speech or grasping full sentences.
Newsweek reached out to @caitlyn_stakeley for comment via TikTok. We could not verify the details of the case.
Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
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Labrador Owner Asks Dog a Question About Tail, Shock at What He Does
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A chocolate Labrador has melted hearts on TikTok after perfectly responding to his owner's question without even lifting his head. The August 16 clip shared by owner Caitlyn Stakeley (@caitlyn_stakeley) quickly went viral, racking up 3.2 million views at the time of writing. The dog called Joey is seen curled up on a sofa with his head buried in a pillow. From behind the camera, his owner asks: "Can you wag your tail?" The Lab looks up briefly, then obliges—gently wagging his tail while remaining comfortably in place. The video, captioned "He 100% speaks English," has already been liked more than 614,000 times. Many viewers chimed in to share their own experiences with dogs' apparent language comprehension. One user wrote: "He doesn't speak English. He understands it." Another agreed, adding: "Told my dog I would give him a special dinner (Freshpet) last weekend but I forgot and gave him kibble. He refused to eat until he got his special dinner. They understand us perfectly." A third offered a theory: "I saw a theory that dogs can understand words but not full-on sentences. They just use their own version of a thought process by comparing words we say to certain actions. Like if we say 'want to go outside,' they use the word 'outside' as a way of saying 'we are leaving the house to be outside.'" What Science Says About Dogs and Language A stock image of a brown labrador lying on the grass. A stock image of a brown labrador lying on the grass. Maya Shustov/iStock / Getty Images Plus The commenters may be onto something—science shows that dogs are remarkably skilled at picking out words that matter to them, though with some limits. Researchers at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest measured the brain activity of 17 awake dogs as they listened to familiar instruction words alongside nonsense words. They discovered that dogs could reliably tell real words apart from completely different nonsense sounds, but struggled when those nonsense words closely resembled the real ones. This indicates that dogs focus on broad sound patterns rather than the finer phonetic details humans rely on, which may explain why their vocabularies remain relatively small. At the same time, researchers have also examined the role of dog-directed speech (DDS)—the high-pitched, exaggerated tone owners often use, similar to baby talk. A recent study, published in Animal Cognition on April 12 and led by experts from the Universities of Lincoln and Sussex in England and Jean Monnet University in France, found that while dogs responded more strongly to meaningful words when spoken in DDS prosody, they were still able to detect important cues—like their names—even when delivered in a flat monotone. Taken together, the two studies suggest that dogs don't need dramatic tone to understand us, but it helps grab their attention and reinforce meaning. Their strength lies in recognizing key words that signal action or reward, not in parsing the finer details of speech or grasping full sentences. Newsweek reached out to @caitlyn_stakeley for comment via TikTok. We could not verify the details of the case. Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@ with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
