Can dogs hear us talk and understand?

While dogs can hear us talk, they do not understand our language in the same way that humans do. Dogs respond to tone of voice and intonation rather than understanding the actual words used. When people speak to their dogs using specific words in a consistent tone, dogs associate those words with a particular action or reward over time. This is how they may react as if responding to commands or phrases.

Dogs primarily rely on their keen sense of hearing, smell, and body language cues to process the world around them, including their humans and other animals.