Spelling around the kids has an expiration date. Spelling around the dog does not. amirite?

Yup. We don't say walk anymore, and now we can't say W A L K either. Currently on "take the dog out", we'll see how long before we have to change it again

by Time_Current_7411 1 week ago

We're currently on "pedestrian activities" but I think we're going to have retire that soon.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Gotta ambulate the canine.

by Western_Gur 1 week ago

Promenade the pup.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I tease Zeppelin with going for a stroll since he doesn't have a thesaurus

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Well, you could use "take the dog out" as code for every outdoor activity. Give them anxiety so they never know if they're going walkies or to the vet. :D

by Carey95 1 week ago

The shoelace express is always a good one

by Anonymous 1 week ago

My dog figured out what shoes are for that reason 😂

by Electrical-Agent 1 week ago

Whenever I put on a hoodie, my 130lb mastiff gets really grunty.

by Urogahn 1 week ago

Careful, or they'll learn it's the word "take" that holds meaning. "Honey can you take the trash out?" dogs goes ballistic

by Anonymous 1 week ago

We took those steps and then further to just calling them dubs, but my dad kept messing it up and saying do you wanna go on a dub, like you're supposed to use the code when you don't want them to know, and use ‘walk' when you do

by Any_Bet 1 week ago

We started calling dinner "d-time" when talking about our own dinner so the dog wouldn't get excited, but then kept accidentally saying "ready for d-time?" to the dog...

by SignificanceSome 1 week ago

Fun fact, dogs do not understand daylight savings time shifts.

by nolantimmy 1 week ago

Given that they are entirely manmade and stupid, understandable. The doggos have it right.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

100% agree.

by nolantimmy 1 week ago

Pretty sure because they can smell what time it is by the sunlight.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Hell I don't understand it😂. My dog definitely shifts her patterns after about a month though so she figures it out pretty quick

by Alternative_Toe_575 1 week ago

I had to switch to "external adventure"

by Anonymous 1 week ago

We went through walk, outside, stroll, saunter, meander, walk again, then stroll again, and now we're on promenade. We'll see how long that one lasts, but my dog is too smart and catches on quickly.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Bc the dogs have learned your demeanor and mannerisms surrounding the times you are to take them out for anything. You can speak mandarin through a kazoo and so long as your body language is the same, they will know.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Lol - when it's nearing time for his dinner my dog started poking my legs with his nose. If I look down he gestures towards his dish.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Considering that most domesticated pets don't have the greatest concept of time, this is amazing.

by Routine-Class 1 week ago

Can't avoid using trigger words forever because of pavlov and classical conditioning. (it was a thing before him, he just put a name to it.) But if you use an action then follow it with another action enough, the actions will be associated with each other. Spell T-r-e-a-t and then give a treat. Next time maybe not learned yet, but a few more times, then spell it, they will be used to it to the point of expecting the treat when hearing it spelled. Kids do the same until they learn how to read. My kid was knowing what bath, donut, banana, and icecream all just by us spelling it.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Mine wore a harness instead of a leash, so it started off as W A L K then just W, and then eventually we would just ask him, "Where's Moose's bra?"

by No_Purple 1 week ago

Mine perks up for "you wanna go......???" I love it

by AccomplishedLow 1 week ago

Same.. my dog would hear "do you.." and lose his mind 😂

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Mine definitely know that cause it's almost always followed by something fun.

by Expensive-Laugh-184 1 week ago

Mine perks up for "you wanna go ..." and then immediately deflates when it's followed up with "to the vet." It's hilarious.

by Wonderful_Fee 1 week ago

K-i-b-b-l-e-s is definitely a spelling my dogs seem familiar with

by Longjumping-Unit1618 1 week ago

I can't spell anything or even use sign language for long. The thing I hate the most is when I wake up in the morning I will usually lay in bed on my phone for a bit (like right now) and then at some point I decide in my head I am going to get up and my dog jumps off the bed and gets excited. For the life of me I can not figure out what physiological clue I give but he sure does.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

You've clearly never had a smart dog. We can't spell T R E A T, W A L K, R I D E, or C A R anymore without our dogs getting excited.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

They know phrases like go for, go on, take a...would you like to...etc...so if you say should we go for a W A L K, spelling the word itself is immaterial

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Nope just have to spell w a l k with no other context. My dog loses her mind.

by Oveum 1 week ago

I was thinking the same thing. Several of our dogs learned to spell key words.

by Original-Yellow 1 week ago

Yeah same. Every dog I have had has caught on to these. You can buy a few months by changing the word. I got pretty far by calling it an adventure, but now I can't use that word either.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

My cat figured out O U T S I D E and C H E E S E. We get about three uses out of spellings before he figures it out.

by Zmurphy 1 week ago

Growing up we had a dog named Bishop. This got awkward when we were playing chess because he kept on thinking we were talking about him.

by Douglascarmella 1 week ago

Yeah this is not true for smart dogs

by Free_Commercial 1 week ago

Saying W A L K to the dog after 10 years is still a habit even though he long figured out how to tell when we're even thinking about a walk.

by Conor24 1 week ago

My dog spells at an 8th grade level.

by Ornery_Age3395 1 week ago

Mine knows the ring tone when I call the husband's phone. He starts to howl and whirl his 110 pound body around. Then 2 wait at the door for me to get home. The third lays on the bed waiting. They also learned all the good words for going places. You can try saunter. It adds another word to their vocabulary

by lyricschowalter 1 week ago

My cats expect feline greenies every time I walk in the door. It's not surprising. I give them treats when I come home from work. If this is surprising to you, you are either haven't been taught about conditioning yet, or you...are old enough to be taught, but nobody taught you. Pavlov and stuff. No judgement.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

We can't spell W E T F O O D around my cat without her knowing exactly what's up.

by williammarks 1 week ago

With enough repetition....

by Ida83 1 week ago

My ex's dog was a big fan of cheese. She perked her head up when you said other words that sounded like cheese but weren't cheese, and wouldn't act on those but at the same time she did eventually parse out C-H-E-E-S-E. Little weirdos like that.

by Gretchen10 1 week ago

My border collie has so far figured out: Walk, stroll, outing, stretch, and run. I'm currently using trek. It doesn't help when he figures it out and hears the word he runs to the door and sits down so that I can put the harness on him, so I hate giving him false hope haha.

by audra78 1 week ago

Hubby and I say "afuera" (outside in Spanish) when it's time to take the boy out because he's learned "walk" and "outside." Let's see how long it takes for doggo to catch on...

by Anonymous 1 week ago

OP found out dogs can't spell

by vinniedickinson 1 week ago

My family dog eventually learned what "dubyu ay el kay" means.

by Big_Studio 1 week ago

In my house, we have to use spelling around the cats, too. If they hear us say "Fancy Feast" or "snacks", they know what that means.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

tee-ar-ee-ay-tee, especially said quickly, is probably just too similar to "treat" to trick the dog too many times

by Waelchialejandr 1 week ago

Lol, I get what you are saying. But they totally learn sounds and body language better than little kids and are harder to fool IMO.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

So does speaking in a foreign language. Ask me how I know 😬 😆

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Tho memorizing sounds and understanding spelling are two different things, if the dog gets it, they get it. So yea, spelling around dogs does expire.

by Lessie15 1 week ago

My cats understand when I tell my wife I'm going to give the C A T S, C A N F O O D

by Anonymous 1 week ago

If you have a smart breed then yes, yes it does expire. I have 2 german shepherds and a Belgian malinois. My husband and I have to get creative when talking about certain things because they can spell w.a.l.k. l.e.a.s.h. b.a.l.l t.o.y. c.h.e.w e.a.r. p.i.g. d.i.n.n.e.r. For example "leash" becomes go-noodle or fun-rope. Ball and toy become bouncy thing or squeak box. (They are getting wise to squeak box so we will have to come up with another euphemism.)

by Anonymous 1 week ago

My cat can understand about 200 words and spell about 8 or 9. Too damn smart.

by Appropriate-Act-7013 1 week ago

We have to say we're going to take them on a "base on balls" so they don't know what we're talking about

by claire96 1 week ago

My late dog learned how to spell. She LOVED lo mein, and would get excited for the words, "Chinese", and "lo mein". We first started to spell Chinese and she learned that word. Then we started spelling lo mein and she learned that too. We ended up having to say, "wanna go to that place that we can't say?" It was the only way to trick her.

by Itchy-Enthusiasm 1 week ago

I still spell around the kids. Usually big words they need to look up later.

by alisastiedemann 1 week ago

the trick here is to not be a dumb human. if you don't want "W A L K" to be associated, then use it to discuss amongst other silly humans, then wait and do other things before using the normal "wanna go on a walk?" with the dog.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Tell me you don't own a dog without telling me you don't own a dog? They'll learn anything given enough time. Two syllables might be easier for them but they can learn spelled out words. They don't need to be able to spell to memorise an association.

by Anonymous 1 week ago