Dogs can learn new words just by overhearing human conversations, a study has found. Many dog owners find they have to avoid saying certain words – such as walk, park or treat – because they trigger an excited reaction in the animal.

According to the team, these findings suggest a dog’s ability to learn from overheard speech may rely on brain mechanisms shared across species, instead of being tied to human language. However, since GWL dogs are extremely rare, their abilities likely reflect a combination of nature and nurture.

Spelling F-O-O-D or O-U-T might only get you so far around your dog if he or she is considered a Gifted Word Learner (GWL). Researchers have just figured out that even when you're not talking to them directly,

Scientists have discovered that a rare subset of “genius dogs” has mastered the art of eavesdropping to decode human communication.

These “Gifted Word Learner” (GWL) dogs can learn names for objects by overhearing exchanges between members of their human families, researchers reported Jan. 8 in the journal Science. The dogs’ capacity for learning words mirrors that of year-and-a-half-old toddlers, who learn new words by overhearing other people, researchers said.