We’ve all come across vest-wearing guide dogs, but many other “dogs with jobs” don’t wear distinguishing duds.

Stephen Colbert once asked, “What is it about dogs that makes intelligent men and gifted women—great minds—look at them and in a baby-talk voice say, “Who’s a good boy? Wooj a whajeejeeb?” Yes, we talk to our precious pups. Even Twitter has a hashtag: #ThingsPplSayToTheirDogs. How come?

Alexandra Horowitz, PhD, associate professor and senior research fellow at Barnard College in the U.S., heads the Dog Cognition Lab, where her “pup perspective” findings have garnered new insights in understanding canine wants and needs.