"他的家有两条狗。"

Translation: There are two dogs at his house.

[dTanMan]

"两只狗" (Liǎng zhī gǒu) is another way of saying it, and it actually sounds more natural for me.

[lh07MABr]

I’m almost 100 percent sure that its not 两条狗，it should be 两只狗 I would think

[Cecil164832]

It is 条 when it is between two pieces of bread. This is a joke.

[Celticfiddleguy]

Intent image searches for 两条狗 and 两只狗 both returned many results with images of all different size dogs, so it seams to be regional preference rather than anything else.

[Glen210234]

I agree with you. However, I just asked my wife, who is from China, and she said 两条狗 is acceptable, because dogs are long and 条 is for long things.
I'm starting to think the classifier words are somewhat arbitrary....

[NathanRasm]

somewhat almost totally

[StephanusG1]

Pleco lists two measure words for 狗，只 and 条. As others have noted, this made me think of a dachshund though.

[Cinnamon5230]

Both works. It depends on where you are from.

[Kai940012]

I disagree. 条 is used when there is something long, like 一条鱼. 两只狗 is a lot more natural and is more commonly used.

[alanxoc3]

I don't know, but pleco dictionary says 条 is a mw for long things AND certain nouns. So maybe 狗 is one of those certain nouns. But yeah, 只 seems much more natural.

[IanMcFarla17]

The problem is that DL made a big deal a couple of lessons back of the fact that 只 was used for animals, including dogs. And the tips for this lesson specify that 条is used for long things (esp. clothes). So to introduce it here with animals, without any explanation, is just bad pedagogy.

[shimmyns]

IanMcFarla17 you sir and your comment need to go to the top!

[CinnamonTe1]

Can you tell us where 两条狗 is used regionally? There are two native speakers below who said they never heard it before.

[SzymonRuci]

maybe he's talking about dachshunds

[Patrick_Dark]

That's what first came to my mind. I ended finding out that a dachshund is apparently called a "臘腸犬" or "臘腸狗" in Chinese. Both mean literally "sausage dog".

[P.ep.e]

Just like in Spanish!

[Ant.H]

Just like in English!

[cheesedaele]

Mandarin mother tongue here.

条 as the 量词 of 狗 is new to me, have only ever heard 只 used. Learn something new every day!

Although the literal translation of 家 is home/house, contextually it more often refers to one's family.

[1_AQ]

Under what circumstance is '两条狗' used instead of '两只狗'? Is it to be more descriptive (i.e. mention that the two dogs are long)?

[DirkJacob1]

I think that a 条狗 is for a long flat dog :-) ...I have no other clue.Duolingo must change this.It's 只狗...period.Because this is how it is taught.

[stephen_zissou]

If your read comments above, you will see that although 只狗 seems to be more common/standard, 条狗 is definitely used as well. So maybe Duolingo shouldn't change it, but when asking for the Mandarin, Duo should always accept 只狗 and not only 条狗.

[CalleyWang]

Heritage speaker here: I pretty much only hear 两只狗, maybe its a regional thing?

[hippietrail]

I entered "His family has two dogs" and was marked incorrect with the correct answer given as "His home has two dogs". While mine might not be right, the suggested answer is unnatural in English. The suggested answer here is fine though. Saying there are dogs at a house is correct but saying a home has dogs is just wrong.

[Celticfiddleguy]

Actually I think "family" is better here, and that's now accepted. 我(的)家人 or 家庭 are commonly used when speaking about the members of your family but 我(的)家 can mean either your family or the place your family lives, since most pets are treated as family members, that makes the most since here

[Ann55075]

Well, every dictionary says 条 can vbe used as a measure word for dogs. Maybe it is somehow about a a tail? Smth like "two tails of dogs" (no matter how long these dogs are.

You can also count fish, snakes and presumably dragons with it :)

PS that does not mean that dogs can't be counted with 只

[EddieTorre13]

I thought it was 只, hmm

[DirkJacob1]

I only heard of 一条鱼

[deactivated user]

Are these Weiner Dogs / Dachshunds or something? Why are they using 条？ I thought the measure word for animals is 只 zhī ?

[Brian894876]

"At his house there are two dogs" reported 20190218

[negativeas]

I was confused when looking at the word options for a moment when I looked at this questions because I was thinking "His house has two dogs" rather than the "There are two dogs at his house".

[AharonEffe]

I thought yhe classifier for dog and cat is 只 and for fish and long things 条

[special.horse]

The counter for animals is 只

[Alena819526]

I doubt 条 is the correct term when it comes to dogs. 只 would be a better fit in this context.

[tenyardstogo]

”There are two dogs at his house.“ and “His home has two dogs.” is not the same but my answer was accepted. 离 was not used.

[AmirR14]

Maybe it is tiao when the dog is windy like a noodle. Maybe they are wiener dogs?

[SlickSims20]

not 两只狗?

[SlickSims20]

not 两只狗? maybe they're sausage dogs..

[OliverVars]

maybe the 狗 is referring to 热狗 (hotdog). 条 works because hotdogs are long and skinny. So, if John asks James if Peter might be interested in going to Sam's Club to get a Nathan's Hotdog, Jame's might respond, "他的家有两条狗."

[qTqw8]

In the tips 条 translates as 'pair'. So the literal translation of 两条狗 is two pairs of dogs. All very confusing.