Most of the time, you can tell when your dog wants your attention. Fido might roll over in an attempt to get you to scratch him, or he might paw at your leg when begging for food.

A new study published in the journal Animal Cognition shows our furry friends use a combination of at least 19 distinct gestures to tell us what they want. One mix of gestures, such as pawing and head tilting, might translate to the want to go outside while another combination might get across the desire for food. (Related: how elephants understand humans, and other animals that use gestures to communicate.)

“I wanted to better understand dogs and what they wanted from us,”