Dog 'Language Geniuses' Are Rare but Apparently Real
Dog 'Language Geniuses' Are Rare but Apparently Real
A subset of exceptional pooches can identify by name more than 100 different objects, mostly toys
A subset of exceptional pooches can identify by name more than 100 different objects, mostly toys
Via @fossilesque
My dog growing up knew all her toys by name so I'm not surprised. She also never destroyed them so she had quite the collection by the time she passed. We kept them in a big plastic bucket and if you told her to grab a stuffed animal at the bottom, she'd carefully dig for it and put back any toy that fell out in the process.
That's so cool!
One of my dogs growing up knew a whole bunch of words. I felt really bad one day when the dog wanted to sit on my lap and I said "ok up you get, but wish you would leave me alone when I'm trying to study".
He stopped what he was doing, went outside, and lay there staring at me reproachfully through the window. Even though I said he could get up, he must have recognised "leave me alone" even though it wasn't in a commanding tone.
That's so cool, it's amazing what a big range there is. There are always people saying that their dog/cat could never do those talking pet button things, yet there are other animals that seem to be able to remember and use dozens of them. I wonder how much of it is the animals natural ability, and how much of it is the amount of time that the person is able to spend on teaching.
Must be both. I used to have a super smart cat and I regret not teaching her more positive things (as opposed to negatives like "do not put the sink plug in the plughole" after I caught her trying to fill up a sink from a leaking tap).
Nothing new to people using buttons to train their pets. Plenty of them learn words and start forming sentences. Some have over 50 buttons that the pet knows. They show empathy, they get sassy, they argue with you. Animals aren't as stupid as people think, as long as they have constant stimulation / training. Leaving a cat indoors for 8 hours for work each day won't let you train with them enough for it to reach any sensible effects.
All my pets at least understand "how's my baby??" No matter which animal I say it to, or what part of the house, they all respond, even my parrots in the other room.
Thanks so much for sharing this! There is an archive of it here.