Four things about ‘genius’ dogs

1 Special talents

“Genius” dogs learn new words after hearing them just four times, a study has found — making them as quick on the uptake as three-year-old children. Dogs that have a special talent for remembering verbal cues can rapidly expand their vocabulary simply by playing with their owners, according to the research. Whisky, a fouryear-old female border collie from Norway, and Vicky Nina, a nine-year-old female Yorkshire terrier from Brazil, were selected for the study as they had previously demonstrated

knowledge of the names of many toys. Twenty other dogs were tested in the same way, but none showed any evidence of understanding the new toy

names.

2 the new toy test

The dogs were able to fetch the correct toy after being shown the object and told its name just four times, despite not receiving any formal training. Dr. Claudia Fugazza, from Eotvos Lorand University in Hungary, said: “We wanted to know under which conditions the gifted dogs may learn novel words. To test this, we exposed Whisky and Vicky Nina to the new words in two different conditions, during an exclusion-based task and in a social

playful context with their owners.” The task involved the dogs being faced with seven toys they were familiar with, plus a new toy. They were both able to fetch the new toy when their owner used its name, suggesting that they had used a process of elimination to identify the unfamiliar object.

3 Dogs vs. humans

Scientists say these intuitive dogs learn new words at the same speed as toddlers aged

two and three. Previous research conducted by researchers in Hungary suggested that dogs and infants may learn in a similar fashion. Brain scans revealed that dogs registered no difference between commands

such as “sit” and similar sounding but made-up words such as “sut”. Children younger than 14 months also exhibit

this trait.

4 BONDS with women

Previous research in the U.S. has suggested women have

a special role in building bonds with dogs. “We found that dogs’ relationships with women might have had a greater impact on the dog-human bond than relationships with men,” said Jaime Chambers, from Washington State University. “Humans were more likely to regard dogs as a type of person if the dogs had a special relationship with women. They were more likely to be included in family life, treated as subjects of affection and, generally, people had greater

regard for them.”