Who’s a clever boy! Dogs remember 12 names for months

THEY say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks – but they can learn the names of their toys, researchers have discovered.

And some canine geniuses can even remember up to a dozen new toys in a week.

Putting some human owners to shame, a few can still remember them two months later.

The skill emerged among six border collies which entered a ‘Genius Dog Challenge’.

The dogs’ owners showed them some strangely named new toys, which included a rabbit called Thumper, a fish called Silver and a furry alien.

After teaching them the names over a week, they found their dogs could fetch the toy from another room after simply being told to get it by name.

Shany Dror, lead researcher of the study from Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest, Hungary, said: ‘We know that dogs can easily learn words that are linked to actions, such as “sit” or “down”. But very few can learn names of objects.’

It follows the extraordinary case of a border collie called Chaser from the US, who learned the names of more than 1,000 toys, but died in 2019. After scientists discovered

Whisky, another bright border collie from Norway, they found five more collies – Max from Hungary, Rico from Spain, Gaia from Brazil, Squall from Florida, and Nalani from the Netherlands.

All knew at least 28 toy names already, but the study found that, with six new toys, they retrieved the right one by name almost 85 per cent of the time in a week.

And when they were given 12 new toys in a week, two remembered all 12, and four fetched all but one.

After a month, five could still fetch six of them in turn – and amazingly, three could after two months, according to the study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.

That is similar to the abilities of children aged between one and two.

The researchers have found the ability to remember is not just restricted to border collies.

Other breeds including a German Shepherd, a Pekingese and a Mini Australian Shepherd can also remember toys.

Previous studies suggest they only need to hear the name four times.

Dr Claudia Fugazza, head of the research team, said: ‘These gifted dogs can learn new names of toys in a remarkable speed.’