Our dog is not particularly smart but once we counted that she knows at least about 20 words, one of those being "cat", so we use "that furry animal" instead when we talk to not agitate her for no reason.
Certain dogs are capable of learning the names for more than 100 different toys
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Re: Certain dogs are capable of learning the names for more than 100 different toys
#22Memorizing 100 names for things might seem like a big deal, but I guarantee that all dogs have memory for 100+ smells associated with things. They would call us stupid for not being able to remember the smell of more than a few dozen objects. My point: don't judge intelligence based on how well an animal can replicate human behavior. Each of them can do things that make us look like the idiots.
It wasn't clear to me from this that these dogs had any special cognitive abilities, as opposed to neurosensory abilities, e.g. maybe most dogs can't audibly distinguish human vowels and consonants well enough for this to work.
Re: Certain dogs are capable of learning the names for more than 100 different toys
#23I surprised that poodles were called out as a less obvious smart dog. My dog learned on her own that me holding keys + wearing glasses = car ride, while keys + no glasses = walk. It took me a while to learn how she knew what we were going to do.
Curious how you determined what she had determined.
Re: Certain dogs are capable of learning the names for more than 100 different toys
#24I adopted an Australian Shepherd from a friend a year ago and I'm absolutely blown away by how smart he is. He even knows the neighbor dogs' names. I can say "go get spot!" and he'll run after the right dog. He knows all my family members names. He knows that "you've arrived" on Google maps means we are there. He knows that "power on" coming from my Bluetooth headphones means we are going for a walk. He gets the concept for new tricks in about a half hour. I do have to practice them daily, but he gets the gist almost immediately.
I knew Aussies were smart and I'm not sure where he is on the bell curve, but yeah, some dogs really have a knack for language.
Re: Certain dogs are capable of learning the names for more than 100 different toys
#25I surprised that poodles were called out as a less obvious smart dog. My dog learned on her own that me holding keys + wearing glasses = car ride, while keys + no glasses = walk. It took me a while to learn how she knew what we were going to do.
My dog recognizes different cars by their noise profile. So he'll wake up from a nap and get excited whenever my wife pulls onto our street, but stay down for any other car.
It probably helps that we're the only prius on the block, but still impressive!
Re: Certain dogs are capable of learning the names for more than 100 different toys
#26I surprised that poodles were called out as a less obvious smart dog. My dog learned on her own that me holding keys + wearing glasses = car ride, while keys + no glasses = walk. It took me a while to learn how she knew what we were going to do.
I love this kind of cause and effect linking that dogs do - mine has noticed that I often go in the downstairs restroom before walkies and now I regularly find her sitting expectantly on the bottom of the stairs when I come out. She only seems to be able to remember about 4 words though.
Re: Certain dogs are capable of learning the names for more than 100 different toys
#27I surprised that poodles were called out as a less obvious smart dog. My dog learned on her own that me holding keys + wearing glasses = car ride, while keys + no glasses = walk. It took me a while to learn how she knew what we were going to do.
Curious how you determined what she had determined.
For mine, when I have my keys he runs right to the car. Without them, he'll run past to the sidewalk. If I grab my keys and laptop (to go to work) he'll walk away and lay down.
Re: Certain dogs are capable of learning the names for more than 100 different toys
#28Memorizing 100 names for things might seem like a big deal, but I guarantee that all dogs have memory for 100+ smells associated with things. They would call us stupid for not being able to remember the smell of more than a few dozen objects. My point: don't judge intelligence based on how well an animal can replicate human behavior. Each of them can do things that make us look like the idiots.
I wonder if something like synesthesia could help them map language to smells
Re: Certain dogs are capable of learning the names for more than 100 different toys
#29They should breed them... I'm sure we could select for language geniuses.
That's a new breed I could support. Just throw together a bunch of different breeds of smart dogs. They'll be much mror healthy than most breeds of dog.
Afaik working breeds are the smartest and are already the most genetically diverse. Not sure if correlation or causation though.
Re: Certain dogs are capable of learning the names for more than 100 different toys
#30Memorizing 100 names for things might seem like a big deal, but I guarantee that all dogs have memory for 100+ smells associated with things. They would call us stupid for not being able to remember the smell of more than a few dozen objects. My point: don't judge intelligence based on how well an animal can replicate human behavior. Each of them can do things that make us look like the idiots.
Who can't remember the smell of more than a few dozen objects?