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Certain dogs are capable of learning the names for more than 100 different toys

scientificamerican.com

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Re: Certain dogs are capable of learning the names for more than 100 different toys

#161

Post by nyjah »

My German shepherd is 9 and tho I don’t think she could learn 100 different toys, it’s fun to be like “blue ball” and “go get a toy… no not that one” etc. Beyond learning that stuff, this dogs emotional radar is incredible. When she was younger if I was watching sports and something stupid would happen she would immediately comfort me and climb in my lap. And as she’s gotten older I don’t even have to say anything. If I am quiet deep in thought about something that is upsetting me, she knows it. Just beyond a sweet heart dog.

Definitely seen articles about yawning in unison with dogs and that’s exactly me and her. She’s basically my shadow. I’m convinced she can hear my heart beat and listens to my breathing. It’s always funny to reach for the tv remote and she’s getting up because that’s become a cue. Dogs have a lot of those.

Re: Certain dogs are capable of learning the names for more than 100 different toys

#162

Post by madeofpalk »

whatsakandr wrote: post #9

If you haven't seen "What About Bunny" on YouTube, I highly recommend it. The dog has learned to use buttons to communicate her thoughts quite effectively. My favorite is "Why bunny dog?"

Having seen Bunny for a few years on social media, I'm not convinced.

Re: Certain dogs are capable of learning the names for more than 100 different toys

#163

Post by adishy »

bongodongobob wrote: post #44
sophacles wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A good friend of mine had an Aussie who was really smart. My friend was a dog trainer, and she once told me "the secret is Grace (the dog) does most of it - the puppies learn better by watching her demonstrate, and she keeps them in line". One day a mutual friend of ours died in a car wreck. I went to see my friend and we were sitting there telling stories and grieving... Grace read the room and brought my friend her…

I believe it. Apparently that's how herding dogs train on farms. You just buy a puppy and it literally shadows the adult. They train themselves.

Transfer learning on (cute) biological neural nets!

Re: Certain dogs are capable of learning the names for more than 100 different toys

#165

Post by lebean »

Auracle wrote: post #150
sokoloff wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We got our 3/4 poodle mix during Covid and remote work. To this day, he strongly associates me putting on jeans with "we're about to go for a walk" (which isn't entirely wrong, for sure).

I had a toy poodle growing up that would often know what I was going to do before I did. He also growled at my girlfriend for the only time around when she started cheating on me. Maybe coincidental, but it was the only time I ever recall him growling at anyone and he had known her for 2 years.

Dogs have a keen sense of smell.

Re: Certain dogs are capable of learning the names for more than 100 different toys

#166

Post by debo_ »

q7xvh97o2pDhNrh wrote: post #160
cush wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did this with my Aussie as well. I'd hide all of her toys throughout the house then instruct her "go get your hamburger!" and in a few minutes, she'd come back with her hamburger. It was wild that she'd remember what toy she was looking for during that time. More impressive still, was she would be able to learn new toy names through inference. I'd come home with a new toy turtle, hide all her toys, say "go get your…

> More impressive still, was she would be able to learn new toy names through inference. I'd come home with a new toy turtle, hide all her toys, say "go get your Turtle!", and she'd come back with the new toy. Is it possible that she already knew about turtles before, though? In that case, she might just be running a rehearsed routine. You know, a shell script.

clap

Re: Certain dogs are capable of learning the names for more than 100 different toys

#167

Post by eyelidlessness »

bentcorner wrote: post #126
tlavoie wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our dogs are also also very good at picking up other cues. Not only can we not say "walk," but the "well..." as in, "well, time to take the dogs" gets the same reaction now. Our SPCA-special (shepherd / husky / other?) learned after _one_ event that the tub running with the bathroom door open means that it's bath-time, and time to head out through the pet flap to the safety of the outdoors.

This is not a difficult task but my dog absolutely recognizes the various ways I end meetings during work or discord chats while gaming and always starts bothering me for pets when I'm done.

My pup knows that when I say “thank you” in a certain tone of voice that it’s nearing the end of a meeting. She’ll wait patiently the whole time until I say it, then perk up. And she gets annoyed when anything prolongs the meeting after that signal, and start getting restless because she knows the meeting should be over.

Re: Certain dogs are capable of learning the names for more than 100 different toys

#168

Post by eyelidlessness »

spike021 wrote: post #74
whatsakandr wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

On the other hand, smart dogs can be much more difficult to train. They can easily pick up what you're training them to do, but when you want them to actually do it the results can be far more mixed. This is because they're so smart that they seem to know whether doing the thing they were trained to do is worth it to them. Source: I have a Shiba Inu, which is simultaneously one of the smartest and most primitive of d…

My pup is similarly discerning and stubborn in deciding whether or when to obey certain commands, but I appreciate it most of the time. In many cases it’s part of how she communicates her emotional state, and it helps me understand her better.

Re: Certain dogs are capable of learning the names for more than 100 different toys

#169

Post by shireboy »

We had a Westie that we trained to do this. We’d make him “wait” then we’d his toy, and say “ok go find it” . He’d go all over looking for it and enjoyed the game. I highly recommend a community training camp if there is one in your area.

Re: Certain dogs are capable of learning the names for more than 100 different toys

#170

Post by gecko6 »

llamaLord wrote: post #85
Scubabear68 wrote: post #75

The amazing thing to me about dogs is the tremendous range of variability we have bred into them. Size, shape, color, intelligence, basic body makeup, senses, hunting instincts, even average life span vary by an astonishing amount. And sadly, of course, the selective breeding has also caused systematic weaknesses in some breeds (prone to bad hips, knee injuries, relatively short life span, etc). The genie is out of t…

Just a quick note on this, it's not entirely appropriate to blame selective breeding "in general" for those issues. Quite often those issues come from specific selective breeding practises designed to make the dogs more "fashionable" by breeding specific aesthetic attributes over healthy dogs. That being said, there is an enormous community of extremely passionate breeders around the world who are absolutely dedicate…

I am a dog breeder, and I endorse this message :-)
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