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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

#181

Post by pazimzadeh »

sandworm101 wrote: post #65
pazimzadeh wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who can't remember the smell of more than a few dozen objects?

We remember scents. We remember how chocolate smells. We do not smell well enough to associate smell with a particular object. Then, in turn, our brains are not hardwired to associate specific smells to specific objects. Look at our memory for faces. It isn't all about eyesight. Our brains have specific circuitry for faces. Dogs have the same for smell. Sensitivity is one thing, how the brain is wired is another.

No offense but by 'we' I think you mean you

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

#182

Post by Intralexical »

AlbertCory wrote: post #89

While Ernie is certainly smart, I've found one gap in his IQ: He has some favorite houses because the person who lives there gives him treats. Several times, we'll see that person on the street and then pass their house, and Ernie still gets excited. I tell him, "Ernie, we just saw Jan. She can't possibly be in the house." He never listens.

Aw. Associative memory.

Well, the causality's misattributed, but humans do that all the time.

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

#183

Post by xahrepap »

cj wrote: post #97
spike021 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a Shiba Inu and he's very much the same. If I say "look there's your friend Bella!" He goes nuts because that's his favorite friend to play with. He can even recognize the sound of their owner from multiple apartment buildings away. Not kidding at all. He'll go frantic begging to go outside and as soon as we're out he'll perk his ears, figure out the direction to go, and take off. And then after five or so min…

My Shiba has learned the days of the week. I have a family member that visits every Thursday, and he sits by the door waiting for them (only on Thursdays). And god forbid I work a weekend or do something off schedule, he gets stressed out thinking something is wrong. I often joke he would be a more normal dog if he had a lobotomy. Sometimes I wish he were a bit dumber :)

I had a Samoyed when I was a child that knew Sunday. We had a specific routine for him while we went to church. He’d stay in the backyard in his large kennel while we were gone. After not too long we’d wake up Sunday morning and he’d go straight to his kennel. :)

In our case it was probably him sensing other things that only happened on Sundays.

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

#184

Post by telman17 »

eyelidlessness wrote: post #167
bentcorner wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

My dog does this too!

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

#185

Post by strangattractor »

bongodongobob wrote: post #24

I 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 conc…

I can't even learn the names of 10 people I met at a party:)

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

#186

Post by bparsons »

bongodongobob wrote: post #24

I 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 conc…

Good dog

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

#187

Post by DANmode »

bicx wrote: post #179
draculero wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a dog that yawned to say "no". I don't know if she trained us or I trained her, but she associated stopping doing something with a yawn. Don't like petting? yawn and the human will stop. Don't like that food? yawn and we will change it. Don't like going to the veterinary? yawn - but that never worked. I loved that dog.

I think that yawning is also something dogs do when they are frustrated. My dog does it a good bit, and that’s when I know to give her a break. Or maybe I’m just being trained too…

It's a known anxiety response for dogs.

The hard part is most humans can't connect their own angst with their environmental conditions!

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

#188

Post by OnlyMortal »

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.

Good grief.

Well played.

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

#189

Post by lelanthran »

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.

In this context, I'd argue it's more likely a logo program.

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

#190

Post by raffraffraff »

user_7832 wrote: post #102
legohead wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a dumb labrador that was hard to train. Now I have a kokoni who knows 20 commands & words, and she is super easy to train. We haven't tried to test the limit of her abilities, we just ran out of things to teach her (that we cared about, at least). She never cared for toys though. I noticed while teaching her to "speak" that she would sneeze a lot, I guess it's kind of a reflex for her when she tries to speak. S…

> she would sneeze a lot Btw dogs often do this to indicate they're playing/mean no harm :)

I have had greyhounds and lurchers, and every one of them does it. It's not a full sneeze, I call it a "snit" because that's what it sounds like. They're large dogs, so when they're being playful, jumping around and play fighting, we sometimes tell them "no!" is they're about to knock something over. This always gets us a "snit".

The yawn thing that someone else mentioned is also common. If they are displeased with you, you get a yawn. Like if you ask them to do something (sit, paw etc) too many times and they're bored of you, you'll get an exaggerated vocal yawn.

And the last one I'll mention, because it's so common in all dogs I've seen, is the shake. Directly after a tense situation, they shake, like they do when they're drying themselves. For example, if you're walking your dog and they encounter another dog that is larger, or a breed that they don't know or don't trust, they'll sometimes do a quick shake a few seconds after the encounter. I always reward the shake with a treat, to tell them "good dog, you kept your shit together in a stressful situation". A trainer told me to do that when I had a grey who had very bad social anxiety, and it really worked.

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