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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

#171

Post by cush »

Extropy_ wrote: post #128
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…

I have a 3 year old pug. He'll run through the house searching for the right family member if you count down from 10 and say "Go find X! Where is he?!"

That's too cute! I like to imagine that you have hardwood floors in this house, and he skitters around in a frantic panic Tokyo-drifting his way to that family member

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

#173

Post by msrenee »

h2odragon wrote: post #159
seunosewa wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And you can legally breed them.

Intelligence doesn't pass reliably. You may be slightly more likely to get one smart pup in a litter from smart parents. Any given litter is likely to show the standard range of variation for the breeds. It's my observation that lots of people have dogs who are smarter than the person appreciates. People don't listen to their dogs, they just talk at them.

I'd say it passes reliably enough that some breeds are smarter than others. Over generations, I see no reason you wouldn't be able to consistently breed intelligent dogs.

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

#174

Post by hannasm »

Humanity has a choice about whether to help these intelligent animals reproduce more than the dumb ones. We've already taken over a great deal of the free will of every animal on the planet but especially domesticated animals.

Developing the genetics of additional intelligent beings on this planet is entirely within our capability if we want to invest lives. The advent of dogs from wolves in, iirc, about 50 years is a testament to Darwinian ideas.

Reducing our planet to a desert wasteland is also an option.

I'm a huge dog lover but it would be fantastic if we could find ways to coexist with more species in the long term as well. Given our own, still somewhat precarious existence, bringing up other species is of limited priority.

Take care of your pets and buy your zoo memberships at least

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

#176

Post by [deleted] »

fnordpiglet wrote: post #125
ghshephard wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article made a quite different argument than "dogs are much better at odor detection than us" - that is contrary to what the research shows. Humans have much better ability to smell some things than dogs do, but, dogs are (as you noted) capable of smelling some things better than humans.

They make some squinty suppositions from some limited studies that suggest dogs (which can smell cannabis flowers) can’t smell flowers better humans etc. But then they conclude with this statement that sort of refutes the entire premise: “”” Besides having more olfactory receptor cells than humans, dogs also boast a specialized snout adapted to methods of breathing that deliver a steadier stream of information-rich s…

[deleted]

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

#177

Post by ghshephard »

fnordpiglet wrote: post #125
ghshephard wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article made a quite different argument than "dogs are much better at odor detection than us" - that is contrary to what the research shows. Humans have much better ability to smell some things than dogs do, but, dogs are (as you noted) capable of smelling some things better than humans.

They make some squinty suppositions from some limited studies that suggest dogs (which can smell cannabis flowers) can’t smell flowers better humans etc. But then they conclude with this statement that sort of refutes the entire premise: “”” Besides having more olfactory receptor cells than humans, dogs also boast a specialized snout adapted to methods of breathing that deliver a steadier stream of information-rich s…

This seemed pretty conclusive science:

```For example, Laska notes, the total number of odorants for which dogs have an established, lowest detectable threshold level is 15. Humans actually have a lower threshold for five of those. “Those five odorants are components of fruit or flower odors,” he says. “For a carnivore like a dog those odorants are behaviorally not as relevant, so there was no evolutionary pressure to make a dog's nose extremely sensitive to fruit and flower odors.”```

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

#178

Post by fumeux_fume »

Just adopted a very sweet Irish Wolfhound mix. She's as dumb as bricks or just has no desire to impress us with any display of intelligence. I would be floored if she was able to produce any toy on command let alone a specific one, lol.

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

#179

Post by bicx »

draculero wrote: post #143
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…

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…

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

#180

Post by pazimzadeh »

newman8r wrote: post #137
PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We remember how chocolate smells. I rememeber: * how English Cadbury's smells * how El Rey Cordoba milk chocolate (from Venezuela) smells * how Hershey's smells * how hot chocolate made with Swiss Miss mix smells * how Toblerone smells I could go on.

Although in a blind smell test, I wonder how well would you do? I've seen people fail hard at identifying what food their eating when blindfolded, and they have the additional power of taste rather than just smell. We're wired to be able to pull up those memories and imagine a smell, but not to be able to identify what we're smelling when it's right in front of us.

I would do really well. Especially for Hershey's which I can detect from across the room thanks to that distinctive baby vomit smell from butyric acid they use as a preservative.
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