Chaser, The Dog Who Knows 1000 Words

How many words of dog language do you know?

Oh, that’s right, dogs aren’t supposed to have a language with words. They merely have a communication system, where their barks, whines, growls, raised heads and wagging tails are simple expressions of emotion, but nothing to do with words. What a relief!

But what if it isn’t true? What if dogs have a language of their own, with gestures, growls, and barks that are the equivalent of words and sentences? What then?

Scientists who have been interested in knowing whether animals have language have often tried a back-door approach. If you can teach an animal a human language (or something artificial made up by people) then it might imply that the animal has the cognitive capacity to have a language of its own. No guarantee, of course, but at least it shows the possibility.

To this end, we have had studies of teaching sign language to chimps (such as Washoe), teaching keyboard symbols to bonobos (such as Kanzi), teaching English words to parrots (such as Alex), and teaching artificial gestural and sound languages to dolphins (such as Akeakamai and Phoenix).

And what do you know, they all can understand, and some can or could communicate back to the experimenters, much to the chagrin of the naysayers who insist that language is exclusively the property of people.

As far as dogs go, a group of scientists reported in 2004 that the Border Collie Rico could understand 200 words, and if given a task of retrieving an object  whose name Rico did not know from among a group of objects whose names he did know, he could make the intellectual leap and assume that the unknown name that was given stood for the one object whose name he did not know.

Now comes an article in the scientific literature about a Border Collie called Chaser, who knows more than 1000 words (Pilley, J.W. and A. K. Reid, 2011. Border collie comprehends object names as verbal referents. Behavioural Processes, doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2010.11.007).

Over a three-year period, Chaser learned the names of more than 1000 objects (specifically, 1022 objects), which were all proper nouns relating to stuffed toys, Frisbee-like objects, or balls. Like Rico, she could retrieve an object whose name she did not know, when she was asked to find that object from among a series of objects whose names she knew. She could also understand broad categories, such as “toy”, “ball”, and “Frisbee” and could correctly select the right kind of object when told to fetch, for example, a “ball” from a selection of objects that included a number of other things.

Even more impressive, for those of us whose dogs chew our slippers, is that Chaser learned to distinguish between “toy” and “non-toy” when the objects were very similar. Toys were things she was allowed to play with. Non-toys were similar objects that she could see but was not allowed to touch, such as cloth animals, balls, dolls, or shoes that were visible to her. So she generalized the categories “toy” and “non-toy” by function: “toys” were things she was allowed to play with, and “non-toys” were things she was  forbidden to touch.

It looks like Chaser could understand a lot of what was said to her. The experimenters did not specifically test for her understanding of sentences, but when they told her: “Fetch the ball,” that pretty-much implies that she could understand sentences at some level.

So much for the argument that dogs only understand your tone of voice.

And by the way, how many words of dog language do you know?

--Con Slobodchikoff

Comments

[Online T.v Channels]

All dogs have the capability to do the same thing.
If we took the time to teach them gentally, we would be surprised at the things they are capable of doing.
I had a chihuahua that was almost as bright as this dog here.
With one or two words her knew exactly what we were saying, After a while of training, we had to spell somethings around him, the dog was smarter than some people are.
I have always thought that animals are gifts from God, and never to be abused.

Read More: http://www.urlesque.com/2011/02/11/dog-knows-1000-words-neil-degrasse-tyson/#ixzz1L4uF9oI2

[Nancy Frensley, CPDT, CAP2]

Question:
my dog also has started to body slam me and other dogs, so your saying lean forward and sideways, and these dogs won't body slam me??? I have a bad knee and get worried about hurting it again! Are you sure that's all it takes. I feel I need a hockey stick to protect my self sometime??? I need HELP!

Reply

Body slamming is a learned behavior but can also be caused by dogs just being too wild (aroused) when they are playing. It is not a good play behavior so, for starters, start calling your dog out of play if whenever any slamming starts. Allow him to calm down before returning to play. As far as your dog hitting your legs, I can sympathize as I am healing a knee injury and anything hitting my leg can be painful.

Besides working toward the goal of getting your dog to play calmer games with other dogs, it really will help to carry a walking stick to block the dogs as they come close to your legs. Don't hit the dog, just hold it out to keep him away from your legs. You can also hold both hands out in a blocking motion if you don't have anything with you. The dog will learn to make a path around you instead of charging right at you. If your dog is hitting your legs while on leash, heel training will help but not right away. Again, having an object between you and your dog will keep him off your leg until he starts avoiding it on his own.

You really have to keep your eye on your dog and block him until he has learned to go around you and walk beside you in a straight line.

It won't hurt to get some professional help to train in behaviors that are counter to running into you.

[Debbie and Shasta]

I walk my pup 8 months mini Aussie a lot, in the snow and a lot of dogs that play with my dog body slam, my dog also has started to body slam me and other dogs, so your saying lean forward and sideways, and these dogs won't body slam me??? I have a bad knee and get worried about hurting it again! Are you sure that's all it takes. I feel I need a hockey stick to protect my self sometime??? I need HELP!

[Randall Johnson]

Simply amazing! Little by little, science is proving what most dog owners have known all along...and then some.
I'm now beginning to wonder about cats, largely because my household now includes a family of domestic felines. Although they don't have the same 'partnership' relationship with our species as dogs do, I'm led to wonder if they, too, are able to learn some words while living in a human family group.
Food for thought...and perhaps future research.
Anyway, thanks for a great post.