If you have a Border Collie, it may — or may not — surprise you to hear that they are gifted dogs. A study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, concluded that this breed is gifted at word learning and retention — specifically object names.
According to a report from NBC News, the study didn’t originally single Border Collies out for the study; it was meant to identify breeds that were “gifted word learners” with the ability to comprehend the meaning of an object.
This search continued for two years, Shany Dror, the study’s author and manager of the Genius Dog Challenge, told NBC. By the end, Border Collies were the clear winner.
For the study, this was a fascinating turn of events since the breed had been tested previously for similar aptitude and did not show this capacity. “It turns out that even among Border Collies, this capacity is very rare,” said Dror.
How Many Toy Names Can Border Collies Remember?
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Within a four-part experiment, six Border Collies were tested. There were three males and three females, with an average age of 3.6 years old. Researchers selected the dogs because they all demonstrated a previous ability to memorize toy names.
Keeping the study as close to home-life, as possible, Dror explained that the manner of teaching the Collies was conducted by the pet parents, themselves, in the form of typical play between a dog and their human.
“The owner shows the toy to the dog and says its name — for example, ‘look, this is the elephant’ — and then starts to give the toy to the dog or throws it for the dog to fetch, always by repeating the name of the toy a few times, for example, ‘go find the elephant,’” Dror said.
The first experiment tested the Collies’ ability to learn the names of six toys that they’d never encountered within a week. Testers scattered the toys amongst other desirable playthings. Then, they asked the Collies to fetch a specific toy that they had been taught.
The second experiment had similar conditions, except the Collies learned the name of twelve new toys.
And then, the two final experiments tested if the Collies could remember the names of the toys that they had learned, first at one month, and then at two months.
The Study’s Surprising Results
(Picture Credit: Pixsooz/Getty Images)Results from the first experiment concluded with nearly all of the Collies remembering the names of all six toys. The second experiment’s results were similar — two collies retrieved all twelve toys, while four of the dogs retrieved eleven toys.
By percentage, the Collies were 86 percent accurate by the end of the second experiment. At one month, that accuracy had gone down to 61.1 percent , and then to 57 percent at two months.
Overall, Dror expressed being both pleased and surprised at the study’s findings with Border Collies.
“All dogs, however, are good at understanding their humans,” Dror included. “They do so by being able to read even the very subtle movements we make and learning in what context we do what. They are fine-tuned to all our activities and can learn a lot by observing us.”
Do you have a Border Collie at home who you might suspect is gifted? What kind of things has your dog learned that genuinely surprised you? Let us know in the comments below.
