Border collie takes record for biggest vocabulary

[n2doc]

22 December 2010 by Jessica Griggs

IN THE age-old war between cats and dogs, canines might just have struck the killer blow. A border collie called Chaser has been taught the names of 1022 items - more than any other animal. She can also categorise them according to function and shape, something children learn to do around the age of 3.

Chaser follows in the footsteps of Rico, who trained at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. Rico had a "vocabulary" of 200 words and could identify new objects in a group of familiar objects by a process of elimination, according to a study published in 2004.

To find out whether there was a limit to the number of words a border collie could learn, psychologists Alliston Reid and John Pilley of Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina, started an intensive training programme with Chaser.

Over three years, they taught the collie the names of 1022 toys by introducing them to her one by one, getting her to fetch the toy and then repeating the name to reinforce the association.

more with video
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20827921.900-border-collie-takes-record-for-biggest-vocabulary.html

[originalpckelly]

1. I, for one, welcome our border collie overlords.

:P

[montanacowboy]

5. LOL

I have to welcome my Australian Shepherd overlords everyday

[hlthe2b]

6. Me too... especially my Aussie-Lab mix...

who has the incredible "smarts" of the Aussie, with the bone-numbing stubbornness of a Lab. I can NEVER win with her!

[BrklynLiberal]

13. Ditto.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

2. Polly the Collie?

[meegbear]

3. My cat Max used to bite the heads off squirrels and leave me the headless bodies in the driveway ...

beat THAT Chaser!

[hlthe2b]

16. Most cats I've known, only know two words....

"F__K Off" (!) :rofl:


'Gotta love 'em, but they sure can be independent little "cussers"...;)

[justiceischeap]

18. No, they know three words...

ME!

[hlthe2b]

19. Yeah... perhaps so.

;)

[hlthe2b]

4. so the bumper stickers "My Border Collie (Aussie, etc.) is SMARTER

than your Honor student," might just be right! :rofl:

[madokie]

7. Thats our Roxy

smartest dog I've ever been around.

[CreekDog]

8. it knows 1022 words

that's more than Bush.

[freshwest]

9. Meow! Hiss!

[Brother Buzz]

10. My border collie even knows French

Although she's can't decide if this is a fine chapeau or a tasty crêpe.

[BrklynLiberal]

15. LOL. GREAT FACE!!!

Have you ever perused dooce.com. Take a look at the pics she takes of her dog..The Daily Chuck...and look at the archives.

Here is the latest
http://www.dooce.com/daily-chuck/2010/12/20/christmas-miracle


and here is an older one.

[Still a Democrat]

11. I would say Chaser is as smart as Dubya

but I'm a dog lover.

[Lochloosa]

12. Yeah, but can he sing opera like my Yorkie?

[BrklynLiberal]

14. Border collies are VERY smart dogs. In the hands of the right trainer,

there are dogs who would appear to be smarter than a lot of people I know.

Think about what a guide-dog for the blind does for its owner. Even when given an order, if the guide dog sees a reason to disobey...like oncoming traffic or a low-hanging object, the dog will disobey. This is more than mere rote learning. They are analyzing and making a
decision - a decision that means going counter to a given command. It would be the smart owner who would defer to the dog's choice.

[BrklynLiberal]

17. Want to see a video of a REALLY SMART DOG??????

A bunch of videos about him.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=skidboot+the+amazing+dog&aq=2


The story of Amazing Skidboot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2BfzUIBy9A

[Gothmog]

20. Herding dogs are great

I have some bearded collies who are also very very intelligent. We had a border for a while but it was very neurotic.

Herding dogs are great. Our dogs used to compete in herding competitions. It is really fun watching these dogs do their jobs. Border collies are so very intense when they are herding sheep.

[eppur_se_muova]

21. He can't be a Teabagger, then.

Too well educated. Disqualified.

[MadHound]

22. And yet even the smartest human has only learned 171 words of canine.

Which is the smarter species?