The dog whisperer.. or the human whisperer!?
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Dogs, our best friends. They can help us herd, hunt, and sense our emotions! How are they so smart?
Shany Dror and team from Eotvos Lorand University in Hungary wondered how dogs think! They tested dogs’ ability to search for their favorite toys by name ONLY. Dogs were trained to bring a toy they knew by name to their owner. Then, the same toy was placed in a dark room.
Light or dark, the dogs were nearly EIGHTY PERCENT accurate in finding the target toy! In the DARK room, the dogs INCREASED their sniffing. They also spent LONGER searching for it.
Dogs that retrieved their toys by name were called Gifted Word Learners. This study shows that these dogs use multiple senses when listening and thinking. They rely on ALL of their senses to think – just like us!
The eyes see all.. And the NOSE KNOWS.. It always knows! *SNIFF SNIFF SNIFF*
Reference:
Dror, S., Sommese, A., Miklósi, Á., Temesi, A., & Fugazza, C. (2022). Multisensory mental representation of objects in typical and Gifted Word Learner dogs. Animal Cognition, 1-10.