Dog Learns over 100 Names During A New Study In Budapest, Hungary

Does your dog obey orders like “Sit,” “Come,” and “No?” 

If yes, it means they are trained to understand specific words and connect them with actions. However, when it is about recalling names of toys or daily objects at your home, your dog might not be able to identify or remember.

A new study of six “genius dogs” has shown that dogs do have incredible memory and comprehension of human language.

Recent research conducted by Hungarian academics shows how dogs can remember names for more than two years. The researchers from Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest scoured the world for dogs that have high memory retention potential. The study was to identify why dogs have a hard time learning the names of objects than commands.

After demonstrating they recognized the names of more than 28 toys, the six genius dogs named – Max (Hungary), Rico (Spain), Gaia (Brazil), Whisky (Norway), Squall (US), and Nalani (Netherlands) were chosen. These dogs took part in the Genius Dog Challenge, a series of live-streamed tests. 

Dr. Claudia Fugazza from the University said that these dogs had an incredible memory and ability to learn the names of  objects quickly.

To test the dogs’ boundaries even further, their owners were given the responsibility of teaching them the names of six, then twelve, new toys in a single week. It turned out that the dogs were quite adaptive and quickly learned the names of 12 toys without any issues.

The researchers noted that the pace of learning is equivalent to that of human babies during the onset of their vocabulary spurt, at the age of 18 months when they begin stringing words together.

Astonishingly, the dogs were able to retain the memory and recall the names of the toys even two months later.

All of the dogs that were selected for the study were Border Collies. They are known for their quick learning skills and usually are trained to control the herds of sheep.

Source: The Guardian