How to identify if your dog is gifted

Dogs tend to have many unique habits, even when they seem to be thinking about certain situations for a long time. One of these is when they bow their heads, so the scientists decided to analyze why man’s best friends perform this gesture.

In a study published in the scientific journal Animal CognitionPeer-reviewed researchers at Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary proposed that head tilt in dogs may be related to “processing significant and relevant stimuli.”

This means that a dog may tilt his head in reaction to words or objects that trigger memories in the brain, such as the name of his favorite toy.

For the study, the researchers looked at the reactions of 40 dogs of different breeds during object tag awareness tests. They analyzed the presence of head tilts when owners verbally asked their pets to fetch a familiar toy.

Each owner taught their dog the names of two toys, which were the same for three months, and then asked him to find one in an adjacent room. Most of the dogs were unable to learn the names of the toys, except for seven border collies.

The seven collies had one thing in common: They bowed their heads more often than their non-gifted peers after hearing a command. According to the study, the gifted pupils bowed their heads 43% of the time, while the other 33 dogs did so only 2% of the time.

In a second experiment, six of the border collies – the seventh had already died – were tested in the same way for three months, but with up to 13 toys. One of the dogs returned the correct toy 54 out of 59 times; another two were successful more than 90% of the time and the other three were successful between 57% and 75%.

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Then, in a third phase, the six collies demonstrated that they could learn 12 new toy names in one week and then remember them for at least two months.

Although the study ultimately focused on border collies, the researchers believe that the talent for learning and remembering the names of objects is not unique to that breed.

Now the specialists will focus is to find out what kinds of sounds can be meaningful to dogs, beyond the indications relating to toys. (I)