Study Shows Elite Dogs Learn Toy Names by Eavesdropping

Researchers reported that a small “elite” group of gifted word-learner dogs can learn new object labels by overhearing people talk, extending earlier findings that some can remember hundreds of toy names learned during play.In experiments led by Shany Dror at Eötvös Loránd University and the University of Veterinary Medicine in Austria, 10 dogs watched owners discuss a novel toy with another person and then retrieved it from a pile, with seven succeeding even when the toy was hidden in an opaque box.Heidi Lyn of the University of South Alabama said the work suggests animals may have “a lot more going on cognitively,” as researchers continue probing how about 50 known word-learner dogs worldwide form these associations and what brain mechanisms are involved.