Canine Intelligence: Chaser the Border Collie knows the names of 1022 objects

Chaser has undergone four separate experiments to test her language skills: A Border Collie named Chaser has accomplished the astounding feat of learning the individual names of 1022 toys.  Chaser, known as the dog with the largest vocabulary and owner John Pilley live in Spartanburg, S.C.

1.   Experiment one showed that Chaser had learned the proper noun names of 1022 toys.

2.   Experiment two revealed that Chaser was not only able to differentiate between the proper noun names but that she was able to tell the difference between the name of the object and the command given.  Chaser was aware that names referred to objects and that commands referred to what was to be done to those objects (see Chaser Demonstration video below).

3.   Experiment three demonstrated Chasers capacity to learn three common nouns.

4.   Experiment four displayed Chasers ability to learn the names of new objects by excluding objects with known names (see Chaser learns new object name through exclusion video below).

Chaser learned these words within three years of intensive training.  Her owner explained that “no upper limit is apparent — they stopped training the dog after three years due to their time constraints, not because the dog could not learn more names.”

Here are some videos I found on Chaser, this dog is amazing!!

Chaser demonstration video

Chaser learns new object name through exclusion video

Learn how John Pilley taught Chaser object names video

How many words does your dog know and how did you teach them?  Please let me know in the comments section below.

*Johanna*

Source:

John W. Pilley, Alliston K. Reid. Border collie comprehends object names as verbal referents. Behavioural Processes, 2010; DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2010.11.007