Overview
- Seven of ten gifted word learner dogs correctly retrieved newly named toys after hearing owners discuss them in conversations not directed at the dogs.
- Brief exposure was enough for acquisition, with roughly eight minutes across short sessions sufficient to learn two new names, according to the researchers.
- In a separate test that delayed naming until after the toy was out of sight, most of the dogs still learned the labels and retained them for at least two weeks.
- The sample consisted of rare, self‑reported dogs with unusually large toy vocabularies, and a control group of typical pet border collies did not show the same learning from casual listening.
- The work, led by teams at Eötvös Loránd University and the Clever Dog Lab in Vienna, suggests flexible sociocognitive processes in these exceptional dogs without implying the effect applies to most pets.