A rare group of 'genius dogs' can learn new words by eavesdropping: Study

[rcjordan]

https://abcnews.go.com/US/rare-group-genius-dogs-learn-new-words-eavesdropping/story?id=128990152

My last dog was super-smart for a dog, but not a genius dog.

My daughter, however, has a genius dog. We determined 3-4 years ago that he could grasp the gist of what you wanted ...something that was new-to-him... from a couple of 'plain english' sentences.

[ergophobe]

I think my brother's dog is close. We're visiting now.

1. The dog loves to play fetch. Will play for hours if he can find a human willing to throw. So they can't say the word "ball" or the dog goes nuts with excitement. If they want to use the word "ball" they lower their voices to a near whisper and say B-A-L-L. Fast forward a while (don't know how long). We're sitting around the table and my brother whispers B-A-L-L and the dog gets up and runs over. I've seen this twice in 24 hours. Looks like it's getting that way with B-O-N-E.

2. My brother likes the dog to have a toy in his mouth when the dog comes out to shovel snow with my brother. He says, "Go get your toy," and the dog gets a big crocodile toy and my brother wants him to have a smaller toy that won't get in the way and say, "Not that one. Go get Penguin" and the dog looks for the penguin toy.

And he knows a bunch of phrases. One they use that is pretty fun is "Napping house." If they just want to relax and maybe nap on the couch, they just say that and the dog runs over and curls up by the couch.