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"Chaser was taught to understand sentences containing a prepositional object, verb and direct object." I would have never believed this if I hadn't seen it wit

"Chaser was taught to understand sentences containing a prepositional object, verb and direct object." I would have never believed this if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. A friend has a golden retriever that I was playing with one day, and I asked him to get me a stick. He did, but it wasn't the stick I was thinking of, so I just off hand said, "no, not that stick, the one by the rock." and damn if that dog didn't drop it and go get the one by the rock. So I said, "put that stick with the other stick." Bam, done. I was stunned. I told my friend and he said, "oh, yeah, not surprised. He's smart." Now, maybe he didn't fully understand the sentences, and was simply understanding my body language and watching my eyes, movements, etc for clues, but even if so... dang. Now, my dimwitted sweetheart of a pup often gets confused just between "sit" and "down", but I love her anyway :)

nradov 7y ago
I wonder what would happen if we selectively bred dogs for that type of intelligence rather than for appearance and temperment? What are the upper limits of canine intelligence?
- hdfbdtbcdg 7y ago
  Given time and if you are prepared that the end result won't be a dog anymore at least as intelligent as humans.
- ComputerGuru 7y ago
  Border Collies were supposedly bred for intelligence and obedience.
- devdas 7y ago
  Wolves. You would get wolves.
  - k_sze 7y ago
    Wolves are actually... different in terms of intelligence. IIRC, there's study about how wolves tend not to rely on human help regardless of how long the wolves have lived with humans. They just ... don't get it. They can't tell that they can cooperate with humans. e.g. if there is a door and the wolf can't reach the latch, it won't seek help from the human at all, whereas a dog likely will.
- bodski 7y ago
  Brunner's 'Shockwave Rider' has an interesting vision of how super-intelligent dogs might take care of security for village sized human communities.
  - londons_explore 7y ago
    Breed slightly too much intelligence into them, and suddenly your security guards are going to take that village hostage unless they receive double food quota...
    - s0l1dsnak3123 7y ago
      Sounds like they earned the right to strike at that point ;)
  - vidarh 7y ago
    Since bringing up books, Clifford D. Simak's "City" is recounted by dogs being told stories about humans, and how they disappeared, while asking questions about human civilization such as what a "city" is, and what "war" is.
- csomar 7y ago
  We've been doing that. However, we have been selecting particularly for obedience which limited their intelligence. We don't want actually a dog that is super-intelligent but just one that is funny, protective and smart-enough.
  - tluyben2 7y ago
    We adopted some dogs that have been abandoned; those you don't pick for any traits besides them not being completely crazy/vicious. We had (and have) ones that no-one wants because they are too smart; they are escape artists and very good thieves. They know how to trick you. They are absolutely not obedient, even after training (they seem to train easy, but they are just doing what gives them the quickest treat; if that ends they immediately stop again). I like them more than the obedient ones really.
  - bonniemuffin 7y ago
    A super-intelligent dog would be a pretty bad pet. Smart dogs get bored, and bored dogs get into trouble. A super-intelligent dog would be able to get into entirely new kinds of trouble. It would take a huge effort to keep it entertained and happy and well-adjusted. A dog like that would need a full-time job, rather than being just a household pet.
  - dmix 7y ago
    This would be a great neuroscience hobby project. Plus you'd get "free" gov-grant paid dogs too.
- pvaldes 7y ago
  A wolf will be always the most intelligent dog bred available. You can't easily improve the job of millions of years selecting the brightest animals. Not in 50 or 100 years.
csomar 7y ago
Did you point with your fingers or just talked. That would be really amazing if you just talked without finger-pointing as that would require more guess-work from the dog. I don't think the dog understands exactly what you are saying but they are doing guess-work and trying to please. I had a puppy that I was trying to potty-train outside the apartment. It didn't go very well. Until one time I'm back home and I found out she did it near the sofa. I screamed. She became quite disciplined after that. She guessed that potty-location is very important and something she has to care about.
- technothrasher 7y ago
  Did you point with your fingers or just talked. I didn't do anything as overt as finger pointing, but I do know from plenty of reading on animal training that they're very perceptive to non-verbal cues that you may not even be aware you are doing (ala https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clever_Hans https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clever_Hans).
S_A_P 7y ago
I have a maltipoo(wifes choice) that was especially difficult to train, and hard headed. I thought it was because he was not especially bright, but turns out to be the opposite. I tell him get me a ball, he runs off and returns with a ball. I tell him get me his rope, same thing. In the morning he jumps on me and wants to go outside, when I want to snooze a bit, I say "go lay down", no pointing no body language to read he goes and lays at my feet for a while longer. Watched the attached video of chaser, and totally agree with one point made- play is the way to teach an animal, not food. Dogs love exercise, and training with food is a great way to make your dog obese, which will make exercise more difficult and its overall happiness reduced. My dogs are 10x happier when they hear "you wanna go for a walk?" than "do you want a treat?"

nradov 7y ago

I wonder what would happen if we selectively bred dogs for that type of intelligence rather than for appearance and temperment? What are the upper limits of canine intelligence?

hdfbdtbcdg 7y ago
Given time and if you are prepared that the end result won't be a dog anymore at least as intelligent as humans.
ComputerGuru 7y ago
Border Collies were supposedly bred for intelligence and obedience.
devdas 7y ago
Wolves. You would get wolves.
- k_sze 7y ago
  Wolves are actually... different in terms of intelligence. IIRC, there's study about how wolves tend not to rely on human help regardless of how long the wolves have lived with humans. They just ... don't get it. They can't tell that they can cooperate with humans. e.g. if there is a door and the wolf can't reach the latch, it won't seek help from the human at all, whereas a dog likely will.
bodski 7y ago
Brunner's 'Shockwave Rider' has an interesting vision of how super-intelligent dogs might take care of security for village sized human communities.
- londons_explore 7y ago
  Breed slightly too much intelligence into them, and suddenly your security guards are going to take that village hostage unless they receive double food quota...
  - s0l1dsnak3123 7y ago
    Sounds like they earned the right to strike at that point ;)
- vidarh 7y ago
  Since bringing up books, Clifford D. Simak's "City" is recounted by dogs being told stories about humans, and how they disappeared, while asking questions about human civilization such as what a "city" is, and what "war" is.
csomar 7y ago
We've been doing that. However, we have been selecting particularly for obedience which limited their intelligence. We don't want actually a dog that is super-intelligent but just one that is funny, protective and smart-enough.
- tluyben2 7y ago
  We adopted some dogs that have been abandoned; those you don't pick for any traits besides them not being completely crazy/vicious. We had (and have) ones that no-one wants because they are too smart; they are escape artists and very good thieves. They know how to trick you. They are absolutely not obedient, even after training (they seem to train easy, but they are just doing what gives them the quickest treat; if that ends they immediately stop again). I like them more than the obedient ones really.
- bonniemuffin 7y ago
  A super-intelligent dog would be a pretty bad pet. Smart dogs get bored, and bored dogs get into trouble. A super-intelligent dog would be able to get into entirely new kinds of trouble. It would take a huge effort to keep it entertained and happy and well-adjusted. A dog like that would need a full-time job, rather than being just a household pet.
- dmix 7y ago
  This would be a great neuroscience hobby project. Plus you'd get "free" gov-grant paid dogs too.
pvaldes 7y ago
A wolf will be always the most intelligent dog bred available. You can't easily improve the job of millions of years selecting the brightest animals. Not in 50 or 100 years.

csomar 7y ago

Did you point with your fingers or just talked. That would be really amazing if you just talked without finger-pointing as that would require more guess-work from the dog. I don't think the dog understands exactly what you are saying but they are doing guess-work and trying to please. I had a puppy that I was trying to potty-train outside the apartment. It didn't go very well. Until one time I'm back home and I found out she did it near the sofa. I screamed. She became quite disciplined after that. She guessed that potty-location is very important and something she has to care about.

technothrasher 7y ago
Did you point with your fingers or just talked. I didn't do anything as overt as finger pointing, but I do know from plenty of reading on animal training that they're very perceptive to non-verbal cues that you may not even be aware you are doing (ala https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clever_Hans https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clever_Hans).

S_A_P 7y ago

I have a maltipoo(wifes choice) that was especially difficult to train, and hard headed. I thought it was because he was not especially bright, but turns out to be the opposite. I tell him get me a ball, he runs off and returns with a ball. I tell him get me his rope, same thing. In the morning he jumps on me and wants to go outside, when I want to snooze a bit, I say "go lay down", no pointing no body language to read he goes and lays at my feet for a while longer. Watched the attached video of chaser, and totally agree with one point made- play is the way to teach an animal, not food. Dogs love exercise, and training with food is a great way to make your dog obese, which will make exercise more difficult and its overall happiness reduced. My dogs are 10x happier when they hear "you wanna go for a walk?" than "do you want a treat?"