14 Characteristics That May Prove a Pup Is Gifted
All dogs owners like to think that our dogs are the best. They are the most handsome, the cutest, the bestet plus the smartest ever. Such good boys! Such good girls!
Well, a new study published in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers from the Family Dog Project (ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest) shows that truly gifted dogs, those that can learn the names of hundreds of dog toys, share certain traits. Here is what the study on the traits of gifted dogs found. These include the top three signs your dog is gifted, what the owners of these dogs have in common, and the traits of the dogs.
14 Characteristics That May Prove a Pup Is Gifted
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Their owners:
1: Their owners had owned at least one dog in the past.
It's easy to assume that a person with prior dog experience would be better able to handle owning another dog in the future, and have some experience in dog behavior, health and the care and feeding of dogs.
2: Owners had never had a gifted dog in the past.
This is interesting, and was probably discovered in the survey of the dog owners. Another interesting factoid? 56%of the gifted dogs were Border Collies.
3: The owners are not professional dog trainers.
This is very interesting and gives hope to all of us who aren't professional dog trainers who are able to teach our own dogs amazing tricks.
Their dogs:
4: Were obtained from a breeder.
Ooof. As a huge advocate for dog adoption I'm not happy with this trait at all, and we all know plenty of incredibly smart dogs came from shelters.
5: Lived with their owner from the age of ten weeks or younger.
Considering most puppies can be safely adopted from their mamas at somewhere between 8-10 weeks old, this seems do-able.
6: Live with two adult caregivers.
I think it can be assumed the more interaction a dog has with humans the more likely they are to learn things.
7: Live in a house with one dog.
It makes sense that a dog living in a single-dog household wouldn't be distracted by playtime with his dog sibling and would spend more time with one-on-one human interaction.
8: Are spayed or neutered.
Yes! Another excellent argument in favor of spaying or neutering dogs.
What the gifted dogs learning process entailed:
Julia Zavalishina/Shutterstock
9: Dogs learned object labels through interactions in play sessions with their owners
10: Dog owners did intentionally teach their dogs the names of the toys
Both numbers 9 and 10 seem like when asked the survey respondents said that the dogs sort of organically learned the word ball when their owners would say something like "go get your ball," rather than the owner holding out the ball and telling their dog this is a ball.
Related: Clever Dog Plays Rambunctious Game of 'Fetch' All By Himself
11: It takes dogs less than 30 minutes to learn the name of the game
Now that's a fast learner!
12: Dogs know at least 15 game names
Listen, I don't even know 15 game names. When it comes to dog play time I think we all know go get it, fetch, go find it, where's your ___. Maybe my own dog would be smarter if I knew more game names to play with him!
13: Dogs can learn more than 50 toy names in two years
That's... a lot of toys. My dog has never owned more than five toys at a time. Maybe he would be smarter if he had more toys!
14: Dog owners play with toys daily
Now this is something I think most dog owners all ready do.
Not all of us may have what these researchers term "gifted world learner (GWL) dogs," but I'm sure a lot of us do have dogs that we consider pretty smart.
How many traits does your own dog have in common with the GWL dogs? Let us know in the comments!
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