Skip to content
  • Happy Health
  • Happy Mindset
  • Animal Wonders
  • About Us
    • Team
  • Subscribe
Menu
  • Happy Health
  • Happy Mindset
  • Animal Wonders
  • About Us
    • Team
  • Subscribe
Happy News

What Makes Some Dogs GENIUS Word Learners

Scientists have discovered that some exceptionally skilled dogs called gifted word learners can quickly remember the names of toys, and new research reveals the key factor behind their unusual ability isn’t about curiosity but about their relationship with humans. Animal behaviorist Andrea Sommese of the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna in Austria compared 10 gifted word learners with 21 typical dogs, all border collies, by having each dog play at home with four toys over two weeks where two toy names were repeatedly called by owners and two toys were played with but never named. The team expected the labeled toys to attract more attention from gifted dogs, but all dogs showed a strong preference for new toys with no difference between gifted and typical dogs in how much time they spent with labeled, unlabeled or novel objects. The key distinction emerged not in how dogs explored objects but in how they behaved toward their caregivers, with gifted word learners being significantly more likely to pick up a toy especially a new one and bring it to their caregiver to initiate play.

Typical dogs by contrast tended to stay close or lean against their caregivers without actively involving them in play with the toy, suggesting a difference in social style rather than curiosity according to Sommese who explained that gifted word learners seem particularly motivated to involve humans in object centered interactions involving novel toys. This behavior might mirror early communication attempts in human infants like pointing or showing objects to caregivers to attract attention, shifting the focus away from the objects themselves and toward the relationship between dogs and humans. The study does not claim that social motivation directly causes vocabulary learning since other explanations like differences in owners’ play habits still need to be tested, but the findings open new directions for studying how language related skills can emerge in species that live so closely with humans. Sommese concluded that to understand why some dogs learn words we may need to look less at the toys and more at the relationship, proving that the secret to canine genius might just be how much they want to share their discoveries with the people they love.

Source: https://www.newsweek.com/pets-dogs-scientists-reveal-behavior-gifted-word-learners-11453060

PrevPreviousHow Our Voices Affect Dog Behavior
NextThis New Underwater Fossil Discovery is 512 Million Year OldNext

Recent Articles

Happy News

Fish Communication Finally Understood By Humans

February 5, 2026

Scientists have identified and matched underwater sounds to specific fish species living off the coast of British Columbia in a discovery that could help improve how fish populations are monitored and protected. This will finally answer the age old question of what noises fish make to speak to each other

Read More
Happy News

Cows Are Even Smarter Than We Thought

February 5, 2026

Veronika the cow has amazed researchers by using a broom to scratch specific areas of her body demonstrating tool use, a skill that was not previously known to be possessed by cattle and calling into question the previous assessment of the cognitive abilities of these farm animals. Study leader Alice

Read More
Happy News

An iPhone Photo Solved A 60 Year Botanical Mystery

February 5, 2026

A plant long presumed extinct in the wild has been rediscovered in Australia ending nearly six decades without a confirmed sighting. Researchers say the small slender shrub called Ptilotus senarius had not been recorded since 1967 and was effectively written off as lost until new evidence emerged last summer on

Read More
« Previous Next »
  • Privacy Notice
  • Accessibility Notice
  • Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
  • Unsubscribe
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Privacy Notice
  • Accessibility Notice
  • Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
  • Unsubscribe
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2026 HappyNews.