How Citizen Science reveals the secrets of Gifted Word Learner dogs – my “Best of Health” article March 2024

♦ March 15, 2024

As it’s Crufts this month and we will be seeing displays of many different dog talents, I thought it would be timely to share some recent research into Gifted Word Learner dogs. If  you ever wondered how much your dog can understand what you say or you have a furry friend who can fetch their favourite toy by name, you might be the owner of a rare and remarkable Gifted Word Learner (GWL) dog.

Dogs are a popular model for studying social cognition, as they have evolved and developed in human society. Only a rare group of dogs have the ability to associate a verbal label with an object. For example, they can learn that “ball” means a round object that bounces, and “bone” means a chewy treat. This can be used to investigate various cognitive mechanisms, such as language, communication, and categorisation. However, only a few studies have examined this phenomenon, and most of them involved very small sample sizes of dogs. This makes it hard to tell if the observed abilities are unique to individual dogs, or if they reflect common characteristics of a special group of dogs. Most dogs do not show evidence of knowing object labels, and training dogs to learn object labels is often unsuccessful. 

Previous studies have suggested that GWL dogs share some distinctive characteristics, such as their learning speed, their large vocabulary, and their spontaneous learning of toy names. However, these similarities have not been confirmed by empirical evidence, and it is not clear if they reflect common features of GWL dogs or anecdotal observations.

Citizen Science Projects

To address this gap, a team of researchers from Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary conducted the first study on a relatively large sample of 41 GWL dogs, using a citizen science approach. Citizen science is a popular method in ecological research, where researchers rely on the observations and data collected by volunteers, often through online platforms or mobile apps. This approach means that the owners of the dogs participated in the data collection and analysis, following the instructions and guidance of the researchers. The citizen science approach is useful for studying rare phenomena that are scattered across large geographical areas. In this case, the researchers recruited and tested GWL dogs and their owners through a social media campaign that included live broadcasts of their experiments. 

The researchers tested the dogs’ receptive vocabulary of toy names, by asking the owners to record videos of their dogs fetching toys on command. They also asked the owners to complete a questionnaire about their and their dogs’ life experiences, such as age, breed, training history, and learning methods. They aimed to validate the previous anecdotal evidence and to explore the potential factors that influence the development of object label knowledge in dogs.

The results revealed several characteristics that are shared among most GWL dogs, such as:

  • Fast learning speed: GWL dogs learned the names of new toys in an average of 3.4 trials, which is much faster than typical companion dogs.
  • Large vocabulary: GWL dogs knew the names of an average of 29 toys, ranging from 5 to 86. 
  • Spontaneous learning: GWL dogs learned the names of the toys spontaneously, without the explicit intent of their owners. Most owners (74%) reported that they did not deliberately teach their dogs the names of the toys, but rather used them casually in everyday play interactions.
  • Speed of learning: 60% of owners reported that their dog learnt the name of a new toy in 10 minutes or less and most GWL dogs can learn new toy names in less than 30 minutes.

Surprisingly, though, being a professional dog trainer wasn’t a predictor of having one of these GWL dogs at home. In fact, 89% of the owners were simply pet owners who discovered their dog’s special skills by accident. They reported starting to teach names intentionally only after noticing their dogs picking up vocabulary through everyday object play. Also unlike common assumptions in the past, Border Collies were not the only beneficiaries of this advanced intellect – though they were the most common GWL breed (52%). Diverse other breeds had GWL super-learners too like Labradors, Pomeranians, and even a Toy Poodle.

Fast-learning GWL dogs

So what is going on with these word-genius dogs? The Hungarian team notes it doesn’t seem something solely attributable to owner influence. Most owners were not actively training toy names at first. Multi-dog households did not see the talent spreading across pets. Dogs adopted later in life by owners of GWL dogs did not pick up the advanced linguistic habits. Something unique seems to be happening in the GWL dogs’ cognition itself. 

This opens exciting avenues for canine intelligence research. For example, testing these dogs on perception of toy object categories, inferring names for new items based on learned labels, or comparing their mental representations to average dogs could offer new insights. As naturally occurring cases, fast-learning GWL dogs may reveal cognitive mechanisms clearer than heavily trained animals too. 

This study did not aim to determine the prevalence of GWL dogs in the dog population and many citizen science projects can be limited by their biassed sample group. However, the findings validate previous anecdotal evidence on common characteristics of GWL dogs, and provide additional support to the hypothesis that these dogs represent a unique group of dogs. More research is needed to explore the genetic and environmental influences on this ability. The researchers also suggest that the citizen science approach is a promising way to study rare phenomena in dog cognition, and to engage dog owners in scientific research. 

So, if you have a GWL dog, or you are curious about your dog’s cognitive abilities, you can join the Family Dog Project and participate in their ongoing studies. Owners can also help researchers by reporting potential dogs and teaching them testable toy names during normal play routines at home. Qualifying dogs and owners can make huge scientific contributions by demonstrating these abilities in controlled tests. You’ll also get to talk with leading animal minds researchers and maybe earn your dog international recognition as one of the few with a certified outstanding vocabulary! You might discover something new and amazing about your canine companion. 

Ref: A citizen science model turns anecdotes into evidence by revealing similar characteristics among Gifted Word Learner dogs. Dror et al. Nature/Scientific Reports 13, Article number: 21747 (2023) 

 

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