[Geezer (OP)]

If you get a chance to see this program, try to check it out. The Border Collie in the shot has a huge vocabulary. It can fetch any toy by name from hundreds, but the best bit is when Tyson asks the collie to get a new toy it's never even heard of, or seen, before. Quite incredible.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/nature/how-smart-are-animals.html

[RD]

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/nature/how-smart-are-animals.html

Not currently available in the UK  [:-'(] ...

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There is a recognised phenomenon of performing animals receiving cues from their owner rather than actually being "smart", e.g. allegedly numerate dogs : the animal simply barks until it gets a cue from the owner to stop, (Fido isn’t actually performing mental arithmetic).

This could also occur with Fido searching for a particular item, Fido moves around the items, getting “warmer”,  “colder”, “that’s it” cues from the owner. The cues can be audible or visual and unintentional rather than knowingly fraudulent.

[Geezer (OP)]

Here you go. Sorry the quality is so poor!


http://www.blinkx.com/watch-video/pbs-3-4-dog-v-ape-intelligence-how-smart-are-animals-nova-animal-science-dogs/HgfCpmxuO3VJiSz3rU_EtA

[RD]

From the way the "Darwin" experiment is shot it's difficult to tell whether the dog could be picking up cues from other people in the room, (e.g. camera & sound technicians).

I'd want to see the dog retrieve designated toys from an unpopulated room, monitored by unmanned CCTV, before I'd be convinced.

[Geezer (OP)]

It's a pity you can't view the entire segment. That collie can fetch any one of 1000 toys by name, so I doubt if any cues were necessary. Neil deGrasse Tyson is a very well respected scientist. You could twitter and ask if it was possible the collie received any inadvertent help. (Looks like his e-mail overfloweth!)

http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/tyson/

[Geezer (OP)]

Here's a bit more on the same.  (Sorry about the commercial)

http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/the-dog-who-knows-1-000-words-24138973

[melindaregner]

How smart? I think they're on the 4th spot. First was pig, then birds, then... i forgot the 3rd one.

[Mazurka]

Anecdotal as it is, my border collie knows the name of over a dozen toys and will fetch the one requested (from another location) without direction.  He can discriminate between colours – although I accept that it is possible for “yellow ball” and “yellow Frisbee” to be regarded as a single “name” distinct from “red ball” and “red Frisbee”, however

He also has an incredible memory for where his toys are – staring up at shelves where a ball was put several days before.

I have had particular insight into his behaviour after reading a couple of books by Temple Grandin – whose assertion that dogs behave in a very “autistic” way which is borne out by obsessive and other behaviours (such as the near universal desire to sleep in a bed/ corner that appears to be too small for them! (cf hug machine)

Whilst I agree that to a greater extent performing (or other highly trained) animals such as search dogs follow subtle clues from their handler, I have little doubt that dogs are smart enough to be trained to demonstrate quite complex behaviours.   

[vernahll2]

I don't think you need a video to show you how smart dogs are. Any dog owner will tell you how dogs can be trained to understand commands and undertake different types of tasks besides being trained to be service dogs.