REUTERS/Manuela Hartling
Think your baby is smart? This dog is smarter.
Chaser the border collie has the largest human vocabulary of any dog, recognizing the names of more than 1,000 objects. Chaser leaps ahead of the previous record holder, another border collie named Rico, who knew 200 human words. The dog’s vocabulary nearly puts her on intellectual par with three-year-old human children.
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As part of a three-year training course at Wofford College, taught by psychologists Alliston Reid and John Pilley, Chaser was introduced to the names of 1,022 toys.
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The dog still has a ways to go before he can compete with Guinness World Records breaking bird, a budgerigar named Puck, who in 1995 knew 1,728 words. (via Discovery News)
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See Chaser’s extensive vocabulary:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbI13nbDRRI&w45&w=450]