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Genius Dogs

Genius Dogs
by
February 12, 2026
in Humane Education Column
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By: Judy Hamontre, AVHS Vice Chair

My miniature schnauzer, Destiny was never too interested in learning tricks, but she loved to play games with her toys, and she knew those toys by name – bear, piggy, ball, ring, bone, monkey, elephant, shark, chipmunk, frog, and the list went on. She had a lot of toys, and each had its own name. If I asked her to go get shark, she did. If she were playing with monkey and I asked, “Where is piggy?” She often went in search of piggy and brought it to me.

Being a proud mother, I proclaimed that she was gifted. Recently I found an amazing study that makes me now wonder if Destiny might actually have been a ‘genius dog’.

A January 8th segment on ABC’s Good Morning America (GMA) caught my attention with the lead in “Your dog may actually be listening to your every word.” The segment reported on a study that found a rare group of ‘genius dogs’ could learn dog toy names by eavesdropping on their owners’ conversations about a dog toy, using its specific name.

Shang Dror, a postdoctoral researcher at the Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in Budapest, which is a global leader in dog cognition research, told ABC News, “Our peer-reviewed study of a limited number of ‘genius dogs’ found that they could learn the names of new toys just by listening to their owners talk about them.”

Dror, the lead researcher, said, “These smart pups are identified as “Gifted Word Learner” (GWL) dogs who can pick up hundreds of object names just by listening to their owners talk. I am not really too surprised by this because dogs are proficient in picking up on very small human behaviors and cues. Also, research suggests that dogs learn language as well as one and a half-year old toddlers.”

For the study, 10 different dogs from 5 different countries were tested. First, they overheard conversations about 2 different toys, one called “armadillo” and the other “leopard.” Then on the day of the test the dogs were asked to go get armadillo which had been put in a different room and then the same for leopard. Seven out of the ten dogs quickly ran to the room without hesitation, selected the correct toy and brought it right back to their owners.

Dror laughed, saying, “I was amazed at how some of the dogs performed with 100% confidence, sprinting to the toy and without any hesitation selecting it.”

Dror also acknowledged that only a small group of dogs are this gifted. (She never said how many). She added, “In no way do all dogs learn this way, but if any of you viewers have a dog that recognizes at least 10 toys by name, your pup would be a good candidate for our future studies.”

Dror concluded, “Although our scientific study suggests some pets may possess this gifted learning ability due to a mix of individual predispositions and unique life experiences, it is unclear which factors matter most or how they interact. That is why we continue to research.”

Dror’s study builds on the ongoing “Genius Dog Challenge Research Project” led by Claudia Fugazza and Adam Miklósi, professor and head of Ethology at ELTE University.

My Destiny would have qualified for their studies because she knew more than 10 names for her toys, and such studies are fascinating. However, I did not need a study to tell me she was gifted nor did it matter because she was my loyal and goofy bundle of love.

 

 

 

 

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