[imagesource: Joe Cooper Photography]

Almost everyone with a dog says their pet can understand exactly what they mean when they say certain words like “walk”, “snack”, “sit”, and the like.

Mine does, and I consider her a genius for it.

But she’s actually just average compared to these six really “genius” pooches who have all mastered a series of live-streamed experiments known as the Genius Dog Challenge, showing an extraordinary grasp of human language.

The dogs in question, all border collies, have successfully proven that they can learn the names of more than 28 doggy toys and in some cases more than 100.

SUCH good boys.

Max (Hungary), Gaia (Brazil), Nalani (Netherlands), Squall (US), Whisky (Norway), and Rico (Spain) all mastered the Genius Dog Challenge experiments, after Hungarian researchers spent more than two years scouring the globe for gifted canines.

I bet Max was doing a toy count in his head when this photo was taken:

Image: Joe Cooper Photography

Via The Guardian, here’s Dr Claudia Fugazza at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, who led the research team:

“These gifted dogs can learn new names of toys in a remarkable speed,” said Dr Fugazza.

“In our previous study we found that they could learn a new toy name after hearing it only four times. But, with such short exposure, they did not form a long-term memory of it.”

These experiments have also advanced scientists’ understanding of dogs’ memories:

To further push the dogs’ limits, their owners were tasked with teaching them the names of six, and then 12 new toys in a single week.

“It turned out that, for these talented dogs, this was not much of a challenge. They easily learned between 11 to 12 toys,” said Dr Shany Dror from the same university.

Human infants learn at a comparable rate when they start stringing words together at about 18 months old.

Border collies were particularly commendable in the study, probably because they have been bred to be incredibly tuned in and responsive to the behaviour of their owners.

Researchers also said that other breeds including a German shepherd, a Pekingese, and a mini Australian shepherd also fared well during the experiments.

Co-author Professor Adam Miklósi said that the experiments provided an opportunity to study how another species understands the human language and how learning words influences the way we think about the world, reports IFL Science.

This video shows footage from the experiments:

The official challenge is over, but that shouldn’t stop you from trying it out.

In fact, researchers would love to hear from you.

Owners who believe their dogs can master the Genius Dog Challenge may register them via the challenge website.

[sources:guardian&iflscience]