The smartest dog in the world | 60 Minutes Archive

Summary

This '60 Minutes' segment delves into the cognitive abilities of dogs, challenging the notion that they're merely pets. Highlighting Chaser, the 'smartest dog in the world,' it showcases her vocabulary of over a thousand toy names and her understanding of nouns and verbs. The segment explores dogs' capacity for social inference, similar to human toddlers, and their neural responses to their owners' scents, indicating a deep emotional bond. It also introduces 'dognition,' a platform for dog owners to assess their pets' intelligence, emphasizing the complexity of canine cognition.

Takeaways

• 🐕 Scientists have only recently begun to study dogs seriously, despite humans living with them for thousands of years.
• 🐾 Chaser, a Border Collie, is known as the smartest dog in the world, having learned over 1,000 toy names.
• 👶 Chaser has cognitive abilities similar to a two-year-old toddler, understanding words, sentences, and even the difference between nouns and verbs.
• 🧠 Dogs like Chaser are capable of social inference, a cognitive skill similar to that of young children, allowing them to understand human gestures like pointing.
• 🔬 Dr. Greg Burns has conducted brain scans on awake dogs, showing that dogs experience positive emotions when they recognize their owners' scents.
• 💖 Dogs and humans share a unique bond, evidenced by the release of the 'love hormone' oxytocin when they make eye contact or interact closely.
• 🎓 Brian Hare, an evolutionary anthropologist, believes dogs like Chaser are important for understanding animal cognition and has created a website to test dog intelligence.
• 🧩 Intelligence in dogs varies, just as it does in humans, with different dogs excelling in different cognitive areas like communication or memory.
• 📚 Chaser's exceptional abilities are not unique; many other dogs could potentially achieve similar feats with the right training.
• 🏅 The close relationship between Chaser and her owner John Pilley is a result of extensive training and interaction, which has unlocked Chaser's full cognitive potential.

Q & A

How long have humans been living with dogs?

Humans have been living with dogs for thousands of years.

Why haven't dogs been a focus of serious scientific study until recently?

Dogs, despite sharing our lives, were never thought to be worthy of serious study compared to other animals like dolphins, apes, and chimps.

What is the significance of Chaser, the border collie mentioned in the script?

Chaser has been called the smartest dog in the world and has been taught by her owner, John Pilley, to recognize the names of over a thousand toys, demonstrating advanced cognitive abilities in dogs.

How does John Pilley teach Chaser new words?

John Pilley teaches Chaser by signing names to toys and using simple sentences, spending up to five hours a day, five days a week for nine years.

What is the size of Chaser's vocabulary and how was it measured?

Chaser's vocabulary is over a thousand words, and it was measured through hundreds of tests over three years where she correctly identified 95 percent or more of the toys.

What breakthrough did Chaser have that allowed her to learn words faster?

Chaser had an insight at five months old that objects have names, which allowed her to start learning words faster, similar to how young children learn.

What is social inference and how does it relate to Chaser's learning?

Social inference is the capability to make inferences from social cues, such as pointing, which humans acquire around age one. Chaser demonstrated this ability, indicating a level of thinking previously not attributed to dogs.

How does Dr. Greg Burns study the canine brain?

Dr. Greg Burns conducts brain scans on awake and unsedated dogs using an fMRI machine, training them to stay still during the scans.

What does the activation of the caudate nucleus in a dog's brain indicate?

The activation of the caudate nucleus, or Reward Center, in a dog's brain when sniffing their owner's scent indicates a positive feeling and recognition of someone important to them.

What is the role of oxytocin in the bond between dogs and humans?

Oxytocin, known as the love hormone, is released in both dogs and humans when they make eye contact, play, or touch, indicating a mutual bond and positive feelings.

What is Dognition and how does it help dog owners?

Dognition is a science-based website created by Brian Hare where owners can play games to test their dog's brain power, helping them understand different types of intelligence in dogs.

Outlines

00:00

🐾 The Smartest Dog in the World: Chaser

The first paragraph introduces Chaser, a border collie who has been called the smartest dog in the world. John Pilley, a retired psychology professor, has been teaching Chaser like a child, using sign language to help her learn words and simple sentences. Over nine years, Chaser has learned the names of over a thousand toys, demonstrating her extensive vocabulary and understanding. Pilley's method of teaching involves treating Chaser as a two-year-old toddler, and her abilities have been scientifically tested and published. Chaser's intelligence is compared to that of a young child, and her capacity for learning is highlighted as a significant breakthrough in understanding canine cognition.

05:02

🧠 Canine Brain Research: Understanding Dog Intelligence

The second paragraph delves into the scientific exploration of dogs' cognitive abilities. Dr. Greg Burns, a neuroscientist, has been scanning the brains of awake, unsedated dogs to understand how they process information. His research focuses on the dogs' reactions to different scents, particularly their owners', and how these activate the brain's reward center. This area, known as the caudate nucleus, is associated with positive feelings and recognition of significant individuals. The study suggests that dogs experience a genuine emotional response to their owners, much like humans do in similar social contexts.

10:03

🤝 The Bond Between Dogs and Humans: Oxytocin and Beyond

The third paragraph discusses the bond between dogs and humans, emphasizing the role of oxytocin, often referred to as the 'love hormone.' This hormone is released in both dogs and humans during eye contact, touch, and play, suggesting a mutual enjoyment and bonding experience. Brian Hare, an evolutionary anthropologist, has created a website called Dognition to help dog owners understand and test their dogs' cognitive abilities. The website offers insights into various types of intelligence in dogs, such as communication, empathy, cunning, and abstract reasoning. The paragraph also touches on the idea that every dog has the potential to be as remarkable as Chaser, given the right environment and stimulation.

Keywords

💡Chaser

Chaser is a Border Collie who is considered the 'smartest dog in the world' due to her ability to learn and understand over a thousand words. In the video, Chaser demonstrates the cognitive capabilities of dogs, particularly in language comprehension and memory. Her abilities challenge previous assumptions about canine intelligence and showcase the potential for dogs to learn similarly to young children.

💡Inferential Reasoning

Inferential reasoning refers to the ability to understand and deduce information based on indirect evidence or cues. In the video, Chaser and other dogs demonstrate this ability by understanding human gestures, such as pointing to an object, which was previously thought to be beyond the capabilities of most animals. This ability to make inferences is compared to human toddlers, highlighting the advanced cognitive functions dogs possess.

💡Nouns and Verbs

Nouns and verbs are fundamental parts of speech, with nouns representing objects or entities and verbs indicating actions. The video discusses how Chaser understands the difference between these parts of speech and can follow commands that combine them, such as 'take wheel' or 'put paw.' This ability to distinguish and act upon different word types further emphasizes Chaser's remarkable language skills and the potential for dogs to comprehend complex commands.

💡Social Inference

Social inference is the ability to understand and react to social cues and contexts. In the video, dogs are shown to use social inference when responding to human gestures, such as pointing. This skill is linked to how dogs have evolved alongside humans, developing an acute sense of social understanding that allows them to interpret human actions and intentions in ways that even some primates cannot.

💡Caudate Nucleus

The caudate nucleus is a part of the brain associated with reward and pleasure. In the video, Dr. Greg Burns' research reveals that this brain region in dogs activates when they smell their owner's scent, suggesting a positive emotional response similar to that in humans. This finding supports the idea that dogs experience feelings of affection and attachment towards their owners, beyond simple conditioned responses to rewards like food.

💡Oxytocin

Oxytocin is a hormone associated with bonding and affection in humans, often referred to as the 'love hormone.' The video explains that both dogs and humans release oxytocin when they make eye contact, touch, or play, reinforcing the emotional bond between them. This physiological response illustrates how dogs and humans have co-evolved, developing deep emotional connections that are biologically embedded.

💡Border Collie

Border Collie is a breed of dog known for its intelligence and herding abilities. In the video, Chaser, a Border Collie, exemplifies the breed's high cognitive capabilities by learning an extensive vocabulary and performing complex tasks. The breed's natural intelligence and trainability make them ideal for studies on canine cognition and understanding the extent of dogs' learning abilities.

💡fMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging)

fMRI is a neuroimaging procedure that measures brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow. In the video, Dr. Greg Burns uses fMRI to study dogs' brains while they are awake and alert, providing insights into how dogs perceive their owners and respond to different stimuli. This non-invasive method allows researchers to explore canine cognition and emotions more deeply than traditional behavioral studies.

💡Dognition

Dognition is a science-based website created by Brian Hare that allows dog owners to test their pets' cognitive abilities through a series of games. The video describes how this platform helps owners understand various aspects of their dogs' intelligence, such as empathy, communication, and problem-solving skills. Dognition promotes a better understanding of canine behavior and mental abilities, encouraging more enriched interactions between dogs and their owners.

💡Cognitive Research on Dogs

Cognitive research on dogs involves studying their mental processes, such as learning, memory, problem-solving, and language comprehension. The video highlights how recent scientific interest in this area has revealed surprising findings, such as dogs' ability to understand human language and perform inferential reasoning. This research is shifting the perception of dogs from mere pets to complex beings with rich cognitive lives.

Highlights

Dogs have been under-studied compared to other animals like dolphins and apes.

Chaser, a border collie, has been called the smartest dog in the world.

John Pilley, a retired psychology professor, has been teaching Chaser like a child, using toys and language.

Chaser has a vocabulary of over a thousand toy names, three times more than the average toddler.

Chaser's abilities were tested and published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

Chaser understands the difference between nouns and verbs and can combine them.

Chaser's learning is attributed to her ability to make social inferences, similar to human toddlers.

Dogs have shown to be capable of inferential reasoning, a previously unrecognized capability.

Dr. Greg Burns is conducting brain scans on awake, unsedated dogs to study their cognition.

MRI scans show dogs' brains react positively to the scent of their owners, indicating a strong bond.

The caudate nucleus or Reward Center in dogs' brains is stimulated by their owner's scent.

Oxytocin, the 'love hormone', is released in both dogs and humans during interaction.

Brian Hare created 'Dognition', a website for dog owners to test their dog's intelligence.

Dognition helps measure various types of intelligence in dogs, not just one.

Chaser scored highly on reasoning and memory in intelligence tests.

The relationship between humans and dogs has evolved over fifteen thousand years.

There are over 80 million dogs in the United States, outnumbering children.

Transcripts

60 Minutes rewind

human beings have lived with dogs for

thousands of years you'd think that

after all that time we'd have discovered

all there is to know about them but it

turns out that until recently scientists

didn't pay much attention to dogs

dolphins have been studied for decades

apes and chimps as well but dogs with

whom we share our lives were never

thought to be worthy of serious study as

a result we know very little about what

actually goes on inside dogs brains do

they really love us or are dogs just

licking us so they can get fed how much

of our language can they understand

but before you answer we want you to

meet Chaser who's been called the

smartest dog in the world

yeah we're going to Wilfred

good girl good girl good girl 86 year

old retired psychology professor John

pilley and his border collie Chaser are

inseparable we're almost there we're

almost there

you speak speak

do you viewed Chaser as a family pet as

a friend how do you see Chase she's our

child she's a child she's our child a

member of the family yo yes she comes

first

many people think of their dogs as

children but John pilley has been

teaching her like a child as well by

signing names to toys okay chase Billy

has been helping Chaser learn words and

simple sentences take kg he's been

teaching her up to five hours a day

five days a week for the past nine years

my best metaphor is this is a

two-year-old toddler that's how you

think about your dog a two-year-old

toddler yeah she has the capabilities of

a two-year-old chicken chicken chicken

where's chicken he's not kidding yes

good girl those two-year-old toddlers

and tough know about 300 words figure

eight figure eight

good girl that's figure eight chaser's

vocabulary is three times that to tub

she's learned the names more than a

thousand toys and all of those toys add

up wheel yes but you know to show us

chaser's collection pilly brought us to

his back porch so these are all the toys

in here yes

Chicken in here okay is there if I dump

them out please do please do okay there

are 800 cloth animals 116 different

balls and more than 100 plastic toys

1022 toys in all each with a unique name

so Chaser could recognize the names of

every one of these toys that's true

that's true to prove it pilly cataloged

the toys and then over the course of

three years gave Chaser hundreds of

tests like this Jason find Circle find

Circle in every test Chaser correctly

identified 95 percent or more of the

toys

the results were published in a

peer-reviewed scientific journal and a

star was born

Chaser even landed a book deal you too

but John pilley didn't stop with the

names of toys nose kg knows kg knows it

nosy good girl he's taught Chaser that

nouns and verbs have different meanings

it could be combined in a variety of

ways take wheel do it go do it okay out

out Chase take kg do it good good girl

good girl so she's actually

understanding the difference between

take paw putting her paw on something

and putting her nose on something right

and that's what we're demonstrating all

this learning has been possible pilly

says because of a breakthrough Chaser

had when she was just a puppy at certain

point she realized that objects have

names right it was an Insight it came to

her how could you tell that she'd

suddenly have that Insight well it was

in the fifth month and she'd learned

about 40 names and the time necessary to

work with her kept getting shorter and

shorter she was starting to learn words

faster and faster yes it's the closest

thing in animals we've seen to being

like what young children do as they're

learning words Brian Hare an

evolutionary Anthropologist at Duke

University believes Chaser is the most

important dog in the history of modern

scientific research this is very serious

science we're not talking about stupid

pet tricks where people have spent you

know hours trying to just you know train

a dog to do the same thing over and over

what's neat about what chaser's doing is

Chaser is learning tons literally

thousands of new things by using the

same ability that kids use when they

learn lots of words he's talking about

what researchers call social inference a

capability humans like Harrison Luke

acquire around age one okay to

demonstrate the concept hair hides a

ball under one of these two cups hey

looky Guy where is it can you get it can

you get the ball

Luke doesn't know which cup the ball is

under can you get it but when his father

points he makes an inference

you got it so what does that show you so

when kids his age start understanding

pointing it's right when

um the foundations of what lead to

language and culture start to develop

hey it might look simple but when hair

tried the same test with bonobos great

apes he studied for more than a decade

look what happened

bonobos are closest genetic relatives

can't do it you chose the wrong one but

here discovered dogs can you ready all

right I'm gonna hide in one of these two

places this two-year-old Labrador named

sisu has no trouble understanding the

meaning of pointing now she doesn't know

for sure which place that's right

there's no way she could know and I'm

just going to tell her where it is okay

so that's really hard for a lot of

animals and that's what's really special

about dogs is they're really similar to

even human toddlers that's a level of

thinking that people didn't really think

dogs could do right I mean there was no

evidence until the last decade that dogs

were capable of inferential reasoning

absolutely not so that's what's new

that's what's shocking is that of all

the species it's dogs that are showing a

couple of abilities that are really

important that allow humans to develop

culture and language it's not surprising

the dogs share characteristics with

humans after all we've evolved alongside

each other for more than fifteen

thousand years there are now some 80

million dogs in this country more dogs

than children but for all the playing

and petting the companionship we still

know very little about their brains Dr

Greg Burns a physician and

neuroscientist at Emory University has

studied the human brain for more than

two decades but three years ago

questions he had about his own dog

inspired him to start looking at the

canine brain it started out with the

desire to know really what does my dog

think of me I love my dog but do they

reciprocate in any way when they hear

you come home you know they start

jumping around is it just because they

expect you to feed them is this just a

scam by the dogs

our dog just big scammers yeah to try

and answer that question Dr Burns is

doing something scientists have had a

difficult time with he's conducting

brain scans on dogs while they're awake

and unsedated

inside the fmri machine they're trained

to stay completely still how hard is it

to get a dog to do this this represents

probably about three to four months of

training and so most of the dogs take

that long what's around tigger's head

here the scanner makes a lot of noise

it's quite loud and because dog's

hearing is more sensitive than ours we

have to protect their hearing just like

ours so we we put earplugs and ear muffs

and just wrap it all to just keep it in

place okay now we go up

Tigger certainly knows the drill that's

good once in the machine he lies down

and doesn't move

these scans are giving Dr Burns the

first Glimpse at how a dog's brain

actually works so these are slices of

tigger's brand that you're seeing yeah

exactly so we're slicing from top to

bottom we analyze them later to see

which parts increase in response to the

different signals well in the scanner

the dogs smell cotton swabs with

different scents first the underarm

sweat of a complete stranger next the

sweat of their owner as Dr Burns

expected when the dogs sniffed the swabs

the part of their brain associated with

smell an area right behind the nose

activated it didn't matter what the

scent was but it was when the dogs got a

whiff of their owner's sweat that

another area of the brain was stimulated

the caudate nucleus or Reward Center Dr

Burns believes that means the dog is

experiencing more than the good feeling

that comes with a meal it shows the dog

is recognizing somebody extremely

important to them it's the same area in

a human brain that activates when we

listen to a favorite song or anticipate

being with someone we love so just by

smelling the sweat of their owner it

triggers something in a much stronger

way than it does with a stranger right

which means that it's a positive feeling

a positive Association and and that's

something you can prove through MRIs

it's not just I mean previously people

would say well yeah obviously my dog

loves me I see it's tail wagging and it

seems really happy when it sees me right

now we're using the brain as as kind of

the test to say okay when we see

activity in in these reward centers that

means the dog is experiencing something

that it likes or it wants and it's a

good feeling my takeaway from this is

that I'm not being scammed by my dog did

you have that yeah yeah I worry about

that all the time the story will

continue after this

watch YouTube videos of dogs welcoming

home returning service members and it's

easy to see the bond between dogs and

their owners

Ryan Hare says there's even more proof

of that Bond it's found in our

bloodstreams we know that when dogs and

humans make eye contact that that

actually releases what's known as the

love hormone oxytocin in both the dog

and the human

turns out oxytocin the same hormone that

helps new mothers bond with their babies

is released in both dogs and humans when

they play touch or look into one

another's eyes thank you very much what

we know now is that when dogs are

actually looking at you they're

essentially hugging you with their eyes

really yes and so it's not just that

when a dog is making a lot of eye

contact with you that they're just

trying to get something from you it

actually probably is just really

enjoyable for them because they get an

oxytocin or they get an uptick in this

love hormone too all these new

discoveries about dogs have led Brian

Hare to create a science-based website

called dognition where owners can learn

to play games to test their dog's brain

power so you're allowing people to do an

intelligence test for their dog that's

exactly right and the idea though is

that there's not one type of

intelligence we help you measure things

like how your dog communicates how

empathic your dog is is your dog cunning

is your dog actually capable of abstract

thought like reasoning so there are

different kinds of intelligence for dogs

just like with humans absolutely and so

just like some humans are good at

English and others are good at math it's

the same for dogs when hair tested his

own dog a mixed breed named Tassie he

was surprised Eyes by what he learned

what I found out was that I had somebody

sleeping in my bed that I didn't even

know really and I didn't know my dog

doesn't really rely on its working

memory so if I'm saying sit and stay I

no longer have to wonder why my dog

wanders off he like literally forgot so

your dog's not the sharpest of dogs he

did great on uh communication he's very

communicative so he could basically be a

TV anchor see what you're saying yeah

fetch shirt that's shirt

there we go if you're wondering how

Chaser did on Brian Harris intelligence

test she was off the charts on reasoning

and memory

not surprising perhaps considering

Chaser is a Border Collie dogs bred

specifically for their ability to

understand how Farmers want their sheep

herded is Chaser just like an Einstein

of dogs so that's really fun is Chasers

somehow special and I think the idea

actually is that no I mean when uh Dr

pilley chose Chaser he just randomly

took her out of a litter

what's special is that he spent so much

time playing these games to help him

learn words but are there lots of

Chasers out there absolutely on your

mark

get set go

there's going to be a lot of people who

see this and are jealous of your

relationship with Chaser I mean I now

think about my own dog and kind of think

wow I've

I've missed the boat I haven't sort of

helped my dog live up to her potential

well uh start working with your dog more

yeah you're so sweet