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.