Sure you’ve seen “My child is an honor student” bumper stickers, but have you ever seen one reading, “My dog is gifted”?
While Mensa mutts might seem far-fetched, a team at Budapest’s Eötvös Loránd University says they’re not pulling your leg.
The team was able to determine that dogs can project a “multi-modal mental image” of objects — which is how they’re able to find their favorite toy, even if they can’t see it right in front of them.
Through experimentation, they determined that dogs can picture the shape, size, and smell of their favorite squeaky or bone and set about to look for it, even in a pile of others.
Previous studies have shown that most dogs have the vocabulary of a 2-year-old human, meaning they know around 165 words and hand gestures. But the scientists at the university’s Family Dog Project say there are Gifted Word Learner dogs that can know up to 215.
Furthermore, these gifted good boys and girls can understand concepts and answer questions such as, “Where is your teddy bear?” according to Dr. Andrea Sommese, one of the lead researchers on the project.