What Pets Want You to know ...

Science continues to uncover your animal's most fascinating Secret

- Krista Carothers and Jen McCaffery

DOGS

1. I’m basically a toddler.

“The secret to understanding dog behavior is that the average dog has a mind that’s equivalent to that of a human two-to-two-and-ahalf-year-old,” Stanley Coren, PhD, a professor emeritus in the psychology department at the University of British Columbia, told Psychology Today. On average, dogs comprehend about 165 words, so they can follow a bit more than just “walk” and “treat.” They’re also most likely to learn words associated with objects or activities, as opposed to words associated with emotions, such as “Good doggy!”

2. But there are a few top dogs.

“Superdogs”—those in the top 20 percent of the intelligence spectrum—are a little closer to human three-year-olds, and they can understand more than 250 words. “Every now and then, you get a Mozart or Dickens of dogs who can understand 1,000 words,” Coren says. Psychologist John Pilley’s border collie, Chaser, showed knowledge of the names of 1,022 objects, according to a study Pilley published in Behavioural Processes in 2011. “But John worked with her four hours a day, like Mozart’s dad,” says Coren.

3. I need to get out in the world.

Young dogs that don’t meet people or other dogs tend to grow up fearful and aggressive. Before they are six months old, puppies should meet 150 people and visit 50 different places. “It doesn’t have to be Zanzibar,” Coren says. “It can be rooms that are very different, machine shops, parking lots, whatever.”

4. I’ll tell you when I’m lonely.