The city of Spartanburg in South Carolina (USA), became famous throughout the country thanks to one of its four-legged inhabitants.
A nine-year-old border collie dog named Chaser knew over 1000 words. In addition, he easily distinguished between internal mechanisms and hypotheses, as well as verbs.
Her vocabulary was expanded, and she had the ability to think logically and make appropriate decisions, as it was previously believed, this was only possible for great apes and dolphins.
The dog owed this amazing knowledge to an animal psychologist from Wofford College in Spartanburg, 85-year-old John Pilley, who, after retirement, had been working with the dog every day.
Naturally, the dog did not achieve such incredible success immediately, not in one day. Chaser became famous back in 2011 thanks to an article published in the journal Behavioral Processes.
The dog learned to associate a new word with already familiar ones and was able to classify objects into categories.
“She has a huge thirst for knowledge,” said John Pilley in an interview with MailOnline. “We study with her for five hours a day! Sometimes I already collapse from fatigue, but she doesn’t care.”
“Chaser is the most common dog,” says the psychologist. “I hope that people will be more engaged with their pets, teach them something new. I don’t mean just knowing the words, but just learning about my dog. Find out what makes your dog happy.”
Unfortunately, Chaser passed away in 2019, one year after the death of her owner. However, people remember the dog and her fantastic capabilities.
