Chaser_Unlocking the Genius of the Dog Who Knows a Thousand Words

by John W. Pilley

  The positive news for all children in this and similar findings is that parents can learn to talk to their young children in a way that facilitates their acquisition of language skills and their general cognitive development. This reminds me of how I formed the hunch that talking to the puppy Chaser throughout the day just as I would speak to a toddler might help her learn basic elements of language. I can’t be sure that all my talking to Chaser as a puppy was beneficial to her subsequent language learning. But I strongly suspect it was.

  With regard to child learning, I was also intrigued by a study showing increased activity in specific brain areas when children learn by imitation. Researchers at the University of Washington announced in the fall of 2013 that they had succeeded in mapping these areas by having toddlers wear caps with electronic sensors. It’s a job for a researcher more technologically adept than I am to fashion such caps for dogs, but it would be fascinating to see if, as I suspect, there is increased activity during imitation learning in the corresponding areas of dogs’ brains.

  There are striking common threads in these studies and my experience with Chaser. What leaps out most strongly, in my view, is the power of social learning and of the implicit conceptual understanding that social learning alone may support. It is fascinating to see social learning occurring even in “nonsocial” animals like tortoises and lizards, with their supposedly primitive “reptilian brains.”

  Two heads really are better than one, especially when they’re joined in empathy and play. Many dog lovers have long felt that their dogs yawn in sympathy with them. A recent University of Tokyo study, reported in the media while the hardcover edition of this book was going to press in August 2013, demonstrated that dogs do indeed “catch” their owners’ yawns and yawn in response. The researchers also found that dogs preferentially catch the yawns of their owners over those of strangers, which is super strong evidence of dogs’ capacity for empathy.

  All these scientific findings reinforce the belief I share early on in the book that sooner or later there will be many Chasers, including both dogs and members of other species that humans bring into their lives as companions, pets, and working partners. The media’s continuing interest in Chaser and readers’ enthusiastic reactions to the book also encourage me to believe this.

  When the book was published in hardcover, it got a really awesome response from bloggers, the media, and readers. One memorable television appearance came when I was under the weather and couldn’t go on Fox and Friends with Chaser. My younger daughter, Debbie, stepped into the void and took Chaser on the show. I was so proud of them both as they demonstrated Chaser’s language training, especially her ability to learn by exclusion with a toy that host Steve Doocy supplied. Articles and blog posts in a wide range of publications and websites, including Dog and Hound, People, Popular Science, Scientific American, the New York Times Sunday Style section, the Huffington Post, Time.com, and WSJ.com, reflected the curiosity that people around the world have about Chaser and her learning.

  Many readers have e-mailed me about the book, but I’d like to share a note that was sent not to me, but to Chaser, through her Facebook page:

  Dear Chaser,

  Just a little note to let you know how much I am enjoying reading about you . . .

  I love the way your Pop-Pop writes about his relationship with you . . . and reading about your work [with Dr. Pilley] helps me train [our new dog] . . .

  Dr. Pilley’s observations about his research with you confirm what I have learned with [my dog] and augment the joy I feel in living and working with this wonderful companion. Thank you for inspiring so many people and dogs . . .

  This is the first fan mail I have ever written, and I am fifty years old and you are a dog.

  Yours very truly,

  Kathryn M.

  It is a great feeling to see from responses like this that the book has clearly communicated Chaser’s story and the principles I followed with her. Occasionally, however, I hear from people who wonder if I have an extra tip up my sleeve I could share with them to use with their dogs.

  I have put more or less all I know about dogs’ learning into telling you about Chaser and showing you how I have interacted with her. The key ideas are all in the anecdotes I share about living and working with Chaser from the day she entered the Pilley family. Use play to motivate your dog’s learning, and capitalize on the energy of play every step of the way you take together. If you want to teach your dog the basic elements of language, begin with play with one named object at a time. Gradually build up your dog’s vocabulary of different types of words. And then work on combining those words into sentences with multiple elements of grammar, like “to Ball, take Frisbee” and “to Frisbee, take Ball.”

  If there’s some other creative learning you want your dog or another animal to acquire, try to do the same things in those areas. Identify the ABC concepts or behaviors the learning requires. Find a way to give those things implicit value in play. And leverage the energy and inherent reinforcement of play to motivate solving a series of increasingly difficult challenges.

  Fundamentally, as I hope this book has shown, there is one thing you must do to explore learning through play with a dog or other animal: respect the other mind involved with you in the process. Remember that communication is a two-way street, and allow for that other mind to influence you and your behavior. I experience this with Chaser every day as we continue trying to extend her learning through play.

  My conscious focus in our various games is on increasing Chaser’s ability to understand sentences with multiple elements of grammar and to learn by imitation combined with verbal and visual cues. However, the mutual conditioning between Chaser and me has become such that it’s often not clear to me who is the teacher and who is the student in determining what games we play and for how long.

  It’s much easier for me to track who is leading whom when someone else is interacting with Chaser. Early in 2014 Anderson Cooper, producers Sumi Aggarwal and Denise Cetta, and a 60 Minutes crew came to visit, and I had to laugh at a conversation between Denise and my older daughter, Robin. We had all just been working together inside for a while, with Chaser cooperating nicely in demonstrating her learning. Robin took Denise to the backyard to see Chaser’s agility course, and Chaser followed with a ball in her mouth. Denise repeatedly asked Chaser to bring the ball to her, but Chaser repeatedly ignored her.

  Denise asked Robin, “What’s going on? Am I not saying it right?”

  Robin said, “Chaser’s not necessarily the most obedient dog. She’s an independent thinker. She’s been doing things our way all morning, and now she wants to do things her way. Right now, she probably wants to play keep-away and have you chase her.”

  Even though she is a mature dog of ten, with a touch of arthritis in one hip, Chaser remains a puppy at heart, an eternal toddler. And like toddlers, her favorite word is “No!” She can’t verbalize it, but she can express it through her behavior. It’s one of many ways in which Chaser shows that dogs think and feel much as humans do.

  Of course, Chaser remembers her obedience lessons from when she was a puppy and we were first teaching her not to run after cars or go into the road for any reason without permission. She respects the gravity of a serious tone of voice, and she immediately responds to an obedience signal with the appropriate behavior in these situations. I tease Robin and Debbie by saying that Chaser’s responses at such times put her way ahead of them when they were willful toddlers. Robin teases me right back by saying the real difference is that I’ve gotten better at working with toddlers.

  Chaser’s learning and the other new findings on animal intelligence point to the fact that we can’t treat ourselves right if we treat animals wrong. It makes me very happy that Chaser has become a landmark personality in our growing understanding of what animals share with humans as thinking, feeling beings. In this connection I love the words of Martin Luther King Jr., who said, “Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, e
specially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.”

  I am glad to see the growth of animal studies as a new academic discipline devoted to understanding the animal-human relationship. Work in animal studies straddles the border between science and the humanities and will, I believe, help establish more common ground between them. I have long believed that fully understanding anything fundamental, in human life or in nature as a whole, requires us to combine three ways of experiencing and knowing the world: science, myth, and poetry. If we don’t have all three, we’re bound to miss something important, and it’s in this spirit that I’ve sought to tell Chaser’s story.

  Sooner or later, there will be many Chasers. Now that Chaser and I are both in our later years, we’re impatient to see other animals follow in her footsteps and perhaps go beyond her. So I hope you’ll seize opportunities for learning through play in your own relationships with dogs and other animals. Who knows? You may be living with a puppy or other creature who can, like Chaser, extend the boundaries of what we thought was possible for animals and expand our understanding of nature and our rightful place in the natural world.

  Please let Chaser and me know about your experiences by writing to us through our website, www.chaserthebordercollie.com. In the meantime, here is a big hurray from me, and a tail wag and a woof from Chaser, for everything that dogs and other animals will help us discover about learning in the years ahead.

  Appendix

  Chaser’s Toys

  This list includes toys whose names Chaser has learned in addition to the 1,022 toys that Alliston Reid and I discussed in our 2011 paper in Behavioural Processes. It also uses my frequently phonetic spellings of names as I have written them on Chaser’s toys.

  A: ABC, Acorn, Afro, Ahab, Aidan, Al Jolson, Alleycat, Alligator, American, Amphibian, Andy, Angel, Ann, Ant, Antler, Ape, Apple, Apple Ball, Applejuice, Arf Arf, Armadillo, Asp

  B: Baa Baa, Babe Ruth, Baboon, Baby, Baby Bear, Baby Clown, Baby Dolphin, Baby Elephant, Baby Moose, Baby Octopus, Baby Panda, Baby Polar Bear, Baby Shoe, Baby Sleeping, Back Door, Back Porch, Bacon, Badger, Bagel, Baker, Balloon, Bambi, Bamboozle, Bar, Barbell, Barker, Barney, Barrell, Baseball, Baseball Player, Basket, Basketball, Bass, Basset Hound, Bat, Batman, Baton, Beach Ball, Beagle, Bean Ball, Bear, Bearing, Beautiful Dreamer, Beauty, Bed, Beep Beep, Bell, Belt, Belzubub, Bench, Benji, Bessie, Bessie 2, Bessie Bee, Bicycle, Big, Big Ant, Big Coke, Big Cotton, Big Elephant, Big Football, Big Frisbee, Big Gator, Big Golfball, Big Holey Ball, Big Pillow, Big Rope, Big T, Bike, Billy Goat, Bimbo, Birdhouse, Black Bear, Blackie, Blanket, Blind, Block, Blondie, Blue Ball, Blue Bird, Blue Frisbee, Boar, Boat, Bob, Bobbing Cork, Bobo, Bomb, Bone, Boney Ball, Bong, Bongo, Boo, Boob, Boomerang, Boot Ball, Boss, Boston, Boston Ball, Bouncy, Bovine, Bow, Bowlegs, Boxer, Boy, Bracelet, Brer Rabbit, Briarpatch, Broken Bone, Brown, Bruin, Brush, Buck, Bucket, Buddha, Buddy, Buffalo, Buffoon, Bugaboo, Bugbox, Bugs Bunny, Bullseye, Bullwinkle, Bumble Ball, Bumble Bee, Bump Ball, Bunny, Bunny 2, Buoy, Burrow, Buster, Busy Bee, Butch, Butterfinger, Butterfly

  C: Cactus, Calf, Calico, Camel, Candy, Cantelope, Cap, Captain Hook, Car, Carp, Carrot, Casanova, Case, Casper, Cat, Cat Ball, Catcher, Caterpillar, Cellphone, Centipede, Cha Cha, Chair, Charlie Brown, Checkers Ball, Cheerleader, Cheese, Cheeseburger, Cheetah Frisbee, Cherry, Chewey, Chewstick, Chi, Chicken, Chicken Little, Chimp, Chimpanzee, China Ball, Chipmunk, Chippy, Choo Choo, Chubby, Chuckit, Chuckles, Cinderella, Circle, Circus Elephant, Cleanipals, Clock, Clodhopper, Cloth, Clothespin, Clown, Clownfish, Club, Cobra, Cobra 2, Cockadoodle Doo, Coffee Table, Coke, Collar, College Ball, Colt, Comeforth, Connor, Cookie, Coon, Coop Ball, Coral Snake, Core, Cork, Corn, Cottontail, Couch, Cow, Cow’s Hide, Cow’s Hoof, Crane, Crawdad, Crawfish, Crawler, Creepy, Croc, Crocodile, Croquet Ball, Crow, Crow K, Crushed Ball, Cry Ball, Crybaby, Crystal Ball, Cub, Cube, Cuddler, Cupid, Curly, Curtain, Cushion

  D: Daddy Longlegs, Daffodil, Daffy, Dairy, Daisy, Dakota, Dapper Duck, Dart, Darwin, Debbie, Decoy, Deer, Demon, Die, Dimples Ball, Dinasaur, Ding Dong, Dinosaur, Doe, Dog, Doggie News, Dolphin, Dominica, Donald, Donkey, Donut, Doddlebug, Dopey, Dora, Dory, Double O, Downstairs, Dozer, Dragnet, Dragon, Drake, Dreamer, Dresser Upper, Drumstick, Duckie, Duckling, Dumbo, Dutchboy, Duvet

  E: E, Ears, Easter Bunny, Easter Egg, Easter Egg Ball, Eel, Eightball, Elephant, Elk, Elmo, Elsa, Ernie the Worm, Eros, Escargots, Ewe, Exotic Bird, Eye

  F: Fan, Farmer, Fatty, Feet, Feline, Felix, Fido, Figment, Fire Hydrant, Fireball, Fireman, Flagball, Flatfoot, Flex, Flintstone, Flip Flop, Flipflopper, Flippity Flop, Flo, Float, Floozy, Floppy Ear, Flyfish, Foam Ball, Foam Rope, Foodbowl, Fool, Fool’s Gold, Foosball, Foot, Football, Forty-Seven Ball, Fox, Frame, Franklin, Frat Rat, Free Willy, French Fries, Fritz, Front Door, Front Porch, Frontline Frisbee, Frosty, Furby, Fuzzy, Fuzzy Frisbee

  G: Game Ball, Gander, Garfield, Gary Giraffe, Genie, Gensing, Geoffrey, Georgia, Ghosty, Ghoul, Giggly Wiggly, Gingerbread, Ginny, Giraffe, Girley, Glass, Globe Ball, Glove, Goat, Godzilla, Gold Ball, Goldfish, Golf, Golf Ball, Goo, Goofy, Goose, Gorilla, Gosling, Gourd, Grass, Grasshopper, Green Ball, Green Snail, Groovy, Groucho, Growl, Grumpy, Gum Gum, Gus

  H: Hair, Half Blue, Halloween, Hamburger, Hammer, Hand, Hand 2, Hankerchief, Happy, Hard Ball, Hare, Harness, Hassock, Hat, Headless, Health, Health Ball, Heart, Heavy Ball, Helen Keller, Helium, Helmet, Henry, Hobby Horse, Hobie, Hog, Ho-Ho-Ho, Holey Ball, Holiday, Holly, Holy Grail, Honeybee, Hoot Owl, Hoppy, Horn, Horse, Horseshoe, Hose, Hot, Hot Dog, Hot Stuff, Hot Tamale, Houdini, Hound, Hubby, Huey, Huggable, Huggers, Hugs and Kisses, Hula Girl, Hula Hoop, Hummingbird, Humpty Dumpty, Husky, Hut Ball, Hypo

  I: Igloo, Iguana, I-Love-You, Indian, Infant, Inky, Insect, I-Wanna

  J: Jack Ball, Jackass, Jackrabbit, Jaguar, Jaguar Ball, Jelly Roll Ball, Jersey Cow, Jester, Jingle Bell, Joe Cool, Joker, Jonah, Joy, Joy-Joy, Jug, Jumbo, Jumpy, Jungleboy, Junior

  K: KG, Kangaroo, Kayak, Keg, Kermit, Key-Key, Kick Ball, King of Jungle, King Snake, Kitty, Kitty Kitty, Klutz Ball, Knife, Knob, Koala Bear, Kong

  L: Ladybug, Lamaze, Lamb, Land Mine, Laughing Bear, Laughter, Leaf, Leash, Leather, Leg, Lemon Ball, Leo, Leopard, Leopard Ball, Lifesaver, Lightning Frisbee, Like-My-Hat, Lion, Lion King, Lips, Lipsey, Lipsmacker, Liquid, Listerine, Little, Little Bouncy, Little Boy Blue, Little Cottonball, Little Elephant, Little Football, Little Goofy, Little Heart, Little Hula Hoop, Little Shark, Lizard, Lobster, Lofanzo, Log, Loggerhead, Logs, Long Rope, Loop, Loudmouth, Love Ball, Lover, Lucky, Lucy

  M: M&M’s, Macaw, Madagascar Ball, Magoo, Maid, Mailbox, Mallard Duck, Mama Bear, Mammy, Man-on-Moon, Marble Ball, Marvel Ball, Mary, Master, Mates, Meow, Mephistopheles, Merlin, Mermaid, Michael the Angel, Mickey, Mickey Mouse, Mighty Mite, Milk Ball, Minnie, Minnie Mouse, Minnow, Mischievous, Miss Moose, Miss Mutton, Miss Piggy, Mister Potato, Mitten, Mmm, Mo, Mo-Mo, Moby Dick, Model T, Mole, Molly, Mom, Mongrel, Monster Ball, Monty, Moo, Moo Cow, Moo-Moo, Moo-Moo-Moo, Moongirl, Moose, Mopsy, Mosquito, Moth, Mother Goose, Mother Rabbit, Mountain Goat, Mountie, Mouse, Mouthy, Mule, Muppet, Muscleman, Music Bear, Mutt

  N: Nemo, Neopets, Nerf, Never Forgets, Night Ball, Ninny Ball, Nipple Ball, Noisy, Noose, Nosey, Nun

  O: Octopus, Odie, Oink, Old Navy, Orangatang, Orange Ball, Orb, Osafa, Oval

  P: Pachaderm, Pad, Pajama Girl, Pajamas, Pancake, Panda, Panty Ball, Paper, Paper Bag, Parachute, Parrot, Party Girl, Pat the Bunny, Patch Ball, Paws, Peachy Ball, Peanut Butter, Peanuts, Peep, Pegasus, Peggy, Pen, Penguin, Peppermint, Pepsi Ball, Perch, Percy, Peter, Peter Rabbit, Phone, Pica, Pickup Truck, Piggy, Piglet, Pigskin, Pigtail, Pillow, Pinky, Pinnochio, Pipe, Pistol, Pixie, Planet, Plate, Platypus, Playmate, Playpen, Plum Ball, Pokemon, Polar Bear, Pole, Polka Dot, Polka Dot 2, Polly, Polo, Poltergeist, Pona, Pony, Poof Ball, Poogie, Pooh Bear, Pooh Pooh, Popcorn, Popeye, Poppy, Porcupine, Porkchop, Porky, Porpooise, Post Ball, Potholder, Powder Puff, Power Ball, Prancer, Precious, Pregnant, P
retty Cat, Pretty Girl, Primate, Prisoner, Prissy, Professor, Propeller, Pu Ball, Pucker, Puddle, Puddy Cat, Puddin, Puff Ball, Puffy, Pug Nose, Pug Nose Ball, Pumpkin, Punching Bag, Punt, Punt Ball, Pup, Puppy, Puppy Love, Purple, Purple Holey Ball, Purse, Pussy Cat, Pyramid

  Q: Quack Quack

  R: Rabbit, Raccoon, Race, Racket, Radar, Raggedy Ann, Rainbow Ball, Rainbow Fish, Raincoat, Ram, Rangaboom, Rattler, Rawhide, Red Ball, Red Dog, Red Riding Hood, Red Rope, Redneck Pheasant, Reebot, Reindeer, Reindeer 2, Rex, Rhino, Rhinoceros, Ribbon Ball, Ringer, Rip Van Winkle, Ripper Frisbee, Road, Roadrunner, Roadster, Roast Pig, Robin, Rocket, Rodent, Rodney, Rolls Ball, Rooster, Rope, RopeBall, Rough, Rough Dog, Royal, Rubber, Rubber Band, Rug, Rugby, Rusty

  S: Sabu, Sadie, Sahara, Sammy, Santa Claus (a.k.a. Santie Claus), Santa Fe, Sassy Ball, Satellite, Scarecrow, Scooby Doo, Scotty, Sea Urchin, Seacow, Seal, Serpent, Shamu, Shark, Sharpei, Sheep Dog, Sheriff, Shnauzer, Shoe String, Shoes, Shorts, Shovel, Shrek, Siamese, Sidewalk, Sieve, Silent Night, Silver, Simba Ball, Simian, Ski Cap, Skinny, Skunk, Sky Ball, Slammer, Sleepy, Sling Ball, Sling Shot, Slipper, Slow Poke, Slug, Small, Smiley Ball, Smokey, Snail, Snakey, Snapper, Snicker Bar, Snoopy, Snow, Snowball, Soap, Soccer Ball, Sock Ball, Socks, Soft, Soft Balloon, Soft Blue, Softball, Softy, Sol, Sonic Ball, Spangle Ball, Spider Monkey, Spiderman, Spie, Spin Ball, Spirit Dog, Splash, Splat, Splat Ball, SpongeBob, Spook, Spoon, Sport Ball, Spot, Spring, Square, Squash, Squeeky, Squid, Squirrel, Squirrel Monkey, Squish Ball, St. Anthony, St. Nick, Stack, Staff, Stag, Stakes, Star, Steps, Stewart Little, Stick, Stick Ball, Stiltz, Story Book, Street, Stripes, Stubborn, Sugar, Sun, Sun Ball, Sunshine, Super Dart, Surf, Surf Ball, Sweatshirt, Sweet Potato, Sweetheart, Sweetie Pie, Swing, Swing Ball, Swing Zocker, Swish, Sylvester

  T: Tadpole, Tangerine, Tank, T-Bone, Team Ball, Tee Shirt, Teen Titan, Teeth Bone, Telephone Pole, Teletubby, Tennis, Tentacle, Terrier, Thimble, Thomas, Tick Tock, Tie Face, Tiger, Timber, Tin, Tin Man, Tinkerbell, Tiny, Toad, Toby, Tomato Ball, Tomcat, Tongue, Tonka, Tony the Tiger, Toothy, Top, Top Cat, Top-It Ball, Tortoise, Towel, Tower, Trapeze, Treadwheel, Treasure Box, Treat, Tree, Triangle, Trigger, Trouble, Truck, Trunk, Tubby, Tube, Tug, Tunnel, Turbo, Turquoise, Turtle, TV, Tweetie Bird, Twins, Twirly, Twister, Tyco, Tyrannisaurus