In Shany Dror's study, super-smart canines had 90% accuracy in fetching toys whose names they learned directly or overheard; ...

The second occurred in the “overhearing” condition, where the dog watched as the primary caretaker talked to another family ...

These “Gifted Word Learner” (GWL) dogs can learn names for objects by overhearing exchanges between members of their human ...

According to the team, these findings suggest a dog’s ability to learn from overheard speech may rely on brain mechanisms ...

Overall, the gifted dogs performed just as well when learning from overheard speech, as when they were directly taught.

Most dog training relies on direct instruction—pointing at a ball and repeating the word “ball” until the association is made ...