Rico the Collie knows 200 ways to fetch
Research confirms dog's `vocabulary'
`In this task, he's as smart as kids'
PHILIP BLENKINSOP
REUTERS NEWS AGENCY
BERLIN?A border collie that scientists say may be proof that dogs truly understand human language laps up media attention, but lets his owners do the talking.
Rico, who outshone all human competitors in a popular German TV talent show, remembers the names of more than 200 objects and can figure out which item his master wants ? even if he has never heard the word before.
German researchers who have studied Rico for several years concluded the 10-year-old dog uses the process of elimination to determine that a name he'd never heard before refers to a toy he'd never seen before.
"This is called `fast-mapping,' which was thought to be exclusively human. It is how children learn the meanings of new words," said biologist Julia Fischer. "In terms of this task, he is as smart as kids are.''
"Nobody thought this could be done by an animal,'' said Fischer of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, who helped conduct the research published in today's issue of the journal Science.
As researchers enthused at a news conference yesterday about the significance of Rico's mental skills, he lay nearly motionless under a table ? until a toy crocodile appeared.
Then he barked, awaited instructions and shook the relevant toy for photographers and reporters.
"He just loves the cameras. He only has to hear a shutter opening to react," said Witold Krzeslowski, husband of Rico's owner Susanne Baus of Dortmund.
Rico developed his skills while recuperating for nearly a year after a shoulder operation, with Baus trying to engage his mind and let his body rest.
"At the start it was three to four objects, but it's risen to 200 or 250," she said. "I don't know what the limit might be, but we've now run out of space."
Rico won the German Wetten Dass (Wanna Bet?) TV program for weird talents five years ago and went on to be voted the best performer in 20 years.
But would-be collie owners be warned: Krzeslowski said "it can be hard to come home and get on with work. You first have to play `fetch' with 20 objects."
Co-author Juliane Kaminski said: "Is Rico a genius of a dog or is this a learning ability that many dogs have, or even all dogs?"
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