A playful dog could indicate that your furry friend may be a genius.
Experts compared a group border collies that were gifted to ordinary dogs.
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Gifted dogs are able to quickly learn names and remember them for up to two months.
Border collies are one of the most gifted breeds when it comes to word recall.
Researchers therefore asked owners to complete questionnaires analysing the personality of their dogs.
One major difference was found between gifted and average dogs: playfulness.
“We restricted our investigation to Border collies because most of the Gifted Word Learners belong to this breed,” Claudia Fugazza, from the Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary toldInverse.
“This study finds a relationship between extreme levels of playfulness and giftedness in word learning.”
However, scientists are still unsure of the reason.
Finding the cause is “difficult”, Fugazza said.
Experts speculate that the environment in which dogs learn words could be one reason.
However, more research is necessary to confirm it.
Another interesting observation is the fact that dogs who are playful tend to make eye contact with people a lot quicker.
“It could be a genetic trait or this extreme playfulness could be environmentally enhanced by the frequent playful interactions with the owner,” Fugazza added.
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