Chaser: Unlocking the Genius of the Dog Who Knows a Thousand Words

Chaser has a way with words. Along with basic nouns like house and tree, she knows the names of more than one thousand toys and can retrieve any of them on command. Now she and her owner, retired psychologist John Pilley, are tackling sentences with multiple grammatical elements and learning behaviors by imitation. Chaser is capable of deductive reasoning and complex problem-solving skills, but she isn’t unique. John’s training methods can be adopted by any dog lover. While sharing the poignant story of raising Chaser, John shows how to incorporate learning into play and more effectively channel a dog’s natural drives. His work with Chaser points us toward a new way of relating to our canine companions that takes into account our evolving understanding of the way animals and humans learn.