Most of man’s best friends recognize toys by sight or smell — but some particularly gifted dogs can associate their favorite toy with words. FOX13
interchange their senses to recognize and remember familiar objects such as a favorite toy, whether it’s through smell, sight or even associating a word with a corresponding object.
"If we can understand which senses dogs use while searching for a toy, this may reveal how they think about it," explained Shany Dror, one of the leading researchers of this study. "When dogs use olfaction or sight while searching for a toy, this indicates that they know how that toy smells or looks like."
The family dogs consisted of five border collies, one pinscher, one Labradoodle mix, one mutt, one Australian shepherd, and one border terrier and the three gifted dogs were all border collies that have been used in previous studies at the university. Unsurprisingly, all of the dogs were able to retrieve said toy more efficiently and quickly in a well-lit room as opposed to a dark one.