Border collies: "Super dogs" of the species

By Sheilah Downey

Dogs can understand more than 150 words and have the mental capabilities of a two year old, says dog expert Dr. Stanley Coren.

My dog eats toilet paper.

Coren spoke at the American Psychological Association's annual meeting this weekend, positively brimming with the exceptional attributes dogs possess.

"Their stunning flashes of brilliance and creativity are reminders that they may not be Einsteins but are sure closer to humans than we thought," he said in a APA news release.

My dog rolls in horse dung.

Author of more than a half-dozen books on dogs, including "How Dogs Think," Coren says dogs have the ability to solve complex problems and are more like humans and other higher primates than previously thought.

My dog thinks our cat is a dog.

Then there are the "super dogs," says Coren, those in the top 20 percent of dog intelligence, who can learn 250 words.

"The upper limits of dogs' ability to learn language is partly based on a study of a border collie named Rico who showed knowledge of 200 spoken words and demonstrated the 'fast-track learning,' which scientists believed to be found only in humans and language-learning apes," he stated.

My dog is NOT Rico.