Chaser_Unlocking the Genius of the Dog Who Knows a Thousand Words

by John W. Pilley

  U: Ugly, Umbrella, Uncle Fuzz, Unicorn, Upstairs, USA

  V: Valentine, Vampire, Vest, Volley, Voodoo, Voyageur

  W: Wagon Wheel, Wags, Walrus, Water Ball, Water Bowl, Weenie Ball, Whale, Whass Up, What’s Up Doc, Wheel, Whirlwind Ball, Whiskers, White Moose, Whitey Ball, Wiggle Worm, Wiggly, Wimpy, Windy, Winnie, Winter Bunny, Wise Owl, Witch, Wizard, Wofford Ball, Wolverine, Woof, World, Word, Wossamotta, Wow, Wrestler

  X: Xmas Tree, XO

  Y: Yellow Ball, Yonacom

  Z: Zebra, Zebra 2, Ziro, Zocher, Zombie, Zoo

  Acknowledgments

  In science, changing one detail of an experiment can change the outcome significantly. Many people have contributed to Chaser’s story. Without the involvement of each of them, that story could not have unfolded as it has. I am sorry I cannot name every one of them here, but my thanks go to them all.

  My thanks in particular go first to Wayne West of Flint Hill Farm in Pauline, South Carolina, who bred Chaser following the humble principle of all good breeders: “Breed the best to the best, and hope for the best.” That practice and hope certainly came to fruition in Chaser. Wayne and his wife, Kay, then graciously opened their gates to Chaser and me so that she could learn to herd sheep as well as words.

  I also have to thank Wayne for our years of friendship before Chaser became a member of the Pilley family, and for introducing me to his fellow trainer David Johnson. My thanks go to both Wayne and David for sharing with me their deep understanding and love of dogs, and especially of Border collies. I have gained an enormous amount of knowledge and inspiration from Wayne and David over the years.

  When my wife, Sally, and I brought Chaser into our family as an eight-week-old puppy, we also introduced her to our surrounding neighborhood in the Cleveland Heights area of Spartanburg, South Carolina. I have to thank the Ya-Yas—Sally and our neighbors Miss Lucy, Nora Tindel, Marie Nigro, and Theresa Lassiter—for the positive spirit they have nurtured in the neighborhood, making it a wonderful environment for Chaser.

  Special thanks for behind-the-scenes help and support, in South Carolina or New York City, go to the Drill family (Liz and Mike and their daughter, Stella), Joyce Radeka and Frank Hodges, John Lane and Betsy Teeter, Peter Lerangis and Tina deVaron, and Rudy Williams.

  Thanks for logistical help of various kinds to Samantha Elliott of Lucky Dawg Pet Services in Spartanburg, PS9 Pet Supplies and Priti Punjabe of Dog Addiction in Brooklyn, and Lisa Whittaker Williams of American Express Online Travel and Betsy of Delta Airlines customer service.

  Thanks to the Wofford College official photographer Mark Olencki and the photographers Dana Cubbage and Sebastien Micke for their beautiful pictures of Chaser.

  My journey in science began in graduate school at Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis), and I want to thank the psychology professors Jim McCann, Jerry Boone, Sam Morgan, William Sewell, Bob Morrison, and especially Frank Leeming, my thesis advisor, for their mentoring, friendship, and contagious enthusiasm for research.

  I was extremely lucky to spend my teaching and research career as a member of the Psychology Department of Wofford College. Wofford’s philosophy of teaching the whole person, fostering interdisciplinary collaborations among faculty and student-faculty interactions inside and outside the classroom, has made it a community for creative learning in both science and the humanities. My thanks to all my colleagues and students over the years, who taught me much more than I could possibly teach them.

  Wofford has kept its gates open to me as a professor emeritus and welcomed Chaser at my side, providing space for our learning-via-play sessions and making it possible for students to assist me as volunteers. The involvement of Wofford students in my research with Chaser has been one of the joys of the journey for Sally and me, as well as Chaser. I thank Katie Grainger, Lindy Pense, Elizabeth Leventis, Katherine Chrismer Bavin, Caroline Reid, and Alissa Williams for their enthusiastic and valuable help in training Chaser and testing her learning. Through their interactions with Chaser, they all won special places in her heart, and I thank them most of all for that.

  A special thank-you to Allyson Gibson Anderson for rescuing Chaser in a moment of great danger, as chapter 5 describes. Sally and I will always be grateful for your fast feet and fast thinking!

  My former student and my successor in Wofford’s Psychology Department, Alliston K. Reid, has been a member of our extended family practically since I first met him during his sophomore year at Wofford. I am fortunate to have had him as coauthor on our Behavioural Processes paper on Chaser’s learning during the first three years of her life, and as a colleague for helpful discussions throughout Chaser’s development and training. But those are simply the most recent links in the chain of our friendship that I have to be grateful for. Thank you, Alliston.

  Thanks also go to Alliston and our Wofford colleague John Lane for helpful comments on the manuscript of this book.

  Thanks to the news and information director at Wofford College, Laura Corbin, for her help responding to the avalanche of media requests following the online publication of the Behavioural Processes paper. You were a godsend, Laura.

  Shortly after reading his open-minded critique of a study of the Border collie Rico’s word learning, I e-mailed the Yale University psychologist Paul Bloom with the first of many questions about childhood language learning. Professor Bloom apparently doesn’t sleep, because he responded to every e-mail—no matter when I sent it—within an hour. I owe Professor Bloom thanks for his unfailing patience and generosity in discussing how animals might demonstrate the same understanding of words that toddlers do. I also learned a great deal from his 2000 book, How Children Learn the Meanings of Words.

  Clive Wynne, editor in chief of Behavioural Processes, gave Alliston and me the crucial opportunity we needed to present Chaser’s learning in a rigorously peer-reviewed article. Clive became a valued colleague for discussion of my experiments with Chaser and of canine intelligence, and I am grateful to him and to Nicole Dorey and Monique Udell, his fellow researchers at the University of Florida and at Wolf Park in Battle Ground, Indiana, for sharing insights from their studies of wolves and domestic dogs.

  Clive also brought Chaser to the attention of Nova scienceNow producer and writer Julia Cort. Thanks to Julia and to Neil deGrasse Tyson for the scientific rigor and the sense of fun and human engagement with which they documented Chaser’s learning for a national television audience. Thanks as well to Eileen Campion, publicity consultant to Nova scienceNow, and her assistant, Vicky, who arranged for Chaser to appear on NBC’s Today Show and ABC World News on the day that Nova scienceNow’s “How Smart Are Animals?” program premiered. I am grateful to Matt Lauer of Today and Diane Sawyer of ABC World News, and their respective staffs, for the warm welcomes they gave Chaser and their sensitivity in showcasing her learning.

  An enormous salute goes to my literary agent, Steve Ross of Abrams Artists Agency, for his belief, patience, and wisdom in seeing the book from inception to fruition. With his background as a highly successful editor and publisher, Steve saw the big picture of this book before I ever envisioned it and has been an invaluable source of support, insight, and advice at every step of the way. Thanks also to Steve’s able assistant, David Doerrer.

  At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the publisher Bruce Nichols championed the book from day one. Courtney Young, senior editor, played an essential role in the book’s development with a super combination of editorial support, insight, and creativity, and then expertly coordinated every element of the book’s entry into the world. Alison Kerr Miller sensitively and deftly copyedited the book with painstaking thoroughness and attention to detail. I also want to thank Naomi Gibbs, Laura Brady, Chrissy Kurpeski, Martha Kennedy, Ayesha Mirza, and Megan Wilson for their respective editorial, production, design, marketing, and publicity contributions to launching the book.

  I don’t know where to begin to thank my co-writer, Hilary Hinzmann. I had no idea how he was going to shap
e our lengthy discussions in person and via Skype into some semblance of a readable book. His patience, eloquence, encouragement, talent, and dedication have made him a true collaborator, sounding board, problem solver, and friend. Somehow he managed to get inside my head, capture my voice and perspective, and put it all on the page. Whenever I voiced doubt as to how we were going to pull off the book and combine the science of Chaser’s learning with the story of my family as I lived it, I heard him chuckle on the other end of the line and in his deep resonant voice say, “We’ll get there, John.”

  Hilary, job well done beyond my wildest expectations.

  From the start, Chaser’s story has also been my family’s story, and I can never sufficiently express my gratitude to them. Without the belief and assistance of my older daughter, Robin, I probably would have given up trying to publish my findings with Chaser in a peer-reviewed journal. In my bleakest moments of frustration and perspiration, Robin told me that Chaser’s learning had profound implications and would have worldwide impact. She encouraged me to persevere and was instrumental in arranging my collaboration with Alliston Reid on the paper that eventually brought Chaser to the attention of other scientists, the media, and dog lovers around the world. Robin’s unwavering vision has continued to light the way for me throughout the writing of this book.

  As work on the book began, my younger daughter, Debbie, served as my executive producer, so to speak, bringing to bear the artistry, organizational skill, and attention to detail that distinguish her work as a successful pianist, singer, composer, arranger, and record producer. As the book took shape over the winter and spring of 2013, she became a second co-writer, and I will always cherish the creative teamwork that Debbie, Hilary, and I achieved.

  It has been a blessing that I have been able to collaborate with Robin and Debbie on Chaser’s story. Their brilliance shines forever in my heart.

  To Debbie’s husband, Jay Bianchi, I owe great thanks for donating Deb to assist me on the book. Sally and I also appreciate his forging through his allergies to bond with the Pilley dogs throughout his and Deb’s marriage. His humor and graciousness warm our hearts. God bless you, Jay, for past, present, and future sneezes!

  Thanks to Aidan Bianchi, Sally’s and my beloved grandson, for being a joyful playmate to Chaser, her best friend and partner in crime, and our young legacy to carry the torch forward, whether it is in science, computers, music, or martial arts. Always follow your bliss, Aidan.

  Of course, it was Sally who brought Chaser into our family. Sally’s love and compassion have always nurtured Robin, Debbie, me, and all our dogs and other animals. And her instinctive wisdom for living has grounded me and set me straight whenever I have been carried away with a foolish notion or knotted up in myself. Her sparkling eyes and radiant smile still make my heart skip a beat. I can’t believe she chose me almost sixty years ago, and still chooses me. I am a lucky man, and I hope I have succeeded in sharing at least a portion of my luck with readers through this book.

  JOHN W. PILLEY

  I would like to thank Madeleine Morel of 2M Communications and Steve Ross for teaming me with John; everyone at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; and Janice Mann, Michael McGarrity, and Mimi McGarrity for helpful comments on the manuscript. Thanks to the Pilley and Bianchi families for opening their homes and hearts to me, and to Chaser for welcoming me into her world of learning by playing. Thanks most of all, John, for the opportunity to work with and learn from you.

  HILARY HINZMANN

  Index

  ABC (American Broadcasting Company), [>]–[>], [>]

  ABCs (antecedents, behaviors, and consequences), [>], [>]

  ABC World News, [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>]

  Abelev, Maxim, [>], [>]–[>]

  Abilene Christian College, [>]

  actions

  direct imitation of, [>]

  fixed action patterns, instinct, [>]

  performing multiple actions with same object on command, [>]

  See also commands; imitation, learning by

  agility training, [>]

  Akeamamai (bottlenose dolphin), [>], [>]

  Alex (parrot), [>]

  Allen, Arthur

  on being a full partner with your dog, [>]

  on the Border collie “eye,” [>]–[>]

  Border Collies in America, [>], [>]–[>]

  on Border collies’ reasoning ability, [>]–[>]

  popularizing Border collies in the United States, [>]

  training of Nickey, [>]

  on trusting Border collies’ instincts, [>]

  See also Arizona Sheepdog (movie); Nick/Nickey (Border collie); Old Tweed (Border collie); Rock (Border collie)

  American Kennel Club (AKC), obedience exercises, [>]

  American Psychological Association. See APA (American Psychological Association)

  anecdotal evidence, scientific skepticisms about, [>]

  Animal Cognition (journal), [>]–[>]

  animal learning experiments

  and animals’ ability to draw inferences, [>], [>]

  and field experience, anecdotal evidence, [>]

  procedures, [>], [>], [>], [>], [>]

  and search for general principles of learning, [>]–[>]

  using Blue and Timber, [>]

  using Yasha and Grindle, [>]–[>], [>], [>], [>], [>]

  See also Clever Hans effect; operant learning/conditioning; testing; Blue; Grindle; Timber; Yasha

  Annie (Mutt), [>]–[>]

  antecedents, behaviors and consequences (ABCs), [>], [>]

  APA (American Psychological Association) conference, Washington, D.C., [>]–[>]

  aptitudes, aligning ambitions with, [>]

  Arizona Sheepdog (movie), [>]–[>], [>]

  attention-seeking behaviors, [>]

  Ayers, Mike, [>]

  ball, as common noun, teaching Chaser to recognize, [>]–[>], [>]. See also common nouns

  Barcelona Zoo, Snowflake at, [>]–[>]

  “bark” command, [>]

  beach ball, Chaser’s game with, [>]

  behavioral change, and non-reinforcement, [>]–[>]

  behaviors

  inhibiting, approach to, [>]–[>]

  instinctual, components, [>]

  learning, starting at the end, [>]

  See also instincts, instinctual behaviors; training

  Behavioural Processes (journal), Pilley-Reid paper in, [>], [>], [>]–[>]

  Ben (Border collie), [>]

  Beowulf, [>]

  Bianchi, Aidan, [>], [>]–[>], [>], [>], [>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>], [>], [>]–[>]

  Bianchi, Jay, [>], [>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>]

  Big Corky, Green River, South Carolina, [>]–[>]

  Billy (cat), [>]

  Bimbo (German shepherd mix), [>]–[>], [>], [>]

  bin, dropping toys into, [>]–[>], [>], [>]–[>], [>]

  Bloom, Paul

  on ability of dogs to learn categories, [>]

  on children’s learning vs. dogs,’ [>]

  on the Clever Hans effect, [>]

  criticisms of the Rico study, [>], [>]–[>], [>], [>]–[>]

  Blue (Siberian husky), [>]–[>], [>]–[>]

  “Blue,” teaching Chaser to identify, [>]

  body language

  Chaser’s, [>], [>], [>]

  dogs’ ability to read, [>], [>], [>]

  as trigger for animal response, [>]

  See also Clever Hans effect

  bonobos, [>], [>]

  “Border Collie Comprehends Object Names as Verbal Referents” (Pilley and Reid), publication and response, [>]–[>]

  Border collies, [>]–[>], [>]–[>]

  athleticism, [>]

  bonding with people, [>], [>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>]

  capacity for creative learning, [>], [>], [>], [>]–[>], [>], [>]

  coat color, [>]

  common commands used with, [>]

  dedication to herding work, [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>]

 
devotion shown by, [>]

  the “eye,” [>], [>]–[>]

  focus on last word spoken, [>]

  herding instinct, [>], [>], [>], [>]–[>]

  life span, [>]

  listening ability, [>]

  need to work, [>], [>]

  physical appearance, [>]

  problem-solving skills, [>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>]

  sensitivity to speech and tone of voice, [>], [>], [>]

  skill at working with humans, [>], [>]

  from West’s Flint Hill Farm, [>]

  Border Collies in America (Allen), [>], [>]–[>]

  “Border Collie Takes Record for Biggest Vocabulary” (Griggs), [>], [>]–[>]

  Bott, Chris, [>]

  brain injury and language acquisition, [>]

  Brand, Russell, [>]

  Brooklyn, New York, [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>], [>], [>]

  Call, Josep, [>]

  Campion, Eileen, [>]–[>]

  “Can a Dog Learn Nouns, Verbs, Adverbs, and Prepositions?” (Pilley), [>]–[>], [>]. See also “Border Collie Comprehends Object Names as Verbal Referents”; “Collie Demonstrates Referential Understanding”

  categories

  instinctive understanding, [>]–[>]

  toddlers’ understanding of word categories, [>], [>], [>], [>]

  See also common nouns

  Chaser (Border collie)

  appearance, [>]–[>]

  eagerness for interaction/friendship with people, [>]–[>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>]

  as family member, [>]–[>], [>], [>]–[>], [>]

  online news about, viral spread, [>]

  “Chaser and Her Toys: What a Dog Teaches Us About Cognition” (Pilley), [>]

  chasing

  of cars, training Chaser to stop, [>