Chaser
Unlocking the Genius of the Dog Who Knows a Thousand Words
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Chaser
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Narrated by:
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Peter Powlus
About this listen
The amazing story of a very smart Border collie who is redefining animal intelligence.
Chaser has a way with words. She knows over a thousand of them—more than any other animal of any species except humans. In addition to common nouns like house, ball, and tree, she has memorized the names of more than one thousand toys and can retrieve any of them on command. Based on that learning, she and her owner and trainer, retired psychologist John Pilley, have moved on to further impressive feats, demonstrating her ability to understand sentences with multiple elements of grammar and to learn new behaviors by imitation.
John’s ingenuity and tenacity as a researcher are as impressive as Chaser’s accomplishments. His groundbreaking approach has opened the door to a new understanding of animal intelligence, one that requires us to reconsider what actually goes on in a dog’s mind. Chaser’s achievements reveal her use of deductive reasoning and complex problem-solving skills to address novel challenges.Yet astonishingly, Chaser isn’t unique. John’s training methods can be adopted by any dog lover. Through the poignant story of how he trained Chaser, raised her as a member of the Pilley family, and proved her abilities to the scientific community, he reveals the positive impact of incorporating learning into play and more effectively channeling a dog’s natural drives.
John’s work with Chaser offers a fresh perspective on what’s possible in the relationship between a dog and a human. His story 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.
©2013 John W. Pilley, Jr. (P)2014 Audible Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
What listeners say about Chaser
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ron
- 09-20-21
This book proves how smart dogs really are
Years ago I read that normal dogs can learn a dozen words and a dog who knows 18 or more would be a genius, my wife said that my sons dog knew more than that. She then listed over 24 words that he already knew without any special effort to train him. She could also ask him where I or our son was and he would look in whatever direction we were.
Our next dog who was a border collie mix rescue also knew a lot of words. This book proves that these two dogs were not unusual and the person who wrote that dogs were limited to understanding only a dozen or two words was flat out wrong.
If I get another dog after retirement I know how much he learns is only limited by how much time and effort I put into it,
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Nancy A Lee
- 07-25-20
amazing
If you love dogs and enjoy working with them, you will love this book. Awesome!
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Jake
- 09-11-22
95% The Story of My Life with My Dog, 5% Training
It's a decent book but I feel like it was written for fans of the dog Chaser to learn more about the owner. The content itself has very little to do with training dogs, so just be aware of that before purchasing. There are much better alternatives if you're looking for training advice. There's really nothing specific here that will allow you to train a dog in a similar fashion to Chaser.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Elizabeth
- 04-12-15
Circle of life
As a puppy raiser of 24 dogs from 4 different Service and guide dog organizations, this read was heartwarming to say the least. We really can change the lives of our brave veterans as well as others facing challenges I can't even imagine. It helps us to complete the story , and start over with a new future hero. Thank you.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- cybered27
- 08-16-16
Recommended for those interested in Animal Cognition
As a Cognitive Psychologist, I was very interested in the story of Chaser. Chaser is a border collie, who appeared to learn and understand 1000 words. From a psychological point of view, her story is an interesting one. The reader should be aware, however, that this is not a regular dog story. There are many scientific references. With that in mind, if you are interested in the psychology of animal learning and cognition, you will likely enjoy Chaser. If not, you should probably skip this one.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 03-30-18
Science in a charming tale
The story of Chaser is a story of an aging professors love for animals and science. It gives you an understanding of the field of language learning and problem solving in animals, but all the time feels like a happy story! As a animal lover and scientist myself, I enjoyed this book extremely!
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- duncan koch
- 02-14-22
Fascinating story of k9 capabilities
Loved this fascinating history of the education of a very special dog. The reason I bought the book, however, was for deeper insights into the methodology employed to reach his uncommon level and this was lacking.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- N. Rogers
- 01-18-15
An Inspiring Way to Retire!
The information provided on Chaser and his ability to learn was very interesting to me personally. However, I found the positive influence this project had on the author, Johm Pilley, equally fascinating. Pilley did his extensive work with Chaser in his late 70s, and it is still continuing into his mid-80s. The research, as well as his incredibly strong relationship with his dog, have kept him physically, mentally, and spiritually energized. As a senior citizen who works with active large dogs, I find that very encouraging.
This is a book worth reading for anyone interested in animal intelligence or simply in learning more about dogs as our companions--or both. I enjoyed it and admire Professor Pilley for his impressive dedication to his new career, furthering our understanding of canine language acquisition. In my opinion, he models the perfect "retirement." It sure beats sitting on a beach or lounging on the front porch. He is quite an inspiration.
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18 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
- Roseann Gillespie
- 12-27-16
Great listen especially for a lay person
I greatly enjoy books on animal intelligence and have listened to a few. I enjoyed being on the journey with Dr Pilley as he raised Chaser, but as a animal professional and scienist, I personally I would like to have heard a bit more of the harder science. I have been wondering how we, as a species, are going to prove what all of us that work with animals already know, they are incredibly smart. Furthermore, tend to stuff their head with only things that are useful to them, not things that are useful to us. Dr. Pulley does a great job hammering it home that every thing Chaser does is driven by herding and play. And he covers the methodology well. It was at the right level for my husband who is an animal person but not a fluent in research methodology. I think that was Dr Pulleys intent, and he was very successful.
I would like to caution people that are now tempted to go out and buy a brilliant border collie (and I agree that is a breed especially adept at exhibiting types of intelligence we can understand). But listen to the story carefully. He worked 5 hours a day on language, and 3 with play That is an 8 hour day, in effect, a full time job. If you don't have time in your life for another full time job, please research and consider another breed or a shelterdog. Meanwhlile, enjoy the book.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- sandra williams
- 10-13-22
Great story!
I LOVE dog stories so when I saw this book I just HAD to listen. What an incredible man Dr Pilley was and brought about an amazing animal. I literally cried when I did some additional info searching on what became of them. I felt like I was right in the story.
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