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Hello all! I have a quick question. A friend mentioned lately that my GSP Hannah has "big vocabulary" meaning she understands many commands and even certain words in conversations NOT directed at her ( i.e. walk, cabin, toenails, lake and Scout-- the neighbor dog) My question is, do GSPs as a breed generally understand more? Does anyone have other breeds and what has been your experience with their "vocab"? I should note that I am a reading teacher and am prone to using more words than necessary so maybe my poor dog HAD to learn extra words. LOL
Doubtful! GunSmoke is very smart as far as I'm concerned, but when I call for Dixie (i.e. the Rotty), along comes GS to sit as dutifully as the one called and commanded.
I have two GSPs and I believe they are smarter than most breeds. My oldest is amazing. I truly believe that she reasons things out, sometimes wonderfully and sometimes...well not what I expect. I have had many different breeds over my lifetime, and I have to say my GSPs have been quick learners and have vast vocabularies. Their intelligence is one of the things that makes them so special.
My oldest has exhibited her intelligence from day one. She can even differentiate between two similar commands (wait and stay). I use stay on long sits and down when I don't want her to do anything else. Wait means to stay, but expect another command. I am training her in obedience for her CDX and I use wait when retrieving the dumbbell. Also, if I tell her to stay and then walk off I have jerked my arm several times as she is solid on the stay unless I release her. She doesn't budge, thus the arm tug. I also work both my girls together and precede commands with their name. When I do that they know what I want them to do. So when I say Bellez (my oldest dogs name) sit, Belle will sit. Halo (my younger dog) knows she has to continue with whatever command I gave her. When I work them by themselves they are smart enough to figure out I that I am talking to them without using their name first. z
Exceptionally bright dogs, with (in my opinion) a clear ability to think.