- Fernie, a two-year-old chocolate Labrador, serves as an inspiration to children in a primary school by showing them he can ‘read’
- Fernie can read the words “sit”, “down”, “roll over” and “spin” and act it out correctly
- Rosie Barclay, from the Association of Pet Behavior Counsellors, said she is also unsure as to how Fernie has learned to “read”
BRISTOL, England – An incredible dog serves as an inspiration to children in a primary school by showing them he can ‘read’.
Ross Logan and Charlie Moore identified the dog as Fernie, a two-year-old chocolate Labrador, in their article for The Mirror published on February 12.
Fernie was introduced to classes at Winford Primary School near Bristol as part of a national scheme to give children motivation and confidence in their studies.
From the beginning of the school year, Fernie has also learned a few things himself, including recognizing certain flashcards.
An article by Andrew Levy for Mail Online published on February 13 said that Nik Gardner, the 38-year-old owner and headmaster, showed how Fernie can read the words “sit”, “down”, “roll over” and “spin”.
A video showing Gardner silently holding up one of the four written commands while Fernie correctly responds to the written word had emerged online and is leaving the online users amazed.
Rosie Barclay, from the Association of Pet Behavior Counsellors, said she is also unsure as to how Fernie has learned to ‘read’.
“It’s hard to say exactly how Fernie is doing it. There are lots of ways to teach a dog to perform a behavior,” Barclay said.
“Sometimes how the paper is held or other subtle movements or words act as a cue when the dog learns that if it performs a certain behavior it might receive a reward,” she added.
Photo Credit: The Telegraph
The Telegraph mentioned Barclay in an article published on February 12 as saying that the dog might be showing what is known as the Clever Hans effect; named after a German horse that was said to be able to perform arithmetic.
Clever Hans effect insinuates that the animal doesn’t follow what the trainer is asking but was actually responding directly to cues in the body language of the human trainer.
“Dogs are great at picking up tiny cues from us that predict that we will act in a certain way,” Barclay explained.
“Studies at Lincoln University have shown that dogs do not tend to distinguish objects by shape even though they can differentiate amounts of things such as food,” she added.
Barclay further explained that if Fernie is taking cues from his owner, he may not be able to “read” if someone else showed him the cards and the owner is out of the room.
“But at the end of the day it doesn’t matter if he’s not really reading – the children are gaining a great deal of motivation by having him around,” Barclay said.
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