By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter by Amanda Gardner
healthday Reporter

–
20 mins ago

MONDAY, Aug. 10 (HealthDay News) — According to accumulating
research, the beloved family dog is really a toddler with a snout and
tail.

"Dogs basically have the developmental abilities equivalent to a human
2-year-old," said dog expert Stanley Coren, who was scheduled to present
recent canine research developments at the American Psychological
Association annual meeting this week in Toronto.

The average dog can learn 165 words, although "super dog" Rico, a
border collie, could understand 200 spoken words. Experts think some dogs
can learn up to 250 words.

Dogs can count up to four or five and can correct you if you
can't add one plus one.

One dog apparently learned to "read."

via news.yahoo.com for MORE

Normally, I expect this to be the sign-off story on NPR's April 1 edition.

That not being the case, no problem.

It is pretty remarkable, interesting, and encouraging for dog lovers.

There is a difference between dogs and two year olds, however. In one year, the two year old will have the functional capacity of a three year old and the dog will be stuck at two.