拉布拉多犬會算加減乘除平方根

Labrador Retrievers are known for their hunting skills and friendly dispositions, but Beau, a black Lab who lives in Montana, is winning acclaim for his math abilities。

Owner David Madsen says if he tells Beau there are six dogs at the park and three dogs leave, and then asks him how many are left, the dog replies: "Woof, woof, woof."

"He counts, he adds and subtracts, he can do some division and has memorized square roots," Madsen said。

Beau has achieved a degree of celebrity for his counting skills, becoming a star on visits to shops, restaurants and cabins in the Flathead Lake resort in Montana where the Madsen family spends summers。

拉布拉多犬成數學明星

Madsen, a retiree of AT&T, adopted the puppy a dozen years ago and began teaching him math basics when he showed signs of being intelligent。

He taught Beau to count using dog biscuits, laying out a handful and rewarding the dog when the number of his barks corresponded to the number of treats。

"He caught on that rewards were associated with the correct number of barks. I've had dogs all my life, but this dog is different. He's super smart, and the accuracy rate is about 85 percent of the time," Madsen said。

As a puppy, Beau invented games and crafted intricate strategies to avoid capture, he said。

Brandon Bretz, manager of Bretz RV and Marine in Missoula, Montana, said he recently watched Beau in action。

"A group of us were standing there and Dave asked Beau, ‘how many girls are here?' There were two and Beau barked twice, next, Dave asked, ‘how many boys?' Beau barked five times even though there were only four guys." Bretz said。

"Then it dawned on us. Beau is a boy, and he was counting himself. That dog is on the up and up," he said。

Bretz has booked Beau as guest speaker for his company's annual customer appreciation barbecue。據路透社8月17日報道，拉布拉多犬以精湛的獵捕技能和溫和的性情而著稱，不過，蒙大拿州一條名叫“寶兒”的黑色拉布拉多犬卻因其數學才能贏得了人們的喜愛。

寶兒的主人大衛•麥德森說，如果問它公園裏原來有6只狗，走了3只，還剩幾隻，它就會“旺、旺、旺”地叫三聲。

麥德森說：“它會數數、加減法、除法，甚至還能記住平方根。”

由於寶兒的算術技能，它幾乎成了“名人”。在麥德森一家避暑的蒙大拿州弗拉特黑德湖度假勝地，無論是在那裏商店還是在餐廳或船艙裏，寶兒都是個明星。

麥德森是美國電話電報公司的一位退休職工，12年前，他領養了寶兒。當麥德森發現寶兒聰慧的潛質後，就開始教它基礎算術。

他用狗食餅乾教寶兒數數。他拿出一把餅乾，如果寶兒叫的次數和出示的餅乾數一致，它就能得到這些餅乾作爲獎勵。

麥德森說：“它知道獎勵與正確的吠叫次數有關係。從小我養過不少狗，但這只不同，它特別聰明，運算準確率在85%左右。”

當寶兒還是隻幼犬時，它就“自創”了一些遊戲，還精心設計複雜的策略以免被逮到。

蒙大拿州米蘇拉市畢捷房車與海運公司經理布蘭登•畢捷說，他最近親眼見識了寶兒的能力。

畢捷說：“我們一羣人站在那兒，大衛問寶兒，‘這兒有多少女士’，它叫了兩聲，因爲有兩個，然後，大衛又問，‘有多少男士’，寶兒叫了5聲，但這兒只有4個男的。”

“後來我們才明白，寶兒是條公狗，它把自己也算進去了，這隻狗確實老實可靠，” 他說。

畢捷已預約寶兒爲他們公司答謝顧客年度野餐會的特邀發言人。