Shira
 Shira - with her first 100 toys | |
| 🐈 🐕 🐎 Species | Dog |
|---|---|
| 🐶 🐺 Breed | Mixed breed rescue |
| 🚻 Sex | Female |
| 📆 🐤 Born | 2017-01-11 Alabama, USA |
| Known for | Gifted Word Learning Dog |
| Title | Gifted Word Learning Dog |
| 👨 Owner | Tres Hanley-Millman and Paul Millman |
| 🏡 Residence | New Jersey, USA |
| @Shiras_tale | |
Shira is a female Border Collie mix dog from Rumson, New Jersey, United States, recognized for her exceptional ability to learn and distinguish the names of over 100 unique toys.[1][2]
Adopted as a rescue in 2017, Shira has been identified as a "gifted word learner" (GWL) in canine cognition research conducted by Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary.[3][4] Her case contributes to ongoing studies examining advanced receptive vocabularies and word-learning abilities in domestic dogs.
Early life
Shira was adopted in 2017 by actress-singer Tres Hanley and her husband Paul Millman. Born in Alabama, Shira and her siblings were rescued from a house making meth by Heart of Alabama Save Rescue Adopt. At 8 weeks old, the puppies were transported to the NJ rescue Animal Life Savers.[5]
Described as a small and sickly runt at the time of adoption, she was nursed back to health by her owners, who noticed her early aptitude for associating verbal cues with specific objects, such as fetching a named toy (e.g., "cat toy" or "spider"). What began as a simple retrieval game soon revealed Shira’s extraordinary capacity for rapid word learning and object recognition.
Research affiliation
Shira is affiliated with the Eötvös Loránd University Department of Ethology in Budapest, Hungary, as part of the Genius Dog Challenge research project.[6]
The project, directed by Ádám Miklósi and cognitive researcher Shany Dror, investigates a small group of "gifted word learner" (GWL) dogs capable of memorizing the names of numerous objects.
According to the research team, dogs like Shira demonstrate human-like learning mechanisms such as fast mapping, a process of quickly forming associations between words and their referents. Shira’s data have been included in peer-reviewed studies published in Scientific Reports and presented at international conferences on animal cognition.
Abilities
In 2022, Shira began formal participation in the Genius Dog Challenge, a series of controlled experiments testing dogs' word-learning abilities.[7]
Researchers reported that Shira could accurately retrieve a named toy from a group of 20–30 items, often after hearing the word only a few times. By 2023, she had learned the names of 125 toys and continued to expand her vocabulary through daily interaction and play.[8]
Unlike command-based obedience training, Shira’s learning relies on social motivation and emotional engagement with her owners. Hanley-Millman has described her learning process as intuitive and play-driven rather than food-reward based.
Scientific contribution
A 2023 study published in Scientific Reports examined 41 dogs identified as GWLs, including Shira, and found shared traits such as early adoption, high owner engagement, and playful temperament.[9]
Shira’s inclusion in this cohort provides evidence that gifted word learning is not limited to purebred Border Collies but can also appear in mixed-breed rescues.[10] Her performance supports hypotheses linking environmental enrichment and human interaction to advanced canine cognition.
Shira’s case has been compared to that of Chaser, a Border Collie known for learning over 1,000 object names.[11] Researchers continue to collect and analyze Shira’s data for comparative linguistic studies and genomic correlations within the GWL cohort.
Personal life
Shira lives with the Millmans in Rumson, New Jersey, where she maintains an active lifestyle including daily walks and play sessions.[12] Her toy collection exceeds 200 items, organized for ongoing vocabulary exercises. The Millmans frequently share videos of her training on social media, some of which have been reposted by the Genius Dog Challenge team.
As of October 2025, the Genius Dog Challenge reported that Shira reached a new milestone — learning her 300th toy.[13]
In popular media
Shira’s abilities were profiled in a June 2024 New Jersey Monthly feature titled *“Meet New Jersey’s Genius Dog,”* which brought her national attention.[14]
Her participation in the Genius Dog Challenge was also reported by Forbes and BBC Science Focus as part of broader coverage of canine intelligence research.[15][16] These features emphasized her role in demonstrating the intelligence potential of mixed breeds and rescue dogs, as well as the value of human–dog social bonds in cognitive development.
See also
- Border Collie
- Canine cognition
- Chaser (dog)
- Genius Dog Challenge
- Eötvös Loránd University Department of Ethology
External links
- Genius Dog Challenge official website
- Eötvös Loránd University Department of Ethology
- New Jersey Monthly: Meet New Jersey’s Genius Dog
- BBC Science
- ↑ People Magazine, January 9, 2026
- ↑ Gifted Dogs With Big Vocabularies Have Traits in Common – Forbes (Dec 15, 2023)
- ↑ Eötvös Loránd University Department of Ethology
- ↑ Word learning in gifted word learner dogs – Scientific Reports (Dec 2023)
- ↑ Monmouth Magazine, Feb–Mar 2024, pp. 28–29
- ↑ Genius Dog Challenge Official Site
- ↑ Genius Dog Challenge
- ↑ New Jersey Monthly
- ↑ Scientific Reports, 2023
- ↑ How to Tell if Your Dog is a Genius – BBC Science Focus, Dec 14, 2023
- ↑ John W. Pilley, Chaser: Unlocking the Genius of the Dog Who Knows a Thousand Words (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013)
- ↑ New Jersey Monthly
- ↑ Genius Dog Challenge
- ↑ New Jersey Monthly
- ↑ Forbes
- ↑ BBC Science Focus
