拉布拉多犬成数学明星

　　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。

　　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。

　　据路透社8月17日报道，拉布拉多犬以精湛的猎捕技能和温和的性情而著称，不过，蒙大拿州一条名叫“宝儿”的黑色拉布拉多犬却因其数学才能赢得了人们的喜爱。

　　宝儿的主人大卫•麦德森说，如果问它公园里原来有6只狗，走了3只，还剩几只，它就会“旺、旺、旺”地叫三声。

　　麦德森说：“它会数数、加减法、除法，甚至还能记住平方根。”

　　由于宝儿的算术技能，它几乎成了“名人”。在麦德森一家避暑的蒙大拿州弗拉特黑德湖度假胜地，无论是在那里商店还是在餐厅或船舱里，宝儿都是个明星。

　　麦德森是美国电话电报公司的一位退休职工，12年前，他领养了宝儿。当麦德森发现宝儿聪慧的潜质后，就开始教它基础算术。

　　他用狗食饼干教宝儿数数。他拿出一把饼干，如果宝儿叫的次数和出示的饼干数一致，它就能得到这些饼干作为奖励。

　　麦德森说：“它知道奖励与正确的吠叫次数有关系。从小我养过不少狗，但这只不同，它特别聪明，运算准确率在85%左右。”

　　当宝儿还是只幼犬时，它就“自创”了一些游戏，还精心设计复杂的策略以免被逮到。

　　蒙大拿州米苏拉市毕捷房车与海运公司经理布兰登•毕捷说，他最近亲眼见识了宝儿的能力。

　　毕捷说：“我们一群人站在那儿，大卫问宝儿，‘这儿有多少女士’，它叫了两声，因为有两个，然后，大卫又问，‘有多少男士’，宝儿叫了5声，但这儿只有4个男的。”

　　“后来我们才明白，宝儿是条公狗，它把自己也算进去了，这只狗确实老实可靠，” 他说。

　　毕捷已预约宝儿为他们公司答谢顾客年度野餐会的特邀发言人。