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They say every dog has its day — and Wednesday was that day for Chaser, a 7-year-old border collie whose owner purports that the dog can recognize 1,022 nouns. On TODAY, Chaser demonstrated that dogs may have some of the same capability to learn as human children.

On bended knee next to the alert-looking canine, anchor Matt Lauer ordered: “Chaser, fetch tennis.” And after just a few seconds of nosing around the 25 items that her owner, Dr. John Pilley, had brought to the set, the dog located a tennis ball and promptly dropped it into a tub on Lauer’s command. Chaser also fetched a peppermint chew toy in response to Lauer’s command — but it was when he instructed her to “fetch SpongeBob” that she really showed her mettle.

“SpongeBob is not out there,” Pilley told Lauer. But in seconds, Chaser wagged her tail while eagerly shaking a SpongeBob flying disc in her mouth.

“No, it’s right there!” Lauer said. Pilley laughed and commented: “She sees better than I do.”

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