# Why don't you see retarded animals? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 10, 2004, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-see-retarded-animals/249581 "2004-06-10T02:08:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2004, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-see-retarded-animals/249581/41 "2004-06-14T03:32:18Z")
> [@](#): > > We need a naturalist. I’m naked as we speak. Oh, wait. You said “natur **al** ist”… ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2004, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-see-retarded-animals/249581/42 "2004-06-14T03:45:09Z")
> [@](#): > > This dog seems to be able to do “fast mapping,” which has only been thought to be present in humans. This is where the individual more or less instantly learns a new term. This dog was put in a room with its master. The master told the dog to go into another room and fetch an object. It was also able to select that object that it had never seen, by process of elimination. There are a couple of dogs at the local hardware store. I was there a couple of months ago, and a customer wanted to duct (you wouldn’t believe the typo I just made! 😃 ) tape. The woman at the store told the dog to get some duct tape, and the dog – some kind of Labrador, I think – went and got a roll. The customer said that was impressive, but he wanted two rolls. The hardware store woman said, “Two rolls” to the dog, and she (the dog) went for another. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2004, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-see-retarded-animals/249581/43 "2004-06-14T04:37:20Z")
I once had a cat, Justin, who was so “stupid” that if he went into the neighbor’s shed he couldn’t figure out how to get out and come home. After a day or two of not seeing him, we’d go in there and there he’d be… waiting to be rescued… His housemate was so smart she had figured out how to get outside by opening a kitchen cabinet and going in through some hole she had found. And, she came when I whistled. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-see-retarded-animals/249581.md?page=2)