Not to be a stickler, but as a dog trainer, I feel the need to fight misconceptions. The dog can not “read” “words”. The dog is responding to a visual cue, the same way I can use a hand signal to tell my dog to lay down. Operant conditioning, that's it. What's the difference between that and reading? If that dog were to observe another dog waving, it wouldn't be able to indicate the sign with the right word on it. Dogs don't experience concepts or symbols, which are essential for using language. Grow a brain, Today Show.

Ah, sorry “Today Show.” Still cute though.

It's called Classical Conditioning, Good Morning America… take a Psychology 101 course.

Clever Hans on Wikipedia (Basically, this is a hoax, whether they know it or not)

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