Chasing Joy
a Chaser the Border Collie story
by Jordan Bianchi and Pilley Bianchi
Chasing Joy chronicles the journey of psychologist Dr. John Pilley and his border collie, Chaser, the smartest dog in the world, as they explored the realm of canine cognition. Chaser took the world by storm when it was proven she understood the names of 1,022 toys, as well as adverbs, verbs, preposition objects, and sentences involving multiple elements of grammar. All through the love of play!
Chasing Joy will soon be brought to life as a picture book. Stay tuned!
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On a sheep ranch in the rolling green hills of South Carolina, there lived a newborn puppy. She had bright brown eyes and a beautiful speckled coat with a black patch over her left eye.
She loved to explore the ranch. Every day, she watched her parents herd the flocks of sheep.
Farmer Wayne, the owner of the ranch, told her, “When you’re all grown up, you’ll have a flock of your own.”
One day, an older couple came to the farm: a man named Dr. Pilley and his wife Sally. They loved her bright eyes and her warm smile. As she crawled up into Sally’s lap they knew she had chosen them as her new family.
They took her home to their log cabin and sat with her on the porch, wondering what they should name her.
The puppy watched the cars fly by. She wanted to be that fast.
So she took off to chase one!
Dr. Pilley and Sally cried out for her to stop. If she went into the road she could get hurt! But the puppy had not yet been taught what their human words meant, so she kept running. It felt good to run!
Once they caught up with her, they knew they had to teach her not to chase cars.
When Robin, their eldest daughter, stopped by with her dogs to meet the puppy, Dr. Pilley and Sally told her how scared they had been.
“Look at the bright side. Now you know what to call her,” said Robin. “Chaser.”
The Pilleys agreed. It fit her personality. And they’d never forget the day she chased after the car.
“Welcome to the family, Chaser,” said Dr. Pilley.
Dr. Pilley was a professor at nearby Wofford College. He studied what animals could learn. He and his students worked with dogs who learned to open doorknobs, climb ladders, and even answer phones!
Chaser loved to learn from Dr. Pilley. He taught her to sit, and stay, and roll over.
Then he taught her to never run after cars.
Dr. Pilley saw that she learned best when she was playing and having fun.
Sometimes Chaser made mistakes, but when she did he never raised his voice. He didn’t want her to feel bad. Learning new things could be hard. And if she no longer had fun, she would not chase after new things that she was curious about.
So when she needed encouragement to try again, he made sure she knew he believed in her by whispering “do it, girl, you can do it.”
When she got things right, he petted her and said: “Good girl, Chaser!”
Chaser learned quickly. Dr. Pilley grew curious. How much could his Chaser learn?
Dr. Pilley and Sally brought home new toys. There was an octopus, a crayfish, a seal. He gave them names and taught them to her: “Inky.” “Crawdad.” “Seal.” She remembered them all.
Chaser learned the names of many more toys. She thought of the toys as her own flock. Soon, she had a pile that was bigger than her bed. It grew bigger than the couch, bigger than the kitchen table, and finally so big it needed its own room.
By her third birthday, Chaser knew the names of more than one thousand words.
Dr. Pilley also taught her other parts of language – verbs, adverbs, different categories and the way sentences were formed – just like human children!
She had learned more than any dog before her.
Dr. Pilley called his friend Dr. Reid to tell him how much Chaser had learned.
“My word!” said Dr. Reid. “How did you do it?”
“If you give your dog your heart, she will give you hers,” said Dr. Pilley. “Together, you can achieve anything.”
“If people knew how smart their dogs really are,” Dr. Reid said, “so much good could come of it!”
Dr. Pilley agreed. People needed to know Chaser’s story.
He decided to write a paper that would prove to other scientists how special what she had learned was.
He wrote in the mornings at his favorite coffee shop...
He wrote in the afternoons on the porch…
He wrote at school….
And he wrote before bedtime.
It was difficult, but Sally, Robin and Dr. Reid encouraged Dr. Pilley to keep going.
“You’re about to change the world,” Sally said.
When Dr. Pilley finished the paper and sent it off, he returned to his favorite thing—playing with Chaser.
Months passed. It was nearly Christmas. The house smelled of pine and glistened with gold. Dr. Pilley and Chaser were sitting by the fire when the phone rang. It was Dr. Pilley’s younger daughter, Deb.
“Dad!” said Deb. “Chaser’s gone viral!”Dr. Pilley looked at Chaser, confused. “She looks healthy to me.”
Deb laughed. “No, Dad, it’s your paper! People all over the world know about Chaser!”
Deb told Dr. Pilley that a producer in New York City wanted Chaser to come show what she had learned on television.
“Well, should we go to the Big Apple?” Sally asked.
Chaser barked with excitement.
“Chaser’s right,” said Dr. Pilley. “It’s time for an adventure!”
They packed for their cross country voyage and Robin sent them off with big hugs. They drove to New York, where they stayed with Deb and her husband Jay and their son Aidan.
The city was very different from home. On her walks, Chaser smelled pretzels and hot dogs, falafels and flowers. She played in parks and met people from all over the world.
That night, they rode the ferry. From afar, they saw the glow of the city.
“We’ll be in one of those skyscrapers tomorrow,” said Dr. Pilley "How about that? And I promise you, no matter what happens tomorrow, you won’t have to do anything if you’re not having fun.”
At sunrise, they drove across the bridge to the studio. As they got closer, the buildings got taller. The streets got busier. Chaser remembered what Dr. Pilley told her: Today was all about having fun.
The studio was filled with cameras and big, bright lights.
The producer led Chaser to the set. It looked perfect for play, with lots of familiar toys and some new ones. But they raised a curtain that blocked her view of her family. Chaser grew nervous.
Dr. Pilley knew Chaser well. He talked to the producer.
“We want her to perform by herself,” the producer said. “To make sure her language skills are real.”
“Chaser’s language skills can’t be performed alone,” Dr. Pilley explained. “She’s happiest when she’s with the people she loves, and she can only show what she’s learned when she’s happy.”
The producer understood. He lowered the curtain.
Chaser was no longer nervous, but Dr. Pilley was.
Sally took his hand. “You’ve taught her well. She can do it.”
3… 2… 1… Live!
Chaser worked her magic for the cameras. One after another, she picked up the correct toys. She even learned the name of a new toy on the spot.
That day, millions of people saw what Chaser could do.
When they finished filming, the audience applauded. Chaser ran to her family.
“You did it, girl!” said Dr. Pilley “I’m happy you had fun.”
When they left the studio, New Yorkers waved and cheered.
“New York’s Newest Star!”
“The smartest dog in the world!”
“We love you, Chaser!”
On the drive home to South Carolina, Chaser dreamed. She dreamed of everything she had seen, and all the new things she could learn. There were so many more adventures ahead. With her family at her side, she could chase them all.