Q: I recently adopted Sophie, a 1-year-old standard poodle, who has an endearing trait. Sometimes she tilts her head when I’m talking, as though she’s trying to understand everything I’m saying. None of my other dogs did this. Why does she? A: In a recent study, researchers concluded that especially smart dogs more often tilt their heads than other dogs, and they do it while concentrating on what their owners are asking them to do. In the study, researchers observed 40 toy-motivated family dogs trying to learn the names of two toys and retrieve them—by name—from another room. Only six dogs were able to learn the toys’ names and consistently bring them to family members. These dogs were labeled “gifted word learner,” or GWL, dogs, while the nonlearners were called “typical” dogs. The GWL dogs then learned the names of many more toys and were asked to retrieve those toys …