Shira was born in Alabama in January 2017. She was the runt of the litter of eight puppies rescued (along with her adult canine family) by H.A.S.R.A. — Heart of Alabama Save, Rescue, Adopt. They were saved from a terrible situation. When the puppies were old enough, they were transported north to a sister rescue organization, Animal Life Savers in Palisades Park, New Jersey, where Shira and her siblings found their forever homes.
Shira is a mixed-breed dog, though she looks like a pure breed red border collie. As the saying goes ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’! She is a non stop bundle of energy. During her very first summer she discovered a love of water and wasted no time jumping in whenever she could. Her family quickly began joking that she might actually be part fish.
In February 2020, Shira gained a new brother named Dauntless, who was rescued right off the streets of Puerto Rico. The two bonded immediately — it was love at first sight — and they have been the best friends ever since.
Shira’s remarkable talent was discovered years later, totally by accident. In December 2023, Shira’s mom was scrolling through Instagram when she came across a post about the Genius Dog Challenge, a scientific project searching for dogs that can learn and remember the names of objects. Her reaction was simple: “What’s the big deal? Shira can do this.”
To prove it, she posted a video of Shira retrieving her toys as their names were called, and hash-tagged Genius Dog Challenge. She was shocked when researchers from the Genius Dog Project reached out to test Shira. And the rest, as they say, is her-story.
The Genius Dog Project began in 2020, inspired by a famous dog named Chaser, who died in 2019. Scientists wanted to know if other dogs with similar abilities existed. After years of searching around the world, they had found only a small number of dogs with this rare talent. When Shira was tested at six years old, she demonstrated the ability they were looking for and became one of less than 50 dogs in the world they had discovered to join this extraordinary rare group known as Gifted Word Learner dogs.
But to her family, Shira is still the same zany dog she has always been — happiest when she’s swimming, playing with her toys, or spending time with her brother Dauntless.
And perhaps Shira’s story proves something else too, That shelter, rescue dogs are not less than - In fact sometimes they might even turn out to be extraordinary!
