By Bill Evans
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SPARTANBURG, South Carolina (WLOS) — (WLOS) — In downtown Spartanburg’s Morgan Square in South Carolina, you’ll see the “I Love You” statue created by students from The South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind, and a statue commemorating Revolutionary War hero Daniel Morgan.
But the most talked-about piece of public art on the square may be the one that honors border collie Chaser, known as “the smartest dog in the world.”
“She knows a thousand words,” said Spartanburg philanthropist Monty Mullen. “She had 1,000 toys and they were all named, and she could identify them.”
Chaser was owned and trained by Dr. John Pilley, a retired professor of psychology at Wofford College.
“He started teaching her the names of objects, and everything was through play,” said Dr. Pilley’s daughter, Pilley Bianchi. “Everything was through positive reinforcement and engagement.”
Dr. Pilley knew that border collies are among the most motivated and intelligent breeds, and he set out to prove it. He taught Chaser the names of over 1,000 objects, which she learned to identify on command. In 2011 Dr. Pilley published a peer-reviewed scientific paper documenting Chaser’s amazing vocabulary.
“And the findings were so tremendous that it hit every major newspaper. It went globally viral in 48 hours in 72 countries,” said Bianchi, who helped her father write the best-selling book, “Chaser, Unlocking the Genius of the Dog Who Knows a Thousand Words.”
Stories and live appearances soon followed on national television. A 2014 profile on 60 Minutes helped push sales of the book to 50,000 copies in the U.S.
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson hosted a PBS segment on Chaser for the Scientific series Nova, and that caught Mullen’s attention. She met Chaser and the Pilley family at a book signing at Spartanburg’s Hub City Bookshop and still has a signed copy of the book.
Dr. Pilley passed away in 2018, and his best furry friend and research assistant Chaser, one year later. Mullen, who leads The Balmer foundation in Spartanburg, took action from there.
“I thought she was from Spartanburg; she was born and raised here. And she was smart and made a name for herself, and she needed to be remembered,” Mullen said.
Mullen launched a fundraising campaign for the Hub City Animal Project, and in the process, commissioned sculptor Betsy Scott to commemorate Chaser in bronze.
“I still get emotional when I go and see her,” Bianchi said, ”and what I love so much, is that kids come and they sit on top of her.”
Imprints of Dr. Pilley’s boots were added to the project to honor the bond between the man and his faithful companion.
“My father said, ’If you give a dog your heart, they’ll give you theirs,’” Bianchi said.
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