Dogs Are as Smart as Humans -- Albeit Young Humans
Studies Indicate that Dogs Have the Average Intelligence of a 2-Year-Old Child Ever wonder why your dog seems to be a bit smarter than your child? Stanley Coren, a canine expert and professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia, says that, according to a study he has conducted with various breeds of dogs, the average dog is as developmentally intelligent as the average 2-year-old human child. Studies that include modified tests for children have been used to gauge the relative intelligence of dogs of later and the animals may actually be a little more intelligent than many people have thought.
According to the article in Live Science, Coren collected data from 200 dog obedience schools in Canada and the United States and found that the smartest canines averaged in intelligence with a 2-and-a-half-year-old child. On average dogs can learn approximately 165 words. The more intelligent dogs can acquire a vocabulary awareness of around 250 words. In math skills, dogs are aware of numerical differences up to five digits and can calculate the difference. The word and math skills are equivalent to that of a child of 2 to 2.5 years of age.
Yet, as far as socialization is concerned, dogs are as intelligent as the average teenager. Coren says their socialization is "complex" and their concerns center around being "interested in who is moving up in the pack and who is sleeping with who and that sort of thing." (If one is surprised to hear these findings, it should be noted that Dr. Drew Pinsky, host of the popular radio talk show "Loveline," relates in his book The Mirror Effect that the mind of a teenager is much like the mind of and infant child, going through radical changes in growth, chemical composition, and overall cognitive development.)
"We all want insight into how our furry companions think, and we want to understand the silly, quirky and apparently irrational behaviors [that] Lassie or Rover demonstrate," Stanley Coren said. He will present the findings of his studies at the American Psychological Association's annual meeting in Toronto. "Their stunning flashes of brilliance and creativity are reminders that they may not be Einsteins but are sure closer to humans than we thought."
Studies Indicate that Dogs Have the Average Intelligence of a 2-Year-Old Child And as for emotions, dogs have feelings too. Although they do not gauge equity well, they do understand when they are being treated unfairly. In other words, dogs generally do not care if one dog gets a bigger snack or treat than they do as long as both dogs get a treat. Dogs tend to note that if they one dog is treated better than another (gets a treat for doing a task while the other does not), the snubbed dog will stop performing the task and/or tends to look away or not be as attentive to the trainer afterward.
So which dogs are the smartest? According to Stanley Coren, they are: 1.) Border collies, 2.) Poodles, 3.) German shepherds, 4.) Golden retrievers, 5.) Dobermans, 6.) Shetland sheepdogsm, and 7.) Labrador retrievers.
Should this be a shocking study? Not to anyone who has dogs and children. It might possibly be a surprise for those who have one or the other. However, the commonality that exists between humans and some animals (humans are animals, something many tend to forget, just of a much higher developed variety) is something that humans often intuit. It is prevalent in the way we describe much of what we do, referring to common social practices as "herding" or acting like "lone wolf." Some will refer to that mindless, reckless teenage sexual experimentation phase as "being in heat" or "sniffing around." Just as we anthropomorphize animals, we also tend to recognize our more animalistic tendencies.
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