When I was young we had a German Shepard that went off to obedience school. When he returned he was said to have the intelligence of a five-year old human. A similar claim was made of the dogs that mauled, and killed, the lady recently in San Fran.
Questions: Who makes these claims? How can they compare intelligence levels (i.e., what’s the basis for comparison)? Five year old humans are pretty damn smart. At least my six year old (the age claimed for the level of the San Fran dogs) is.
There must be a common denominator to start from. Obviously dogs don’t have the advantage of language, and obviously humans don’t have the range and complexity of dog’s sense of smell. Wits? Cunning? Logic? Where to start? And how is it Measured?
Are there comparisons between humans and other animals? Whales? Dolphins? Elephants? Flatworms:D?
I recall that claim as well. It is based on how many times the trainer has to repeat an instruction and demonstration before it sinks in to the pupil . German Shephards are extremely smart.
Herding dogs are also very intelligent. Case in point: I know a Pembroke Welsh Corgi female who has a knowledge of quite a few words and phrases relating to her life. She knows all of the basic command words (‘sit,’ ‘stay,’ etc.), the names of her toys (she can distinguish between frisbees and balls, for example), and special words to her (‘kitty’: she barks and gets excited (she hates cats), ‘treat’: she runs towards where the treats are and waits for one, ‘out’ or ‘outside’: she goes towards the leashes and waits for one to be put on her). She knows phrases: ‘Where is it?’ makes her look for her favorite toy, the frisbee. ‘What do you want?’ makes her move towards whatever it is she wants (leashes or treats or toys). She knows that chewing shoes is wrong, and when confronted with a shoe she chewed hours ago she cowers away. (She has never been abused. She has been told she is a ‘bad girl,’ but never physically harmed.)
Of course, herding dogs have to be smart. The act of herding animals is a complex one, and requires planning and strategy. She has to circle around to hide in tall grass, get down and creep towards whatever she’s herding (one or two completely unimpressed cats, usually :D), and finally, when they aren’t looking, rush them in a burst of speed that makes her look like a little brown rocket. Strategy. Skill. Foresight. Intelligence.
Of course, I also know a male Pembroke Welsh Corgi who is as stupid as a barrel of hammers (he lives with the female, in fact, so the comparison is striking). He is so slow to think and react that if you toss a ball at him, it will bounce off his nose before he snaps at it. (Really. It’s like watching a badly lagged Internet-based program responding to a command. He’s a Z80 dog in a Pentium III world.) He isn’t too quick to respond to commands, either, and he cannot herd.
I guess my point is that dogs can be pretty damn smart, but not in the same way as humans. (Or they can be complete morons, kind of like humans. :D)
That’s weird. I remember reading somewhere, I think in a book written by a dog trainer, that a smart dog is about as intelligent as a two-year-old human.
Which has always made me wonder: every dog can be housebroken; so why do so many parents wait until their kids are at least three to toilet train the little things? They were smarter than dogs when they were two, right?
Bluethree, you’re mixing physical development with intelligence. In both species, the smarts to regulate peeing and pooping probably exists before the physical ability happens. The old saw about “7 dog years=1 human year” is true in the long run, but dog development runs way ahead in the first year. Dogs gain most of their adult height, are able to housebreak, and often even breed in the first year. The first calendar year of a dog’s life takes him up into adolescence.
Just as an added note, I was recently at the vet’s office and he had a chart of dog development that gave 13 years the first year, 7 the second, and 5 years thereafter. I thought that wasn’t a bad model because it does account for the accelarated development during their first few years.
Just a note that German Shepherds are herding dogs (which is fairly obvious when you see the name of the breed spelled correctly). They’re used for lots of other things as well, of course, and are often said to be the dog that is second best at everything.
“Just a note that German Shepherds are herding dogs (which is fairly obvious when you see the name of the breed spelled correctly). They’re used for lots of other things as well, of course, and are often said to be the dog that is second best at everything.”
Ok, German shepherds, thanks for the correction.
No one has come close to answering the central questions I posted.