To me this is a no-brainer, hands down dogs. Of course this is always up for contradiction being that dogs will pee, then step in it just the same as cats will, but oh well. I’m a modest person so I will give cats their do, what little there is. I mean come on, dogs can do tricks, they learn their name rather fast, they listen, they’re protective, they’re mans’ best friend, and frankly their brain is bigger. Cats on the other hand, at least the ones I’ve come into contact with, do not know their names, cannot do ANY tricks, they don’t listen, though they are loyal. But you don’t need brains to love someone that is always feeding you and taking care of you, that’s common sense. Almost all pets love their master (if their master is good to them that is) so I don’t think that love counts as smarts. One of my friends argues the reason why cats don’t do tricks is because they’re too smart to listen to anyone. Personally, I think that’s bullshit when she starts telling me that. Cats purposely ignore people? I don’t think so, they just don’t understand us. Remember, I’m not arguing who is the better pet. I guess cats and dogs both bring great satisfaction to their caretaker, but that’s not the issue. The issue is, who is smarter?
Dogs evolved cooperation as a survival technique. That’s what you’re referring to, not intelligence.
Cats are better at “figuring things out”: I’ve had cats who learned the secret of the doorknob, for example. Hell, I don’t think I have one door or cabinet or box that isn’t actually padlocked that hasn’t been breached by one cat or another.
But still, I don’t think I could say which is smarter. I’ve been just as impressed by my dogs’ capacity for learning as I have been by my cats’ deviousness.
I’m perfectly happy being stumped.
Dogs have a huge variation in their IQ, usu by breed, while cats are more std (but there are smarter & dumber cats). Also, some Pet IQ experts rate pet IQ by 2 standards- inititive & obediance. I am afraid cats do very poorly in obediance. But in inititive, I feel the average cat is smarter than the average dog. However, the very smartest dogs are truly amazing.
Tiny little cat brains…
Nuff said!
PS: Let’s see your cat pull you out of a river sometime.
Cats and dogs have completely different types of intelligence. They have different skills and behaviors that were developed to enhance survival quotients. It’s like comparing (cliche coming) apples and oranges to compare cats and dogs. And not only that, but as was mentioned above, there are smart dogs and dumb dogs. Smart cats and dumb cats. Just like people.
I know you were being somewhat facetious, Zenster, but brain size is not an absolute measure of intelligence: Ravens are probably smarter than dogs or cats.
A further thought on this subject: I was watching a documentary on undersea critters. They said that an octopus is approximately as intelligent as a dog!?!?! I wonder how they tested for that?
I don’ even know why I’m bothering since this is supposed to be a debate–solely for the purpose of debating, but… 
as Danielinthewolvesden mentions–there are variations in the IQ based on breed. If I remember correctly–the smarter dog breeds include Poodles, German Shepherds, and retrievers. The complete dullards are Chows and Pugs.
I hadn’t ever heard of the same study being done on cats, so I won’t get into that.
I generally see cats and dogs as both being intelligent. With intelligence depending more on the particular specimens involved. Cats are more solitary than dogs, and will come to you whenever they need you for food or affection or whatever. Dogs are more social and will come up to lick your face or give you the ‘cold-nose’ right in the ass when you least expect it. I don’t see the mannerisms as a great measure of their intelligence.
-Ashley
Besides–everyone knows that Foxes are the smartest animal out there. They’re half-cat, half-dog.
I’ve seen tests where an octopus had to figure out how to unscrew a jar lid, and others involving colors and shapes. They were very impressive.
And regarding the relative intelligence of certain dog breeds:
Any dog breed which has been inbred for long enough suffers in intelligence, otherwise the breed/intelligence thing is largely myth: intelligence is an individual trait, not a racial trait (dog breeds are roughly equivalent to human races), in people as in dogs.
Now that you mention it, I think I remember seeing some of that. But it’s been a long time since I saw the documentary and I had forgotten how they had tested. But the part about their intelligence being comparable to a dog’s really stuck with me. Who’da thunk it?
A study on pigs showed that they were a great deal better at maze problems and other simple problem solving than dogs. IIRC, this was explicitly linked to the way that pigs look for food and analyse potential food locations.
Intelligence in a species is almost without doubt an evolved survival mechanism. Variation in intelligence within a species is an example of the genotypic variation that feeds the process of natural selection.
Someone (a cat person, no doubt) said the ultimate proof that cats are smarter than dogs is that cats have managed to convince people that they’re untrainable.
Seriously, cats and dogs have very different types of intelligence because their natural behaviors are so different. Cats are, basically, solitary creatures in nature, as are all their relatives (save lions). Dogs are, basically, social animals, as are all their relativeswolves, et al.).
Like most solitary animals, cats are born knowing MOST of what they need to know to survive. Like most social animals, dogs LEARN how to do things from the other members of their pack.
Hence, even a spoiled, pampered house cat who gets lost in the woods can usually revert to its instincts, and begin stalking, hunting and killing prey. A domestic cat can become a successful feral cat fairly easily. But a spoiled, pampered DOG who’s lost in the woods may be utterly lost, having no clue what to do to survive.
By THAT standard, a cat is “smarter.” On the other hand, a dog is capable of LEARNING a heck of a lot more than a cat (not just silly tricks, either).
Sorry to sound like Bill Clinton, but it depends what your definition of “smart” is.
Training does NOT equal smart.
Dogs can learn tricks. The process is generally to reward them with food. As a prior pro dog poster pointed out (but they were commenting in a negative fashion about cats) in essence - it doesn’t take brains to do what you need to get food.
I knew a highly trained dog that would bark furiously at new people. after 3 days, the dog finally got used to me. Then I put my hat on. Oops, I’m now a new person. Bark!
I agree with the prior posters about cat’s “figuring things out for themselves”. We had a Siamese cat who, when he wanted to go out, would go to the doors, and not just sit there, but actually try and open it - for the back door, which was a latch type, he’d hit the latch with his paw, for the front door, which was a knob, he’s use both paws on either side.
And, as far as the “what cat would pull you out of the river”. Well, the same Siamese alerted me to the other cat being locked in a closet (by coming to me, walking back and forth etc), also alerted me to a gas stove that had a burner on but not lit (spilling gas out into the air), and, naturally, to his empty food dish. If it was empty for too long, he’d open the closet door where his food was kept and open up the box himself, to help himself.
There are smart dogs, smart cats and smart people. there are dumb dogs, dumb cats and dumb people.
I believe our Fearless Leader has already covered this one… I still vote for dogs, though.
I thought it was dolphins.
dogs are more useful at serving people’s purposes
cats are more useful at serving their own purposes
therefore CATS ARE SMARTER!
i don’t have either one but i might have a dog if i had a house on a sizeable piece of land. i LIKE cats better though, i think they are WAY COOLER animals. i think i’m mostly a cat person in mentality. authority NEEDS TO BE TOLD what to kiss.
Dal Timgar
To the brain size question that’s a VERY poor indicator of intellectual ability. To make that concept even a little bit meaningful you have to compare brain size to body size (i.e. brain size as a percentage of total body mass). A cow has a bigger brain than a dog but is clearly a dumber animal overall. Even with this comparison, however, the concept is very weak. This was discussed more in this thread: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=33683
A bit OT maybe but I have to disagree with this one. Different dog breeds vary noticeably in intelligence. Saying a cat is less trainable than a dog and making the assumption that the cat is not as intelligent doesn’t work (as already noted). However, among the same species how trainable a given animal is compared to another member can denote intelligence. Indeed, that’s how humans usually measure it. A class of students is being ‘trained’ to do various things. The kid who whizzbangs his/her way through their studies is usually considered smarter than the kid who just never seems able to figure anything out without great effort.
Likewise, certain dog breeds are eminently more trainable than other breeds. Look to most web sites talking about different breeds of dogs and they frequently denote the intellectual ability of a given breed. While they won’t go so far as to call a certain breed ‘dumb’ they will mention the intelligence of ‘smarter’ breeds. Look down the snout of a German Shepherd and you can’t help but be struck by the deeply intelligent eyes staring back at you…it’s almost spooky. Try the same on the on a Pug (if you can find the snout) and I think you’ll see something very different in there. Assuming intelligence by looking in the eyes may be decidedly unscientific but try it sometime and I think you’d have to agree.
The way I had the cause of different dog breeds explained is thus:
Essentially you start out with a wolf then as the dog matures it’s growth is stunted. That’s to say, selective breeding causes certain traits to continue to develop while prematurely turning off the development of other traits. Essentially domesticated dogs are part puppy. Depending on what traits are allowed to manifest you get your different breeds. The real brainiacs of the dog world are wolves…everything else is a retarded (to greater or lesser degress) version of a wolf. By this reasoning a German Shepherd is allowed to develop further, including mentally, than a Pug. For the record a dog doesn’t have to be big and wolflike (ala a German Shepherd) to be smart. Poodles are supposed to be very intelligent as well as Jack Russel Terriers (to name two). It all depends on what the person who created the breed was going for.
Finally, as to the inbreeding bit, I don’t believe that inbreeding has drastically altered the intellectual capacity of a given breed. All sorts of other problems crop up such as hip dysplasia and some psychological disorders (German Sheperds are prone to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder for instance…weird but true). I grew-up with German Shepherds and have been depressed at the state of the breed from inbreeding. The current crop seem woefully short of the Rin Tin Tin I remember my dogs as. I was wildly excited to see that someone else thought the same way and has spent the last 20+ years recreating the German Shepherd to the ‘original’ breed ideal. The dog she (the breeder) came up with is the Shiloh Shepherd and they are manic about maintaining the purity of this breed. Look wise the dog is almost indistinguishable from a German Shepherd albeit a bit bigger. Beyond that the breed is everything you might think of in an ideal German Shepherd sans hip and psychological problems. IIRC the AKC has recognized the Shiloh Shepherd as a distinct breed.
FTR: I’m a self-described dog person but currently own two cats. I am frequently struck by my cat’s remarkable intelligence and alternate stupidity. I love them both to death.
I settled this for myself a long time ago by asking myself, Which would I rather have? An animal that can roll over and fetch, or an animal that can go to the bathroom unassisted?
It’s true . You get a cat home, you drop it in the litter box, you make scraping motions with its paws, and presto, it’s housetrained.
That’s smart. And more useful than chasing a bloody frisbee.
By that reckoning humans are truly dim. When babysitting my nephew it crossed my mind to potty train him then and there but at age 2 he just wasn’t getting it.
Still, at least a puppy gets potty trained after several months. It takes humans several years no matter how many times you drop them in the toilet.
And of course if you let the dog in the house he’ll actually eat the little treats that kitty buries in the box. That’s another argument right there.