Now I’m curious. It seems fairly obvious that cats have an instinct for this, since it takes so little training.
Do dogs also have an instinct for burying their waste in one small area? Being pack hunters, you wouldn’t think it would matter as much, since stealth would be less of an issue.
So, if a dog is potty trained, wouldn’t that make it smarter (that it actually got it) then a cat who is simply doing it instinctively?
Kyber…
I don’t know if it’s true but I’ve heard that one of the things that made dogs attractive as an animal to share our lives with was that they do not crap where they live. Same goes for cats. Sure, any of us who have had dogs have probably had accidents in the house to deal with but on the whole dogs, by their nature, want to go potty somwhere else. Some miniature ponies aren’t much larger than the largest breeds of dogs but I don’t think you’ll ever potty train a horse. They pretty much go whenever they have to wherever they may be standing.
Does this make the dog smarter (potty training)? I don’t know. I’d say no because you’re tapping into something the dog would want to do anyway. The puppy just learns that sooner or later someone will be along to let it out so there’s no need to crap or piddle as soon as the urge hits.
The scientists realized octopi were unable to walk on leashes or catch frisbees, and dogs were unable to change color and squirt ink. Therefore, they concluded the two species were of equal intelligence.
dogs. If anyone thinks differently, then they should be ridiculed in the street for their beliefs.
I’m in favour of free speech, but this takes it too far.
Actually, racehorses are generally trained to urinate when the owner whistles, so they can drug test them easily. I’m pretty sure you could housetrain a horse if you really wanted to.
I have worked for many years in the pet industry, and I have kept, as pets, a total of 63 different species of animals. (Currently, I live in a one species household.)
As manager of one of Chicago’s oldest and largest pet stores, I had the opportunity (or misfortune) to participate in this conversations a seemingly infinite number of times:
Parent: “My son Idiot Boy wants a pet, but we want something unusual: not just a cat or a dog. But I want it to be low maintenance.”
This was my cue to hold their head under water until they stopped twitching, and then I would explain to their stiffening corpse: “The reason cats and dogs are such popular pets, when compared to say porcupines and sea slugs, is that they fit in better with a human household than any other animals. They respond to affection with affection, and their own lifestyle is more easily adaptable to and compatible with that of a human companion.”
A brief list of counterexamples of the second-tier pets (Leaving out such things as horses as pigs, as my customers were all urbanites.):[ul][li]Ferrets smell bad, sometimes bite, are difficult to litter train, must live in a cage most of the time, and only live three years.[/li][li]Ditto most other small mammals, with varying degrees of odoriferosity and lifespan.[/li][li]Iguanas aren’t really capable of affectionate response, are difficult to find a competent vet for, are with extremely rare exception difficult to potty train, require an investment in equipment, space, and herpetological education.[/li][li]Ditto other lizard species, except the Green Iguana is the closest you’ll ever find to a lizard capable of affection (though I had a Varanus dumerilii once that I wondered about).[/li][li]Snakes are very easy to keep and require very little space and equipment, but are incapable of affectionate interaction.[/li][li]Birds are good, especially some of the larger ones, but they demand a great deal of attention and relatively deep pockets, vet and equipment wise.[/li][li]Fish, with few exceptions, aren’t really pets, but more an aesthetic or scientific installation, that require a constant supply of money and attention.[/li][li]Turtles share with other reptiles expense of vet care, plus major investments in equipment and education.[/li][li]Tortoises can usually do with less equipment than turtles, but need even more education; plus very, very few species of tortoise are available in the pet trade, and those that are can be extremely expensive.[/li][li]What have I left out?[/ul][/li]
This is not to say each of these animals can be a rewarding “pet” in its own way, only that cats and dogs are still the pets we’ve come up with. I was usually able to convince them that if they were afraid of a commitment to a cat or dog, then a more exotic pet–which, as a rule of thumb, are often more of a hobby than a companion–was probably not a good idea.
sigh…
I actually come across this attitude quite a lot from dog people. Why is it that someone who likes cats is usually (not always, but most of the time) tolerant of people who own other types of animals, but a dog person feels it necessary to insult cat owners?
For example (an extreme case) my sister had two cats. The neighbors’ dogs killed and ate both of them one day. When told this, the neighbors just laughed…
P.S. this was in a rural area, no Humane Society.
Bill
FWIW, urinating on command is not at all the same thing as not urinating in the absence of a command, which is far more important when cohabitating with another species.
Common courtesty compels me now to offer this link. 
I had a savannah monitor that always shat in it’s water dish. Made cleaning up easier. He also knew it was not good to shit on people, if you were holding him and he started squirming and frantically trying to get away, you learned to put him in his terrarium so he could get in the water dish.
Dogs seem more capable of adjusting their behavior to fit their environment. Adaptability is the main thing I judge intelligence by, and therefore dogs are smarter than cats, in my book.
I had a Savannah monitor that left me scarred for life. Clamped onto my right hand and started sawing his head back and forth. If I let go of his head he would start to saw and would have taken a couple fingers in a matter of seconds. So I had my bleeding right hand in his mouth, my left hand around his head, and was alone in the pet store after hours (I was giving the reptile shipment its anti-parasitics). I had to fill a five-gallon bucket with water using only my elbows. I held his head under the increasingly bloody water for over an hour and fifteen minutes before he let go.
The Dumeril’s monitor is the friendliest species I’ve ever worked with. The most common–Nile and Savannah–are, in my experience, the meanest, and hardest to tame.
Having raised a wolf hybrid for almost two years I wholeheartedly agree. “Zen” is descended from pure wolf on his sire’s side and shepherd / siberian on the dam’s side. This half size white arctic wolf came fully loaded. Instictively house trained, an avid hunter, exceptionally intelligent (20-30 commands so far) and a very balanced disposition. He plays with children and my house cat equally well and has a full appreciation for inflection in human speech. He swims and is totally omnivorous (canteloupe rinds, brocolli stems, apples, corn cobs…).
As incredible as Piewacket (my cat) is, he’s no match for Zen. Although neutered, my cat still opens up the whup tush on all comers. He is able to hunt and plays too. Most amazing of all is that he is a total love sponge as soon as he gets into the house. This sucker will honk down the strokes for a solid half hour at a time.
Nonetheless, I had to teach Piewacket to play fight with Zen. Once that was done, they rumbled often and lustily. The point is, I had to teach the cat this skill. Zen was playful and a hunter from the get go.
PS: Sorry, just had to brag about these critters.
Dogs are certainly more intellegent in the sense that they have a much wider range of cognitive abilities.
On the other hand, cats have a very advanced sense of pure deviousness and ability to manipulate that is probably surpassed in the animal kingdom.
I agree with Silvio.
How many other species of animal can get away with sleeping on a couch all day every day?
If you put all the cats in the world in one room filled with typewriters and all the dogs in the word in another room filled with word processing devices, don’t call me to clean up the mess.
Anyway, you should probably be arrested. You sicko.
(feeling punchy this morning.)
well I’ve got a Trantula, Scorpion, and a Pac-Man frog. The tratula has done nothing but hide lately and doesn’t like to be picked up, some do this one doesn’t. The scorpion is intersting to watch but I’m not picking it up. The frog is fun to watch as it’s fat, funny looking and cool to watch eat. it doesn’t get picked up much either. They are cheap to feed too, just some crickets.
As for cats and dogs, I’ve got three cats and one dog. The dog I think left it’s brain someplace else. she likes to be around people but can’t figure much else out. when we first got her she crapped on the floor, that’s ok she’s learning when we take her out etc. we moved three months ago, she now lives outside during the day and goes outside just before bed, she now craps on the floor EVERYDAY. hello you’re outside more now. Plus she has a dog house but where does she sleep? in a damn hole she dug in the yard comes in all muddy and wet and wimpers when i clean her off.
The cats though open most of the cupboards, they have never opened a normal door that I know of, but they are kinda short. They all know thier names, they just don’t bother to respond. I’ve also got some Eddie’s cats, they know where the treats are and if I open that door they come running, it’s funny I open the door just to screw with them. Plus they are a lot more fun to play with as they will attack anything that moves, the dog just sits there, doesn’t even fetch!
I think cats and dogs are equally intelligent. Our perception of their intelligence is dependant on what we want from them.
Dog lovers need for their pet to need them. Dogs are very pack oriented and almost all their action are directed toward serving the needs of the Alpha Dog (that’s us humans)or gaining his favor. It benefits the dog to get along with others in the pack. It assures their survival. They fetch, do tricks, go potty outside,etc because it pleases the top dog and to paraphrase a popular T-shirt if the top dog ain’t happy nobody ain’t happy.
Cat’s on the other hand, though affectionate, do not require the approval of the human to the same degree as the dog. They are generally more independent. They don’t suck up as much because they don’t NEED to. Instead of figuring out how to get the human to do what they want, they figure out how to do it for themselves. IF it pleases the human AND it is no more of an inconvience THEN they might do it your way.
Cats are definately smart. I was at my sisters standing near a counter drinking a glass of water. Cat sorta sneaked up from the other side of the counter and swipes at my elbow while I’m not looking. I raise my elbow to see what’s on it and pour the whole glass of water on my belly. Cat jumps down and runs off to the corner to laugh at me. (I swear I heard it) In the 90 minutes I was there this was repeated twice. Once might be an accident but 3 times???
Do you think Cat know I’m basically a dog lover??
My cats don’t sleep on the couch all day. They have learned what ‘Down!’ means. They just can’t seem to learn that it’s not OK for them to get back up on the furniture 5 minutes later.
My parents had a Mexican Double Yellow Head parrot, it was extremely intelligent - MDYHs are supposed to be smarter even than African Grays, though their speech isn’t as good.
This parrot would eat out of a spoon, we didn’t even have to teach it - my Dad one time was trying to get it to eat something out of a spoon, and the parrot just took the spoon away from him and ate out of it. When it was done it would always set it in the feed dish, handle out. It didn’t have a very big vocabulary, but we never tried very hard to get it to learn anything. It WAS able to say a lot with the way it said it’s few words. If it saw us eating something it liked, it would say ‘Cracker?’ in a real sweet voice. If you started towards it with some it would say ‘Cracker!’ and bob up and down excitedly. If you didn’t offer it any it eventually would start yelling ‘Cracker!’ in an angry tone. It would also yell ‘Cracker’ when it’s food dish was empty.
It never like women as much as men, but one event really turned it against my Mom. My Dad has myasthenia gravis, and one time he forgot some of his pills and got very weak, and subsequently started choking on something he was eating. My Mom gave him the heimlich maneuver and my Dad passed out. The whole time the bird (named ‘Papa’) was screaming and rattling around in his cage. The paramedics came and took my Dad away, and he was hospitalized for a month. We think the bird thought my Mom killed my Dad, because after that she could not get close to his cage without it trying to bite her. It would scream if she got close, I had to come over to refill his dishes. We had the door of his cage wired shut because he was such an escape artist, but he learned to open it anyway and he would set up ambushes for my Mom. He would hide in the cabinets under the sink in the bathroom, and when my mother came in to get some coffee in the morning the bird would jump out and start biting her feet. My Mom would scream and the bird would scream just like her, and then do this evil laughing sound. Many times I received early morning calls from my Mom, hiding in her bedroom, to come get the bird because he was outside stalking her. When my Dad came home it eased up some, but he still would break out and come after her occasionally, we eventually had to sell him.
When I mean intelligence, I really meaning the ability to learn. Dogs can learn hundreds, sometimes thousands of things. Cats on the other hand are not good at learning, so I think it’s hands down dogs.
I’ve seen some pretty impressive trained-cat acts, and since they’ll only work for material gain (i.e., food) and won’t buy the “just to make my owner happy” line, I’d say your criterion is neither cut nor dried.