Having had both in my home, and at the same time, I don’t think there is any contest at all; dogs are far more intelligent than cats!
In my last home we had two cats and a dog. The dog was a mongrel, part Germain Shepard, part Rotwieller, bitch, who’s name was Cookie. The cats were Timmy and Tuffy, a gray tabby and a gray angora, respectively. I’ll relate one anecdote to illustrate:
One morning I noticed something a bit different in Cookie’s behavior, in that she was waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs. (Normally she’d just be lying around the kitchen or living room.) As I went down the stairs she seemed to want me to follow her, which I did, into the kitchen. There, on the floor, was the pizza box from the previous night along with the two or three slices left over from dinner, scattered around it. Understand, Cookie loved pizza but she, up to this point anyway, had never taken anything off of the counter. That the slices were also untouched had me puzzled, too, until she walked to the living room and stood watching the cats! (They had never had problems getting along previously.)
Now, what I surmised had happened was that the cats, smelling the cheese, had knocked the box off the counter but became frightened when it hit the floor and pieces scattered. Cookie, who loved pizza, knew she’d be blamed if she touched those pieces; so she left them there until I came down, let me know the cats ‘did it’ and waited to be rewarded. Not wanting to give her the idea that she’d be rewarded in the future if it happened again, I retrieved the pieces and saved them for her for later in the day. The cats, showing some guilt, stayed clear of the kitchen for the rest of the day.
The cats did what their instincts told them to do; but Cookie opposed her instincts and informed on the cats while not gorging on the pizza.
Cats - furry balls of instincts; dogs - capable of cogent thought!
Even if Cookie knocked the pizza to the floor, she still displayed cunning in that she didn’t est it and waited for me to put blame on the cats - even smarter that way!
(I’d tell a story of another dog that told me where the key was that was needed to let her out in the morning, but was misplaced by a roommate the night before, but one story is enough, I think, to make the case.
Dogs and cats are like people . There is a wide range of intelligence in each breed .I have 2 beagles. Nord is the equiv. to a dumb blond. She is lovable and learns slowly. Quincy plots and plans and is a very smart dog. We often wonder how much he understands because he is so far ahead of other dogs.
My cat is less than a year old and I do not have a handle on whether Boris is smart. He communicates when he is hungry and what he wants to eat. That is not bad.
Unless it’s a whoosh, shouldn’t the column title be, “Which are Smarter, Cats or Dogs?”
I have been breeding dogs for Guide Dogs for the Blind for many years. I have known many dogs over this time. There are clearly intelligence differences in dogs - some are just smarter than others. One of the best measures of intelligence is problem solving. I have no doubt that dogs are better than cats at solving puzzles - how do I get there from here, how do I open that, etc. Guide dogs must be aware of obstacles and guide their keepers around them, and avoid danger. They have to learn to recognize things as dangers for their keepers that wouldn’t be dangers for them such as overhanging branches or other obstructions. Until there are guide cats for the blind I will remain convinced that dogs are more intelligent than cats.
I disagree, cats and dogs just solve different types of problems, cats are more independent animals in general, they’re more in line with getting where they want to go and what they want whereas dogs are more about how to help get their pack where it needs to be. You’re not going to see guide cats because they don’t give a damn about the guy with the harness, they want to get the top of the counter with the food, and pity the fool who stands in their way.
I think it’s a lolcat reference (i.e. I’m sure you’ve seen “Cats is weird” parroted around here).
It’s an old column, dated 1978; a LOLcat allusion would appear to be chronologically impossible. Anyway, “Which is” appears in the original query.
Besides, new columns never appear on Caturday.
As to the original question, I asked several of the neighborhood cats, and they all replied, “Cats are the most intellectually accomplished beings in this, or any other world. Dogz is al stoopidheds.” Then I asked the neighborhood dog, whose response was, “Cats? Yeh, shur, whatevers. Izzat a ham sammich?” So there you are.
Intelligence aside, wouldn’t a “guide cat” be like a “guide chihuahua”? As in too small to physically lead a 150-pound human anywhere?
Powers &8^]
Guide cats ride, and direct you with their claws.
While there may be a difference in the overall capabilities of the two species, I suspect that there’s a broad overlap. That is to say, a smart cat is smarter than a dumb dog, and a smart dog is smarter than a dumb cat. But since most people only know well a few dogs and cats, there’s a tendancy to generalize from the ones they know. Thus, for instance, someone who happens to have had a smart pet cat and a dumb pet dog will conclude that cats (in general) are smarter than dogs (in general), while someone with a smart dog and a dumb cat will draw the opposite conclusion.
As an example of smart cats, several cats have been known to decipher the Doorknob Principle, a wonderment which is famously known to puzzle dogs. One of the cats who lives with my mom has even gone so far as to be able to recognize the difference between a locked door and an unlocked door.
I have a cat who can turn the thumb locks on doors if there’s someplace to stand for her to get a good grip on it. And she almost has to have a concept of what she’s doing, because she’s used this technique to lock people OUT of rooms she’s hiding in when she’s mad about something.
In the limits of my experience, in terms of ability to recognize nouns and be trained on commands involving those nouns, cats and dogs appear equal (if not equally helpful–my cat knows the difference between “bring me the mousie” and “bring me the catnip bag”, judging by the fact she looks for whatever I’m asking her to bring me before she usually decides it’s not worth the effort to comply.)
I didn’t know it was the actual column title, just thought it was the thread title.
If you’re with your dog and decide to act silly, jumping up and down, waving your arms and making oo-oo sounds, typically the dog will get excited and silly right along with you.
On the other hand, your cat will either dart out of the room, or sit there and look at you llike you’re a moron.
Dogs are smarter.
I had a cat who could open doors. She would jump up and snatch at the doorknob (round ones, not ones with handles) until it would open. It could take her 2 or 3 tries, or 15 or 20. She was determined, and when she got it open, she’d walk through and not bother to close it behind her!
Another cat would leave presents in the bathroom, and shut the door after her so it couldn’t get out. She’d take a bird (or mouse, snail, or worm, or … I don’t know what some of those things were) into the bathroom, and then somehow shut the door. Not all the way (the latch wouldn’t catch) but enough so the critter couldn’t get out. Then she’d walk down the hall and watch the door until a human went in and discovered her present.
On the other hands, both cats would do amazingly dumb things. For instance, the present-leaver would paw at the shower-door mirror for extended periods of time, even when it’s dark. And almost all of my cats would barrel into a sliding glass door … repeatedly.
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I don’t know, this seems like evidence that cats are smarter.
Since when does The Straight Dope not fix grammatical errors in articles. Yes, the quote from the letter would have to remain the same, but keeping the title just makes Cecil look dumb. (Unless he actually references. Little Ed, get 'im on it, please?)
I thought that was rat chefs.
Powers &8^]
It just varies so much from animal to animal. We have three cats, and the middle one is absolutely dumb as a post. She can’t even open a door that’s already open … :dubious: I know how that sounds, but it’s true. We generally leave our bedroom door open just a crack, and it naturally swings back to that point, so our cats can theoretically get in and out. For two of our cats, that’s not a problem. If outside, they push on the door, it opens, and they come in, after which the door swings back to its stable point. When inside, they stick their paw in the space and pull the door wide enough for them to slip out. But the other cat cannot figure out the latter maneuver (and she’s five years old, and has seen the other cats do it plenty of times). When she wants to leave, she goes to the door, sees that it’s not open wide enough for her to leave–so she starts pushing on it, just like she would coming in. :smack: When that doesn’t work, she starts meowing pitifully for help getting out, continuing to push at the door. Of course, she eventually pushes hard enough to close and latch the door, at which point she really does need human help getting out. :smack::smack:
So I’ll just say: some cats are smarter than some dogs. Other cats could not win battle of wits with a mentally deficient slime mold.
Youtube might not exist today if it were not for that cat that learned to flush the toilet.