From: The Behavior Education Network
By Suzanne-Dan
In recent weeks there have been several
news pieces in the popular press addressing the intelligence of dogs. The
great thing about both is that they presented the science of comparative
intelligence and dog cognition very, very well.
One was an article in the New York
Times “To Rate How Smart Dogs Are, Humans Learn New Tricks” by Jan
Hoffman. The second was a segment on NBCs “The Today Show” inspired
by the Times article. As both pointed out, dog owners seem to be almost
obsessed with how smart their dogs are, giving their dogs “intelligence tests”,
reading books such as Stanley Coren’s “How Dogs Think” and “The Intelligence of
Dogs,” and even participating in research projects aimed at better
understanding the cognitive abilities of dogs.
There has been a surge in interest among
behavioral scientists in the cognitive processes of dogs as well. Research labs
devoted to the study of dogs have popped up all over the world in the last 20
years. Older research such as the classic studies of J.P. Scott and John
Fuller, “Genetics and Social Behavior of the Dog,” have been reintroduced to a
new generation of dog lovers and researchers. The recent research isn’t
just concerned with intelligence, but the broader area of how dogs think, feel
and perceive the world. The phrase cognition covers them all.
Why all this interest among scientists
and dog lovers in the psychological processes of dogs? It’s probably a
combination of 1) cultural changes with people treating their
dogs more like members of the family and not just backyard pets, and 2) new
research revealing that the behavior and psychology of dogs are more complex
and more like people than we ever thought.
Hoffman interviewed a number of canine
behavioral researchers for her Times article. They pointed out several common
misconceptions about animal intelligence and dog behavior. First, intelligence
is a slippery term with a variety of meanings to different audiences.
Intelligence isn’t just a single trait
with humans having a large dose of it and other animals having lesser amounts.
Even in reference to people, experts recognize there are different kinds of
intelligence.
Most dog owners think of intelligence as
related to trainability or obedience, but researchers investigate a variety of
abilities including problem solving and communication. The second
misconception is that differences among species, among breeds of dogs and among
individual dogs are not that important. As trainer Andrea Arden said
during the Today Show, there is significant variability in behavior within
breeds and even within litters. For most of us, the intelligence of our dog
isn’t going to affect how good a companion she is.
As Dr. Clive Wynne, a psychologist from Arizona
State University said, intelligence is over-rated. What people really want from
their dogs is affection. The exceptions, of course are for working
dogs such as livestock herding dogs or explosives detection dogs. But even here
the dogs are not tested for general intelligence, they’re screened with
aptitude tests that directly relate to the jobs they are going to do.
Another important point, often
misunderstood by the public, was illustrated on the Today Show. This was
a really funny segment in which the show’s hosts put their dogs through three
different tasks:
1. Following their pet parents’ gestures
to get a hidden food treat
2. Throwing off a towel placed on their head, or
3. Opening a puzzle toy to get a treat
One of the dogs solved his task very
quickly, but the other two did not. However, the point is that these
differences in performance may have nothing to do with intelligence.
Careful observation of the dogs shows that all three were very distracted by
all that was going on in the studio, and that the hosts were plying their pets
with treats before testing. Both factors were likely to interfere with
good performance. Performance is not a reliable measure of
intelligence. More factors than just intelligence influence the
performance of a learned task – ask anyone who has tried to speak, act, sing or
play music in front of an audience.
The take home lessons from these two
news pieces about canine intelligence and performance are that intelligence
isn’t just simple or one dimensional. It can be defined differently, even
by experts, and it is not so easily measured.
In reality, differences in intelligence
mean very little to most pet parents, and friendliness and affection are far
more important. In fact some trainers like to say that less intelligent
dogs are easier to live with and have fewer behavior problems because they
aren’t smart enough to think of ways to get into trouble. And finally,
because performance of a trained task is influenced by facts such as physical
ability, fear, and more, it shouldn’t be taken as the best or only measure of
intelligence.
If you want to read the Times article or
watch the Today Show segments, go to the following links.
Click HERE for the NY Times article
Today Show – How Smart Is Your Dog – Click HERE
Link for the above article: https://behavioreducationnetwork.com/do-we-love-smarter-dogs-more/
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