51 – Is Your Dog Smarter Than You?

I recently ran into an acquaintance at Kroger and we began to discuss his family’s Springer Spaniel.  I was assured I would find this dog to be a challenge.  So what was the problem?  “He out-thinks us.  He’s smarter than we are!”  I smiled.  It’s not the first time I’ve heard someone express concern over the intelligence of dogs.  A coworker from Florida told me she would never own a Border Collie as she didn’t want a dog smarter than she.  Is it possible this dog, or dogs in general, can really be smarter than their owners? 

How do we define intelligence?  Checking the dictionary, we find this description:  “Capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding, and similar forms of mental activity; aptitude in grasping truths, relationships, facts, meanings, etc.”  Well, every dog I have ever met would certainly qualify as intelligent if I go by this definition.  Are they better at this than their owners – are they more intelligent?  Before you discount the idea totally, look at current thinking regarding intelligence. 

In 1983, Howard Gardner proposed that intelligence is not something that is defined by taking a test.  If you are older, you may have been given a standardized test such as the Stanford-Binet or WISC and then given a numerical estimation of how smart you are.   Have you ever met someone who didn’t get further than eighth grade, yet who could astound you by what he/she knew and could do?  Likewise, ever meet someone with more degrees than can fit on a wall, yet he/she couldn’t get across town without getting lost? Though each may score at opposite ends of the spectrum on the IQ test, which is truly smarter? Forget the standardized test.

 Dr. Gardner, a Harvard PhD, introduced the thought that we each possess 8 different intelligences: Linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist.  (See http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/curr054.shtml for more information).  While I would be far superior to my dogs in the logical-mathematical intelligence (I have passed Calculus), they have me beat when it comes to bodily-kinesthetic (I have yet to catch the flying disc with my mouth or run up and down the agility A-frame successfully).  Our musical abilities are pretty much even – my singing and their howling are equally non-melodious.  Would it be right to use Gardner’s interpretation of intelligence for dogs?  Considering our physical differences, probably not.  So we rule out Gardner’s model.

Stanley Coren is a noted author regarding dogs.  In his book The Intelligence of Dogs, he compares dog intelligence between breeds, ranking Border Collies as number 1. If I were going hunting, would I choose a Border Collie? No.  As the Coppingers state in their book Dogs: A New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behavior, and Evolution,  “why is it you can’t  teach the smartest dog in the world [the Border Collie] to hunt and retrieve quail better than an average-intelligence English pointer? Because the pointer has a brain that is wired differently, which predisposes it to its specific quail-hunting task.”  So if we can’t even compare dog intelligence between breeds, how can we compare them to humans?

In many institutions, dogs have replaced chimps as the darlings of the research world.  Scientists are studying the cognition of the dog, not limiting their theories to past assumptions that dogs are just furry lumps with a stomach and teeth, operating on primordial behaviors.  Studies abound regarding the ability of dogs to think and problem solve – Rico the Border Collie who could choose an unknown item from eight known items, the abilities of some dogs to fast map (learn a new concept based on a single exposure to a unit of relevant information), and the ability of dogs to read social gestures such as pointing (see Time Magazine’s recent article with Brian Hare’s research ).  Even behaviorists and trainers are testing the limits of their dogs, laying out strategies using flash cards to determine if dogs can learn to read words and to count.  The positive results are astounding for many people.  To most dog owners, well, we’re not surprised at all. 

Are our dogs smarter than us?  My current reply is no, but they are far more adept at reading us than any other animal on the planet.  We have evolved together and they have learned to adapt to our behaviors, reaping the rewards of easy meals, companionship, and shelter by doing so.  They have mastered watching our every move and have learned responses that will appease us.  They have used their abilities to train us.  Many owners will admit Rover has trained them to let him inside or outside when he barks, to play when he presents them with a toy, or to toss him some food when he gives the sad, starving dog look. 

So perhaps, Dr. and Mrs. W, the dog is not smarter than you, but, instead, he just has you very well trained.  It’s not a question of whether the dog is smarter than you, but rather how well he uses his given intelligence to get what he wants from you.  Here’s the column for your refrigerator, just put it up high enough so the dog can’t read it.  Now, if you’ll excuse me, Buzz has brought me the disc to let me know it’s time to play. Smart dog!

Jan Casey owns Smiles and Wags in Cookeville and provides training and behavior consultations for dogs and their owners.  You can contact her at jan@smilesandwags.com or call 931-510-0119.