My Dog Is Smarter Than Your Honor Student

We’ve all seen the bumper stickers claiming that “My (fill in the blank with your breed of choice) is smarter than your honor student.” Surely we all think our precious companions are the brainiest on the block, but just how smart ARE our four-legged friends?

I watched an absolutely fascinating show on PBS last night. (Yes I watch PBS. We only have basic cable and I loathe American Idol and everything like it). Nova produced a program called “How Smart Are Animals?” featuring a border collie named Chaser who possesses a vocabulary of over 1000 words which gives her roughly the same cognitive skill as a three year old child. Dogs have long been ignored by science; however, recent discoveries have shed light on some truly remarkable characteristics our canines exhibit. These discoveries are leading to entirely new studies aimed at exploring the nature of Fido’s intelligence. This is in fact the second program I have watched on PBS which details these behavioral experiments. Happily, dogs seem to be getting more respect in the scientific community after many years of dismissal.

Fellow primates such as apes, orangutans, and chimpanzees share a much closer genetic makeup to us humans than any other species. Surprisingly, this does not mean they are most like us in terms of behavior and social skills. In research done comparing chimp behavior to human behavior, our fellow primates have no concept of “helping” or “sharing.” When researchers hid food under one of two cups, and then pointed at the cup under which the food was hidden, the chimp was equally likely to choose the incorrect cup as they were to choose the correct cup. These animals seem to have no social need to be cooperative; they exist primarily through independence and dominance. Dogs on the other hand, as anyone who has played such a game with their own friend would know, are able to pick up on these “helping” gestures. When you show Spot which cup the food is hiding under, Spot will most likely make the correct choice and find the food. Dogs excel in social intelligence, whereas primates do not.

All pet dogs in existence today are descendents of wolves. We know this from our understanding of genetics. However, what is it that makes our companion dogs so different from their wild ancestors? Nova’s program explained that during the process of domestication, dogs have become “emotionally tolerant” of human beings. Wherein wolves will quickly become violently aggressive if they feel they are in dispute with you for some reason, our pet dogs are capable of patience and passivity. They have evolved to become sensitive to our moods, and over hundreds of years of living closely with humans, they have developed the most effective strategies for successfully cohabiting and benefitting from this partnership. Therefore, unlike any other animal which shares an equal degree of genetic similarity or mental aptitude, dogs have a critical understanding of society and cooperation. Not only are they capable of adapting to our moods and behaviors, they have developed an eagerness to work with us. The program made a clever analogy for them, calling them the “soldiers of science.” Dogs not only just show up for work, they come with an attitude of eagerness and a motto of “what can I do for you?!”

Despite the fact that our dogs do not share the same degree of genetic similarity as primates, they are perhaps not as different as we once thought. Chaser, the border collie I mentioned with the extensive vocabulary, exhibits a gene that is also present in humans and attributed to cognitive development. While many dogs exhibit this trait, it would seem that in selectively breeding intelligent and biddable border collies, the breed has also been selectively breed for this “smart gene.” That may explain how Chaser is able to know the names of over 1000 unique toys and be eerily accurate in retrieving them on command with no visible assistance or clues from her human counterpart. “Sure, my dog could do that,” you might say, and perhaps so. The demonstration I found most astounding came when Chaser was presented with a new task. The host of the show brought in a completely new toy that Chaser had never seen before named “Darwin”, and placed it in the pile of known toys. First, Chaser was warmed up by being asked to retrieve “Inky” and “Crawfish,” toys she knew well. Then, being left with a pile of still familiar toys and the unfamiliar toy, she was asked to find “Darwin.” Her thoughtfulness was obvious on her expression, as you watched her try to figure out this new command. Would Chaser be able to infer that the unfamiliar name belonged to the unfamiliar toy? It took her much longer than before, however, after some thought Chaser returned with the correct toy. Astonishing to some, but probably not so much to those of us who’ve witnessed first-hand the stunning intelligence of this breed. This isn’t to say any other breed would not be capable of such mental and linguistic prowess, it has just been more carefully selected for the dog designed to work so closely with shepherds in tending to flocks of sheep.

Does this mean that dogs will continue to become smarter and more capable of understanding language and other nuances of human society? If they have developed this far, who is to say that they could one day not be more intelligent than we might imagine? If we could teach our dogs to read the numbers on an agility course, it would certainly make the handler’s job much easier!

If you are interested in this program, visit http://www.shoppbs.org/product/index.jsp?productId=11095033&cp=&sr=1&kw=how+smart+are+animals&origkw=how+smart+are+animals&parentPage=search

And no, I am not being paid for this endorsement. Support local public broadcasts with viewers like you!