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Dog intelligence 'not exceptional'


Still Waters

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People who think dogs are exceptionally intelligent are barking up the wrong tree, new research shows.

Scientists reviewed evidence that compared the brain power of dogs with other domestic animals, other social hunters and other carnivorans (an order including animals such as dogs, wolves, bears, lions and hyenas).

The researchers, from the University of Exeter and Canterbury Christ Church University, found the cognitive abilities of dogs were at least matched by several species in each of these groups.

The study examined more than 300 papers on the intelligence of dogs and other animals, and found several cases of "over interpretation" in favour of dogs' abilities.

https://phys.org/news/2018-10-dog-intelligence-exceptional.html

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A lot of people think "smart things" a dog does is just instinct from being domesticated for so long.  They were our first domesticated animal and they evolved to please and interact with humans.

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The original article is available open access (free of charge) at Learning and Behavior:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13420-018-0349-7

In evaluating the finding, we need to be careful about the word exceptional. There are many conspicuously intelligent non-human and even non-primate animals. Dogs are among that category, but not exceptional within the category.

OK. Cool enough. Dogs are conspicuously intelligent, but not exceptionally conspicuously intelligent.

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2 minutes ago, Imaginarynumber1 said:

One of my dogs ran full speed into the wall last night

Umm, some dogs are conspicuously intelligent. (I used to work at a place where we all had to keep an eye on the owner's show-ring Borzoi. The dog would go off for a walk, and forget where he started from, even if he hadn't gone more than a block or two away. We'd find him just standing somewhere, confused. He ran into a fence one time, too. He cost more than my car.)

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so it's less that dogs aren't intelligent and more that many other species are more intelligent than we think

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1 hour ago, Imaginarynumber1 said:

One of my dogs ran full speed into the wall last night

I've told you not to let him drink so many beers :w00t:

My AV is a picture of my Beagle, Minnie.  Minnie had a vocabulary of about 4 words.  I finally understood why Beagles tend to work in packs.  It must take half a dozen to make one decent brain.  My daughter's first dog was a rescue puppy after Katrina.  She is part Border Collie.  Smartest and most obedient dog we've ever had, by far.  

Edited by and then
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First it was "cats are rubbish at ratting", now it's dogs who are getting a bashing.  Mainstream media are pushing their luck.  Grr.

 

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Many people seem happy to label animals as 'stupid', when that simply isn't the case. Hell, I've seen amazing levels of intelligence from a FISH. (She was a koi, knew her name, knew when we were calling her, at feeding time she would chase off the bigger fish and herd the little fish to the food until they'd had their fill. We called her the 'mama fish')

They used to say that humans were special because they used tools... Turns out that's not so uncommon after all. They had to set another standard for human-like intelligence.

Our dog and cat both have a fair vocabulary. We've noticed sometimes that although they understand a word, they'll pretend they don't understand when they're feeling stubborn. I think it depends on the specific animal, as well as their upbringing. We speak to both our cat and dog a lot, and don't use much baby talk.

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5 hours ago, Imaginarynumber1 said:

One of my dogs ran full speed into the wall last night

I might have read a better one liner post than that, but if I have I can't recall it. 

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I've had many dogs over the years that were fairly intelligent, but my sulfur crested cockatoo parrot beat them every time. Casey was a rescue that i adopted years ago and was simply amazing. His ability to patiently unravel any puzzle i gave him constantly astounded me. He also had a devilish sense of humour that was equal to any of my mischievous friends. To show friends how smart he was, I would hand Casey the key to his padlocked cage and watch him manouver the key with his feet and beak to open his cage in a few minutes. To bad he didn't talk much because he could have given Alex the African Grey parrot a run for his money. Now I has a sad. Miss you Casey.:(

Hank

Edited by Hankenhunter
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4 hours ago, and then said:

She is part Border Collie.  Smartest and most obedient dog we've ever had, by far.  

My interpretation is as others have said dogs are intelligent - so are other animals - its not a put down on dogs at all.

My 16 year old dog is a border collie cross.

Intelligent: yes

obedient:  only when it suits her

favourite trick: blackmail  (a biscuit or else!)

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Dogs are dumb compared to similar animals because they have hung out with humans so long and its rubbed off.We look at intelligence in animals with humans at the top of the ladder,when in Earths eyes we would be considered the most stupid and destructive creature to have walked the planet.So yeah,dogs are dumb but not as dumb as us.

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7 hours ago, eight bits said:

 show-ring Borzoi.

Bred for coat and conformation by mating full siblings for 5 generations. :lol:

Tis why my  Egyptian Arabian horse came from the UK. The Pyramid Society trashed the bloodlines in the States

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My dogs know when they are due for a walk, when they are due for food and know when bed time is...they are domesticated and well trained, they are loyal and loving.

They have great instincts, especially my cocker spaniel.

They are intelligent in the sense that they understand training and words and know what certain noises indicate...eg: my westie recognises Harry Hills voice on t.v as it generally means animals on "You've been framed"  he will sit there fixed at the t.v waiting for the funny animal clips, but he barks like mad when they come on...not so intelligent. :unsure:

 

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8 hours ago, Imaginarynumber1 said:

One of my dogs ran full speed into the wall last night

Seen a ghost probably... clever beast !

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1 hour ago, Piney said:

Tis why my  Egyptian Arabian horse came from the UK. The Pyramid Society trashed the bloodlines in the States

Arabians are gorgeous. My mom had a blue and she was a handful! 

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9 hours ago, Imaginarynumber1 said:

One of my dogs ran full speed into the wall last night

LOL.  Reading that was just too funny! I have a cat that gets do excited birdwatching he forgets the window is there and bashes himself trying to go through it

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1 minute ago, Jenn8779 said:

Arabians are gorgeous. My mom had a blue and she was a handful! 

That was a "grey". :tu:

My former white cop horse is up in "Pet's Gallery" and if you hung in Chatsworth you saw him in person. 

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She was definitely grey but the parents always called her a blue. 

I will have to look for the picture. Have to admit I was young, dumb and blasted out of my mind when I hung out there.... ashamed to say I don't remember much. Lol

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13 hours ago, Jon the frog said:

The biggest question is: could human intelligence be overrated ?


It surprises me here that a person is intelligent and acts unreasonably, therefore we are not fully intelligent or our intelligence is of the first rationality and not of the highest rationality.

1 hour ago, Trihalo42 said:

Someone said that animal intelligence is usually judged by how well they follow directions from humans. 


Well, if you evaluate dogs, there are service dogs that are aimed at executing commands from a person but there are shepherd dogs or dogs to protect the territory and they should have more freedom to assess situations and these dogs may not be so obedient but they themselves must make decisions, therefore, accurate execution of commands they are not required but it is not possible to conclude from this that they are more stupid, they simply have other tasks. And from the decorative dogs are not required to execute commands and some kind of work and they are considered the most stupid dogs but this is due to the fact that no training is carried out with them, therefore there is no such ability in their genes.
Dogs have remarkable features- this is loyalty to their owners and loving and spiritual people say that their psychic being is better developed in this sense than in humans but their aura shows less rapid thought activity than in humans and a more vague consciousness.

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7 hours ago, Jenn8779 said:

I will have to look for the picture. Have to admit I was young, dumb and blasted out of my mind when I hung out there.... ashamed to say I don't remember much. Lol

I never had the opportunity. My uncle was the FD squad chief so when I was at the pit I had to run around on a 350x with a Motorola radio and keep people who crashed or set themselves on fire stable until Dr. John and the ambulance showed up.  

 Worse thing that happened there though was a Moorestown Quaker kid who didn't drink or get high broke his back and ripped his side open on his tailgate and it took 8 of us to carry him a mile out to the rig.

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