How Smart Is Your Dog?

Is a Border Collie smarter than an Airedale Terrier? Just how smart is your dog? There are many theories, but it’s very difficult to get

How Smart Is Your Dog?

Is a Border Collie smarter than an Airedale Terrier? Just how smart is your dog? There are many theories, but it’s very difficult to get a consistent measurement of canine intelligence in the scientific community. Experts can’t even decide on a consistent way to test human intelligence, and less study has been devoted to canines.

What does it take to prove intelligence, anyway? The ability to use tools? A great memory? The ability to solve problems? An IQ test? And do we bias any measurements by looking at the results through our human eyes rather than focusing on a different species?

You could argue that a Basset Hound that sits by the pantry door waiting for you to get his dinner is as smart as the Golden Retriever that figures out how to open the door himself. Maybe the Golden has more initiative, but the Basset knows that he’s going to be waited upon!

In general, dogs are fairly smart creatures. According to psychologist and canine researcher Stanley Coren, PhD, a dog’s mental abilities are equivalent to those of a two- to two-and-a-half-year-old human child. The average dog can learn approximately 165 words, including signals. Dogs can also learn how to count up to about five and understand errors in simple computations.

Just as with people, some individual dogs are going to be smarter than others. You may find that your dog has difficulty learning some behaviors, or you may find that you need to scramble to stay ahead of your dog!