I read in the paper this morning that Canadian animal psychologists have found that dogs are as intelligent as the average two-year-old child.
They used tests designed to show the development of language, pre-language and basic arithmetic in kids and found that dogs could understand up to 250 words and gestures, count up to five and do simple mathematical calculations.
Golden retrievers are apparently among the most intelligent and, the report said, dogs can rival apes and parrots for their ability to understand language.
I don't have an ape or a parrot but I do have a golden retriever (pictured above with my husband's jumper on her head, pretending rather cleverly that she's invisible).
Ella, who also answers to the names Bumhead and Nuffnuff (because that's the noise she makes when she spots next door's cat through the window), doesn't have quite the vocabulary of your canine high achievers but she will very soon, because now I know what she's capable of, I'm going to start intensive vocab lessons.
The words and phrases she knows already are no, sit, stay, walkies, catch, go get it, drop it, good girl, dinner, breakfast, biscuit, chewie (aka Schmackos), yummy medicine, Paul and Kate (our kids), Mummy and Daddy (I nearly didn't include those, so embarrassing), squeaky bone, hot dog (the shape of her favourite squeaky bone), car, let's go, go and do wee, give me a cuddle (when I say this she jumps up on my knee and stays there for hours or until I can no longer feel my legs, whichever comes first), where are my socks, and lie down.
Here is a picture of Ella understanding and obeying the command "lie down".
And here is another picture taken after my husband thought she looked too comfortable lying down and said, "Cat!"
You'll notice that the TV in the background of picture 2 is showing an image of a man in a silly costume. This is because it's the History Channel, to which my husband is connected intravenously.
Some time this week, I'm going to teach Ella the words "History Channel" and this will be the signal for her to grab the remote control and bury it in the garden.
Now I know how clever Ella is, I'm sure she'll have no problems learning this.
Next week I'm going to teach her Pythagoras' Theorem. I'll let you know how it goes.
PS: In case you're wondering, the most intelligent dog breeds were found to be border collies, poodles, German shepherds, golden retrievers, doberman pinschers, Shetland sheepdogs, labrador retrievers, papillons, rottweilers and Australian cattle dogs.
The least intelligent were Afghan hounds, basenjis, bulldogs, chow chows, borzois, bloodhounds, pekingese, beagles, mastiffs and basset hounds.
17 comments:
a^2+b^2=c^2 only works on a flat plane. Damn curved surfaces can alter things! Our physics lessons are filled with pointless discussions about these sorts of things...
Perhaps you could try and teach the dog some physics? I'm sure it's already adequately knowledgeable about calculating projectile motion. (as in "fetch!")
I'm going to try the German shepherd on
'attack genitalia'
to get rid of all the blokes coming round to look at the new (to us) car and meddling with it so that something that worked perfectly well will need the attentions of paid meddlers at the garage to get it back to what it was when we bought it.
I have a few ideas on who to use as a training item too....
The possibilities are endless, aren't they? Hadn't thought about physics - it's a subject I only just scraped through in Year 12. I'm now worried the dog may be more intelligent than I am.
Morning Michelle, Your husband and mine must be twins, separated at birth i.e. history channel. Speaking of dogs i have a cat who behaves like a dog, p!sses on everything, chews barbie, likes going for walkies to the shop, understands quite a few of my hysterical commands, knows who will feed her on command, dribbles, jumps on you in greeting and in general marks her territory around the house. Oh she is sterilised. Halfpint
Hi Anon, we've had a couple of cats like that, one was called Peaches, the other was Frank. Frank used to do neckrolls on command. He was a crack-up, we loved him to bits.
Michelle, my little chihuahua/jack russell does that nuffnuff noise when he spots something interesting. Must be a universal dog word. He will also trot all around the house on his little half-size legs for hours, sniffing at who-knows-what. Dogs are weird creatures, but extremely entertaining. What would we do without them.
Actually I was surprised jack russells didn't make the "most intelligent" list. They're as sharp as tacks, the dog equivalent of rocket scientists I would've thought.
I have a 3yo german shepherd named Lily (also answers to Puddles, when she was a pup she used to leave puddles). I take her to obedience, agility and protective training (keeps me off the streets).
Lily knows what night is training, I don't have to say a word I just need to get dressed in that tracksuit she sits down and waits for the lead to clip on. Loves her monthly bath, I fill a bucket of hot water for the bath guy and she sits next to it until he turns up. She provides him with the best entertainment each month.
Her vocabulary consists of toilet (there's a particular area for that purpose), drink, breakfast, schmackos, walkies, kiss, cuddle, yoghurt, lemon (loves to play with and eat them), everything to do with training, variety of toys which all have names and also is learning to put her toys away at night before bed time. At the moment I am teaching her to find car keys, wallet, hat and in the future she will learn to track.
Overall she possesses great listening skills, you can tell her anything and she won't pass it on. She knows when we are not well, or feeling sad, stressed. she knows I am going on a roadtrip before I have even packed a bag, she is the first in the car.
My first shepherd learned to bring the paper from the front yard, but one wasn't enough he would turn up with 10. He also knew I was in labour with my first child before I knew, he would not leave my side. He looked after my daughter with great pride, he was the lifeguard at the beach with her. My second shepherd also knew stuff before I did, looked after daughter number 2 and was her lifeguard for 15 years.
Our dogs have great potential.
watch what you wish for Michele, Ella just might bury the remote.
Me again. I'm going to have to get my own blog. I keep finding things on Stumble that I want to tell the world. Here's one for you, completely irrelevent to anything on your blog, but fun nevertheless.
Get onto urbandictionary.com, and search for neuken in de keuken.
Gail and Birgitta: So you're saying your dogs are cleverer than my dog?! I can live with that. Be interesting to find out how smart Bilby's rabbits are, as in are they good at anything other than eating and sex (which is what I suspect Suzanne's neuken in de keuken is - I'll have a look in a minute).
I looked up neuken in de keuken, what a cracker lol
Personally, I think Pepper (my Jack Russellx) is very smart. Apparently they are the most difficult dogs to train; surely this is because they're too smart to be told what to do?
Am past halfway in The Code Book. Brilliant!! I'm going to buy one so I have a copy to keep.
I'm way behind in the blog dept, but did anyone see the letter to the editor the next day from the kelpie who got left off the list? Now that's a clever doggie!
Yes, I saw it, it was really good. My young Einstein hasn't been the best this past week or so (a hot spot, an ear infection and the beginnings of arthritis). Thankfully she's fine now and the vet's planning his next holiday to Bali ($987 would you believe).
Yes, I'd believe. My Sootie (black lab) is 9 today. That makes her 63 in human years, so she and I are the same age.
Yeah i would believe it. I seriously think I am in the wrong job.
Birgitta, my son has an 8mth old golden retriever which they seriously need to train...where did you go for your dog training?
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