You are no doubt aware of the book on Dog Intelligence by Stanley Coren a professor of psychology in Vancouver. This is the book which lists Border Collies, Poodles and German Shepherds as the most intelligent dogs. I have been reading some of his articles from Science journals where he states he used "understanding of new commands" and "obey first command" as his standards of intelligence. The drawback of this rating scale, by the author's own admission, is that it is heavily weighted towards obedience related behavioural traits (e.g. working or guard dogs), rather than understanding or creativity (e.g. hunting dogs). As a result, some breeds may appear lower on the list due to their stubborn or independent nature, but this nature does not make them unintelligent or impossible to train.
Coren also believes that dogs such as Border Collies have intelligence on par with a 2 year old. He has reviewed numerous studies to conclude that dogs have the ability to solve complex problems and are more like humans and other higher primates than previously thought.
The intelligence of various types of dogs does differ and the dog's breed determines some of these differences, Coren says. "There are three types of dog intelligence: instinctive (what the dog is bred to do), adaptive (how well the dog learns from its environment to solve problems) and working and obedience (the equivalent of 'school learning').
As for language, the average dog can learn 165 words, including signals, and the "super dogs" (those in the top 20 percent of dog intelligence) can learn 250 words.Dogs can also count up to four or five, said Coren. And they have a basic understanding of arithmetic and will notice errors in simple computations, such as 1+1=1 or 1+1=3.
Four studies he examined looked how dogs solve spatial problems by modeling human or other dogs' behavior using a barrier type problem. Through observation, Coren said, dogs can learn the location of valued items (treats), better routes in the environment (the fastest way to a favorite chair), how to operate mechanisms (such as latches and simple machines) and the meaning of words and symbolic concepts (sometimes by simply listening to people speak and watching their actions). During play, dogs are capable of deliberately trying to deceive other dogs and people in order to get rewards, said Coren. "And they are nearly as successful in deceiving humans as humans are in deceiving dogs
This is really interesting - and I do think different dogs (and different breeds!) learn in different ways.
ReplyDeleteI also found this link for analysing drive, which I need to think through properly, but I thought you guys might find interesting;
http://www.volhard.com/pages/canine-personality-profile.php
I wonder what the intelligence rating of 'street' dogs vs family dogs would be? Or similarly, clicker/marker trained dogs vs lured? There was a segment on one of the science shows this week about intelligence which did the same experiments - food behind part fence, unobtainable food, etc. While wolves were much faster at going around the fence, they never stopped trying to get the food in the cage, while the dogs did give up after a minute or so and looked to their owners for help - something to think about!
ReplyDeleteAlso wonder if different teaching methods lead to more word understanding and what about words and non-verbal gestures - what's the limit or current level there?
I think you are right. Based on nurture rather than nature - you would expect a street dog to be better at problem solving that a pet dog.
ReplyDeleteAlso agree with the experiment about wolves never giving up. Read about this experiment in the Christian Science Monitor which said that until recently, domestication was thought to have dulled dogs' intelligence. This article was identifying differences between dogs and wolves and referred to a test whereby dogs and wolves were given the opportunity to try to remove a piece of meat from under a cage by pulling on a rope in the presence of their caregiver. "The dogs tried a couple of times, then turned to their masters for assistance or cues. The wolves ignored their caregivers, yanking on the rope until exhausted." The scientist referred to in the CSM belives that
"this proves that dogs have acquired an innate ability to pay attention to people, and thus to communicate and work with them. This is a skill that wolves don't assume even when raised from birth to learn it."
There was another study in the early 1980s which showed that wolves can unlock a gate after watching a human do it once, while dogs remained stumped after watching repeatedly. One scientist suggested it was because dogs were awaiting permission to open the gate, that they regarded opening the gate as a violation of their master's rules.
Also agree that teaching methods would be one of the factors leading to more word understanding. Fascinating stuff - I really must do a course!