Canine Einstein: Is your dog a genius?

People tell me all the time “how intelligent” their dog is or that their dog’s breed “is one of the most intelligent breeds” or that their dog “is not as quick as others.” Others ask me if their dog is “smart” or “a bit slow.” What do these labels mean when it comes to dogs? How do you rank the natural range of intelligences that allow dogs to herd, retrieve, guard, hunt, dig, and to act as eyes, ears, strength, and guardian for people in need? Is it smarter when a dog can work with people or when they can work independent of people? It’s all very “apples and oranges” to me. Which amazing skill should we rank as the best?
Which is most intelligent? Instead of ranking and competing, I vote that we try to understand and appreciate the differences.

Boiled down, there are four kinds of dog intelligence: working, problem solving, instinctive and learning.

1) Working, or trainability, is how a dog works cooperatively with humans. A working smart dog learns cues from their handler with few repetitions. Ever seen a Border Collie herding? The Shepherd (the human kind) needs only a hand gesture or whistle to alter the movement of the dog. It is an amazing partnership to watch!

2) Problem solving requires dogs to work out a solution to a problem or obstacle. My Hakuin is a tremendous problem solver. To get in her crate, she opens the door with her nose. If it’s closed, she will grasp the latch with her teeth and pull. If it’s locked, she will grasp the latch, pull up, and then pull out to open it! I’ve seen it many times in 9 years (cupboards, fridge, Tupperware, doors, etc) but it still amazes me to this day to watch her in action!

3) Instinctive smarts are hardwired into how the dog relates to the word. Shepherds herd. Labradors retrieve. Westies dig. Bassets sniff. Dobermans guard. Greyhounds run. Huskies pull. Pointers point. Nobody needs to teach these things, the dogs are literally born to do them.

4) Learning intelligence is the ability to learn by watching other dogs. Young puppies learn how to play with toys by watching their Dam and littermates. Dogs who live, work and train with other dogs, will continue to develop their observational learning smarts. Beagle puppies run in hunting packs with the older dogs leading the way.

But what does this all mean? In our haste to define dog intelligence, we have over-simplified what dogs are capable of. In fact, dog intelligence cannot be neatly wrapped into a singular word or definition. Dogs have a range of strengths and weaknesses that make them each uniquely talented at specific tasks. Understanding the individual blends of intelligences in our dogs will help us appreciate and work with them better.

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Doggie Dominatrix

Dominance...once the buzzword of popular dog training; it was both the cause and the solution for all canine behaviour problems. The theory was born from 1940’s wolf pack research* and a general lack of understanding dog behaviour. The basic concept was that if a dog misbehaved, regardless of the reason, the owner was not the leader of the pack. The popularity of “Dominance Theory” stemmed from fear propaganda- without proper control, dogs would eventually organize a mutiny against their owners-like Animal Farm run amok. To control these scheming, wild beasts (a.k.a. Pet Dogs) aggressive and forceful physical corrections to "establish dominance" over the dog were recommended. An owner using an “Alpha Roll” on their dog is an example of this type of forceful training.

The bad news for dominance theory started when researchers studying wolves and wolf-dogs (also called wolf hybrids) quickly learned that wolves get seriously irked when handled aggressively by humans. Aggressive physical corrections forced dogs to choose between survival and surrender. Survival dogs fought back and their aggression escalated as they “fought for their lives.” On the other end of the spectrum, surrender dogs gave up quickly, and to cope with the fear, they disconnected from the handler and their experience. Translation: you can’t whip your dog into shape without destroying the essence of who the dog is, and could have been, in the process.

The truth is that a misbehaving dog is not a dominant dog, it’s an untrained dog. There is no shortage of humane ways to teach dogs how to respect clear rules and limitations. Healthy human relationships do not involve force or intimidation tactics. The same holds true for our lives with dogs. The majority of dogs will not look for ways to control a situation if they are raised with consistent and fair boundaries.

The moral of the story: If you want to be a dominatrix, keep it in the bedroom and out of the dog house.

*The original 1940’s wolf studies were flawed. They were captive wolves from different wolf packs, creating an unnatural and unstable social dynamic. These manmade circumstances provided the researchers with skewed and grossly inaccurate views of normal wolf pack behaviour.