Hmmmm . . . interesting report out from the University of British Columbia about canine development and intelligence. I'm not sure what scares me more -- comparing a 2-year-old child to a dog, or thinking about how smart dogs must be. I mean, 2-year-olds can be pretty amazing, and they can also be quite terrors. Do dogs really have this potential to reak havoc, throw tantrums, etc.? If so, I'd rather researchers quickly find out that 2-year-old babies actually are much more like cats (lazy, sit around a lot, eat, sleep, poop, eat, sleep, poop, etc. etc. . . . oh wait, I guess that's more like newborns).
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Dogs' Intelligence On Par With 2-year-old Human
Hmmmm . . . interesting report out from the University of British Columbia about canine development and intelligence. I'm not sure what scares me more -- comparing a 2-year-old child to a dog, or thinking about how smart dogs must be. I mean, 2-year-olds can be pretty amazing, and they can also be quite terrors. Do dogs really have this potential to reak havoc, throw tantrums, etc.? If so, I'd rather researchers quickly find out that 2-year-old babies actually are much more like cats (lazy, sit around a lot, eat, sleep, poop, eat, sleep, poop, etc. etc. . . . oh wait, I guess that's more like newborns).
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I find it a little bizarre that researchers would use the term "intelligence" to make a comparison. Certainly dogs are very trainable, make excellent companions and can learn to respond to a fair number of words. But again, that is trainability--not intelligence. In other words, in my opinion, having raised three children, if you have a dog that does not immediately obey to your commands, you have a problem. That dog needs more training. But if you have a two-year that does not immediately obey your commands, you should count yourself lucky, for that indicates a degree of "intelligence" that is constantly seeking, absorbing and processing new information in a truly remarkable way.
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