Canine Intelligence: Methods of Testing

Ja, with no preamble, let's get into canine intelligence. Sit tight :)

Psychologists have classified two different types of intelligence in people, fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence. In short, fluid intelligence is a capacity you are born with and is independent of acquired knowledge, where as crystallized intelligence is acquired through experience, like your abilities to apply the knowledge and skills you have. Fluid intelligence is something that can't really be improved on once you reach a certain limit, but crystallized intelligence is always growing, in accordance to you experience. Most human IQ tests are a combination of both of these types of intelligence.

Unrelated fact: the names actually confuse me a lot at first, because if you think about it, water is more fluid and has more capacity to change...and crystals are just...there. They're solid and...immutable...I guess you just have to associate the name with the opposite meaning?

In any case, according to Dr. Stanley Coren, a dog trainer and a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia, fluid and crystallized intelligence may be applied to dogs as well. He claims that dogs, like humans, can be taught to improve their IQ. Similar to humans, dogs can only improve the crystalline part of their intelligence, through gaining new experiences and handling various new situations. 

Because fluid intelligence is defined as "the capacity to think logically and solve problems in novel situations" (Wikipedia), most intelligence tests utilize problem solving skills as a way to gauge intelligence. For example, one of the common tests you'll hear about is the "treat under a bucket" test. What you are supposed to do is place a dog treat under a bucket or can after showing it to your dog, and time how long it takes him to knock over the can and get to the treat. Supposedly, the shorter the time it takes your dog to solve this particular puzzle, the smarter he is. Honestly, I'm not very convinced by these, because I don't believe in simple solutions, but that's just me. I do think that they can give you a verrrrrrrry vague idea of how smart your dog is, though. 

In fact, for you dog owners, here are a couple of similar IQ tests for your dog, if you'd like to give it a shot: http://www.abc.net.au/animals/dog_test/test1.htm

I'm somewhat skeptical because I think this author is kind of offensive...Apparently if your dog scores less than five points, he "must be an Afghan." Unless he's joking...then he's still offensive, but I'm just humorless. I have been told that before, unfortunately.

~S

P.s. Next time we'll take a break from intelligence and discuss how to spot a good breeder (Thanks VZ!), and then get back to it when we discuss instinctive and adoptive intelligence in dogs. Until then~