Sometimes I feel bad for only feeding my fish once or twice a week, i.e. when I write my blog posts.
Guilt aside, we're starting a discussion on canine intelligence today! This is actually quite a difficult area to breach, because unlike health, which is pretty universal, there is no set way to gauge intelligence for dogs. Although there are various tests that have been invented for that purpose, none of them are general enough to be accurate for all breeds of dogs.
Similarly, the IQ test for humans is not an accurate judge of intelligence either. In fact, intelligence itself is hard to define; if you look it up on Google like I just did, you'll find the definition is "the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills." However, does knowledge mean instinctual behaviors, like being housebroken to keep the living area clean? Is it the ability to repeat an action forced upon the dog a hundred times, like learning how to sit? Or is it independence and innovation, the act of learning without being taught?
The main issue is how to differentiate the signs of intelligence, since each breed is particular to certain behaviors. For example, Border Collies are naturally good at obeying commands due to their shepherd instincts, while Siberian Huskies are very independent problem-solvers. So which of these traits portray more intelligence? If a dog is more prone to follow commands, it could be because he is motivated by rewards--treats or affection; but if he has no such motivation and would rather do things his own way, like Huskies, who are famous and ingenious escapees, can they be called stupid?
On that lovely note, we'll continue this discussion next time, because I have a killer headache.
~S
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