Dogs are like babies – everyone thinks theirs is exceptionally smart. But how do you know if your dog is really smart or just adorable? Of course, they respond to their own name or a good word (“walk” or “treat”) or bad (“vet” or “bathroom”), although this may have more to do with survival than having a solid command. of the English language.
But now, a recent document published in the journal Nature, indicates that some dogs are capable of a skill previously thought to be limited to humans. Here’s what you need to know and how to find out if your dog is a secret genius.
How to administer an IQ test
In the study published in Nature, the researchers found that some dogs are able to learn the name of a new object after hearing it only four times. And, according to Dr. Jan Hoole, a professor of biology at Keele University who wrote about the paper for The conversation, it is possible to replicate the test at home with your own dog. Here’s what to do:
- Start with a reference test. Place several objects that your dog knows in front of you.
- Stay out of your dog’s vision, say, “Bring [name of toy/object.]Keep track of the number of items they were able to recognize based on their name. If they were able to identify many of the known elements in this way, you can move on to the next level to see how quickly they can learn the names of new objects.
- Show the dog two new items, tell them the name of each object, and let them play with them for a while.
- After repeating the name of each toy four times, ask the dog to choose one of the two new toys. (Do not include any that are familiar, so do not choose a new one for the removal process).
- Do this repeatedly and keep track of how many times the dog chooses the correct item when you requested it by name.
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In the study, the first two dogs were able to identify one of the new toys more often than by chance, but when the experiment was repeated with another 20 dogs, neither of them demonstrated this level of ability to quickly learn the name. of a new object.
But does that really show anything?
It depends. The researchers noted that more work needs to be done before determining whether some dogs are actually gifted in the intelligence department, or whether it is a product of training or their breed (or some combination of these ).
For example, Hoole’s notes that border collies and yorkshire terriers are known to have a mental motivation and can perform better in a test like this. On the other hand, dogs that are traditionally used for hunting or racing, such as salukis and greyhounds, may not be interested in toys or like their humans and refuse to cooperate with the component. training or experiment testing.
But that doesn’t mean they’re not smart – like humans, dogs aren’t motivated by the same things. (Except sweets.)