Topic: How smart is your dog?

[southjerseycraig]

Here's a story from the New York Times about investigating canine intelligence. The story stresses that intelligence is not the same thing as trainability; and that a smart dog is often not a good pet, because the dog will become restless and bored. http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/07/well/family/dogs-intelligence.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share

[Freedom (Sandie)]

Great article, thanks for sharing this!

I only knew of ONE CCC (Canine Cognition Center), the one at Duke.  It has been one of my many dreams to live nearby so I could work there.  So reading this article and learning there are others is good news.  I learned of Duke's CCC about 4 years ago, when I read this book:  Canine Citizen: Our Evolving Relationship with Cats and Dogs, by David Grimm.  (I HIGHLY recommend this book!)

Yet there IS a similarity.  In each case, the dog has to learn some commands and then solve problems.  He knows what you want from the command, but now has to figure out how to do that.

And yes, a smart dog IS hard to live with; like my Willy.  He will problem solve, and that makes keeping things out of his reach a challenge.  One problem he solved was that he needed to wait until the humans all leave, to work on solving other problems!

I also did not realize Duke's CCC accepts funding from Purina.  Well, I guess when you are looking for grant moneys, you can't be as choosy where you apply. 

The closing comment re Ive Leagues and competition really made me laugh!