Do you have an intelligent dog? When trying to assess whether your dog has the smart gene, you first need to asses what is it that you’re wanting your dog to do? Not if your dog is smart enough to do it.
Dogs can specialise in all kinds of smart. One dog breed may have the smartest memory, whilst another can have perfected that difficult demand you’ve taught them.
Depending on the task at hand, one of the dog breeds may appear the most intelligent, whilst the other not so intelligent. The difference has more to do with the task rather than the dog breed in question.
That being said, here we have listed seven of the most intelligent things a dog can do.
Intelligent Dog
Communication
Dogs that make more of an effort to communicate with their owners for simple tasks such as going outside, show signs of being more intelligent that other dog breeds. If you believe that your dog is not showing any signs, then it is suggested that you play close attention to their movements. If they’re not showing any signs, then you may need to follow up with some basic training.
Learning tasks quickly
Does your dog seem to understand everything that you are saying? Or have they quickly figured out how to play with a tricky toy? When dogs are able to quickly figure out tasks and understand mostly all f what you are saying, then that is true sign that their highly intelligent for a dog. All dogs are clever, but some dog breeds are better than others for picking up new tasks and commands.
Nailing cognition tests
There are various products on the market that can help determine how intelligent your dog truly is. One of the toys available is Dognition, which looks at the dogs cognition and that all dogs are clever, albeit in various ways. If your dogs scores highly with a cognitive test, then this is a clear indicator that your dog is extremely clever.
Expert at finding hidden treats
Another great way of testing your dogs cognition is to get 3 plastic cups and show your dog a treat (preferably their favourite biscuit) and place it under a cup and ask your dog to stay. Then, ask your dog to walk around the cups as a form of distraction. After they’ve walked around the cups tell your dog to stand to the side and then find the treat.
Some dogs may find the treat straight away, while others will take longer, or may not find the treat correctly. If your dog doesn’t find the treat straight away, this doesn’t mean that their not intelligent, all it indicates is that some dogs are better at observing and remembering than others.
Solving problems
Some would agree that its not ideal if your dog has learnt to open a door, especially the refrigerator door! But this does show that your dog has great observation and problem solving skills.
As with other behaviours that you wish your dog doesn’t exhibit, redirecting your dog to better behaviour is the owners best bet.
Mastering treat-dispensing toys
Like most dogs, nothing is more satisfactory than mastering how to obtain their favourite treat. How quickly they are able to pick up the task at hand denotes their intelligence. Many of the treat dispensing toys on the market will tell you how to measure your dogs intelligence. The expect problem solvers wont show signs of frustration, but will be patient in learning how to figure out how to dispense the treat.
