I know without a doubt that Teddy, Bear, and Summer are extremely intelligent. I’ve written about Summer’s high level of intelligence in my blog post, How Smart Are Golden Retrievers, but all dogs are underestimated. I am not alone in this belief. Greg Berns has spent time and effort researching canine intelligence and has written two books that I’ve read:
- How Dogs Love Us
- What It’s Like To Be A Dog
I recommend both books. But there is more.
Research into canine intelligence has grown in leaps and bounds over the last few years. From canine cognition to canine communication, many recent discoveries are giving us insight into the minds of our furry friends. Here are five of the most interesting new findings about canine intelligence:
1. Cognitive Capabilities – Recent studies have demonstrated that dogs can recognize their names, understand commands, and even engage in problem-solving behaviors. They also exhibit an understanding of basic arithmetic operations such as addition, subtraction, and multiplication!
2. Memory Abilities – Dogs use extraordinary memories to remember past events and experiences with remarkable accuracy. This is why they often remember a specific place or route for long periods after one or two visits.
3. Emotional Intelligence – Studies have found that canine intelligence also includes emotional capabilities. Dogs can recognize and respond to facial expressions, gestures, and vocal tones from humans. They can even sense when their owners feel sad or stressed out!
4. Social Skills – Despite being solitary animals in the wild, canine intelligence has allowed domesticated dogs to develop impressive social skills when interacting with people and other dogs. Just like humans, they can form strong relationships with others based on trust and loyalty!
5. Language Comprehension – Although not as complex as human language comprehension, canine intelligence has enabled them to understand a wide range of spoken words and various body languages. Canine comprehension of human language has increased with age, just like in people!
Dogs have been helping people with a variety of tasks for centuries. From guide dogs to search and rescue, there are numerous ways that canine intelligence is put to work. Professionally, they are utilized as assistance animals for the visually impaired, detection dogs for tracking scents, and guard dogs to protect property.
Privately, canine intelligence can help with tasks like fetching items or cleaning messes. Additionally, canine companionship can provide invaluable emotional support for people with anxiety and other mental health issues.
Emotional Support Animals for Anxiety | Therapy Pet. https://therapypet.org/blog/emotional-support-animals-for-anxiety/
The canine intelligence displayed by our canine friends is genuinely remarkable. With their incredible cognitive and memory capabilities, social skills, and language comprehension, dogs are now more capable of helping humans in various ways.
Teddy exhibits a high level of emotional intelligence, and I refer to Teddy as Dr. Teddy because of his eye contact and the way he listens with empathy when I talk to him. Dr. Teddy is genuinely there for me. In addition, the Bear is unique in his language comprehension speed. Finally, Summer has extremely high cognitive capabilities, demonstrated by her problem-solving capabilities.
These recent discoveries about canine intelligence are truly remarkable and have opened up a new world of understanding regarding our four-legged friends. Dogs may not be able to talk, but they certainly know more than it is generally thought!
Those of us that live with dogs knew it all along!
Note: The primary photograph is of Summer, my super problem solver!
Thank you for reading this blog post, and if you have any questions or comments, please leave them in the Comments section below.
© 2019 I Don’t Know All The Answers, Nikki Mastro
All of my photographs and documents are Copyrighted.