When clients, eyes shining, would tell me how smart their dog was, I’d often respond: “I’m so sorry.” Of course, I said it with a big smile and we all laughed about it, but the truth is, smart isn’t always what we want. Most of us want dogs who are “smart” in that they learn what we want them to learn at lightening speed, but we don’t want them to use their cognitive powers against us. Some dogs do just that; I swear I can see smoke coming out of their ears as they try to figure out how to train us to do their bidding. I remember one dog, a brilliant Standard Poodle, who appeared to spend much of her day trying to figure out how to “beat the system.” Others, the more biddable ones who came hard wired to want to work as a team (far more rare than the former!), not only rapidly learn learn the cues we teach them, they are delighted to perform them just to be part of the social group.
Clearly, “smart” means different things to different people, and in dogs as in people, there are different kinds of intelligence. This was emphasized in a new study by Bradley Philip Smith and his colleague Carla Litchfield in Animal Behavior (Vol. 80, No. 1, 155-162) comparing the problem-solving ability of domestic dogs to that of dingoes. Dingoes derived from domestic dogs, but have been independent for so long they are believed to represent a wild-type canid more than a companion animal.
The study asked dingoes and dogs to solve a simple problem known as the “detour task.” In this case, a bowl of food was visible behind a transparent barrier. In order to get the food, the animals had to move right or left, detouring around the barrier to get the food. The dingoes figured it out in an average of about 20 seconds, while the dogs, bless them, were more likely to paw, whine, bark and look at their humans to “fix it.” I find this especially interesting, because I have had to teach all my working dogs the cue “Go around.” On a farm you often find you and your dog on opposite sides of a fence, and when they are young they seem to need help understanding that sometimes to go forward you have to go sideways first (to get through the gate). They learn it rapidly, although some learn it A LOT faster than others. Wolves, by the way, are adept at figuring this out for themselves, performing more like dingoes than dogs. Even if they have been raised by people, they don’t look to us to help them solve problems like dogs do.
However, dogs are better at problem-solving that includes a social relationship. You’ve no doubt heard about the studies in which dogs are better than wolves or chimps at following an arm pointing toward something, usually hidden food. (I should note that Pam Reid, at the BFF conference, stated she has the same skepticism I do about the reports that young puppies automatically follow a point. In our experience, young dogs just sniff your hand if you extend your arm and point toward something. However, they seem predisposed to learn to follow a point, which is important and significant.) It makes such sense that domestic dogs would be better at social communication with humans than wild-type canids, while dingoes and wolves are better at problem solving on their own. As has been argued (including on this blog on 2/2/2009) dogs are excellent tool users… it’s just that we are the tools being used!
A question for you: I’m starting to work on my talk, an Introduction to the APDT Canine Cognition Symposium in Atlanta, and of course am doing a lot of thinking about well, thinking. Here’s my question: If you could ask scientists to do research on canine cognition and your dog’s mind, what would you ask them to try to figure out? What do you wonder about? Do you wonder if your dog’s memory is like yours? If she understands death? If he can count? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
MEANWHILE, back on the farm: Chaos reigns. We’re having several of the old Birdseye Maple floors refinished, and so the house is torn asunder for several days. It makes everyday routines into adventures–you’ve all been there I’m sure. But the weather broke though for a few days, and it actually felt cool (ooooh, cool!) yesterday. Sheep, dogs and humans are all extremely grateful.
And speaking of grateful, I am grateful for your kind responses to my last blogs. I will indeed continue to interweave information about training and behavior with with my own experiences with my dogs. I’ll admit that sometimes it is a struggle–we are hard wired to pay more attention to the negative than the positive and it takes a goodly number of thoughtful and kind replies to counteract the that say: “I’m going to stop reading your blog because you just pass dogs around as if they were old shoes.”
Here’s my old shoe now, the wonderful Mr. Will, taken a minute ago, dozing by my feet as I write.
Frances says
I know what I would like to have some research on – mutual communication! I think I understand some of what my dogs are communicating, and I think they understand some of what I am communicating, but it would be wonderful to be more certain. For example, could dogs be taught to communicate their needs to us using symbols or proxies, with a method that became as widespread and accepted as methods for us to teach dogs to “Sit”, “Come”, etc – Oh Brave new world! Or perhaps we should push the onus onto the more “intelligent” species to make use of all the research into canine body language and signals that is already out there …
Wild Dingo says
I had a dog that was part dingo and part GSD. My husband rescued her from the pound and had seen her mother and father along with siblings. the mother was the dingo and was so wild, she was certain to be put down. the father was the GSD. Maggie, the puppy he rescued from the liter at the pound was ‘scary smart.’ Having had her before I met him, my husband did little to train her other than house breaking. He had difficulty keeping her from jumping outside of the 7′ fenced yard and roaming the neighborhood. He resorted to all sorts of “tools” including an electric collar (don’t shoot the messenger here). The fact was, the dingo was smarter than the collar. she learned to “break” the collar by getting it wet and would either sit outside in the rain or dunk her neck in the water bowl.
Later he used a “no jump” harness. He put it on her, went to work. In 15 minutes, he instantly felt guilty about it and went home. there she was, harness off, sitting in the yard “is that all you got for me?”
when i met him and the dingo, I saw how clever she was (and also how difficult she was). things she did were so different than a normal dog. when we got home from work, she would “scold us” for being gone so long. Most dogs wag and bark and jump on you. Not the dingo. She scolded us as she walked away, barking over her shoulder as if cussing at us. We had a sweet labrador as well. it was too easy for her to strategize like a chess player, 5 or 6 moves ahead of him, to get whatever he wanted. he was 50 lbs bigger than her, yet she was always able to “trick” him into giving up whatever he had without any force.
The day she caught a duck on our walk and refused to release it, was the day i knew i had to take her to school. So off we went. I was certain she would be the most difficult dog to teach. she was already 8 years old. The teacher had been her pet sitter and advised me to be extra cautious with her. It turned out, she was very easy to train and in fact LOVED school. She aced her classes. She was such an ego maniac that school was a way to satisfy her need for attention. BUT she also loved puzzles and doing as I asked. That was the first time i ever trained a dog and it was huge success. so much so, that i could bring her in public and she loved attention from people and children in town. she still had a lot of the “wild” in her in terms of trying to “train me” but the domestic GSD part of her loved the people attention.
She’s the reason i became a consultant (so i can stay home with the dogs) and named my business for (which is no longer a business but a blog about my current dogs). She’s also the reason i will ALWAYS have a “difficult” behaviorally-challenged dog in my life–the kind of dog that no family will ever adopt because they are too difficult and require so many boundaries. I enjoy the high-maintenance, anxious but smart dogs. She left a great legacy of how to be a team with a dog behind her. Some day, I’ll have another dingo or part dingo, if i find another.
Jennifer Hamilton says
I would like to know if dogs simply need a better communication system to tell us what they want to do or feel or if they are not capable regardless of the system. For example, if you could associate verbs and nouns with specific scented blocks in a basket, could your dog tell you that it wants to go swimming rather than go for a walk…or that it wants to go to grandma’s house rather than the dog park? Many times it seems my dog wants to tell me something, but just doesn’t have a way to tell me that I can understand. I’ve created a basket of scented blocks, but I have yet to embark on the “grand experiment”. I wonder if there’s a scientist and dog team out there that will take us new places like Irene & Alex did for birds.
JJ says
I want to know what my dog thinks about me. Does he think I’m fair? Random? Nice? Mean? Lovable? Smart? Stupid? Fun? Trust-worthy? (Of course, that begs the question of whether a dog has any concept of what fair, random, nice, mean, smart, stupid, etc… means.)
A good portion of the answer to the above questions can be determined just by knowing dog behavior and seeing how Duke reacts around me. Other answers can be determined through trial an error. However, I still don’t feel that I really know what he thinks about me. Of course, what he thinks about me is not likely to be a constant.
Also, I’m aware that this desire almost gets into the question of wanting to know how my dog *feels* about me, which is not the question on the table. But I think it is worth noting that feelings and thinking are not always so separate. If I want to know what my dog thinks about say our dinner time ritual, I might word it as, “Does Duke think the dinner time ritual is a good, fun way to get his dinner? Or would he rather be able to wolf his food down in 30 seconds in a bowl?” The answer will be as much about his feelings as his thoughts.
Beth says
I know what I want to know. Do dogs hold picture memories of the words they know in their head, like we do? Or do they need to see something first, and say “Aha, that’s “tennis ball.”
Here’s why I ask: My male Corgi knows the names of all his toys and quickly learns (two or three repetitions) the names of new toys. If I say “Jack, where’s (insert toy name here)? Get (toy name here)” he will trot around the house til he finds the toy. He’s correct pretty much 100% of the time if the toy is able to be found. If he really doesn’t want that toy, sometimes he’ll touch it with his nose instead of getting it.
It’s a lot of fun to send him on a hunt for a toy that’s gone missing. He’ll look behind the toilet, under a cabinet, in corners, behind the sofa, etc. He seems to really enjoy the task.
Once or twice, though, I would conversationally ask him where something was that he does not know the name of. Something of mine, for instance. “Jack, where are my keys?” if I’d lost them, say. And off he toddles, looking behind doors and under sofas for…. What? He is just as enthusiastic and just as thorough as when he’s looking for something he knows. He will touch certain toys with his nose and then dismiss them as “Not xyz.” I watch, bemused, and wondering what is going on in that sharp little Corgi head of his.
Until these incidences happened, I assumed that he though sort of like I did: If I am looking for my keys, I have a picture of “Keys” in my head, and I look til I see something that looks like “Keys.” So if I send Jack looking for “Ultra ball” I imagine him holding a picture of an orange rubber ball (or a memory of its scent, though clearly he’s looking visually for stuff) in his mind and looking around til he finds the object that matches the mental picture.
Now I wonder if the reverse is true: He is looking for an unknown object that triggers the words “Ultra ball” to appear in his head, sort of an “I’ll know it when I see it” thing.
Maybe that’s not it, though. Maybe he has such confidence in my commands that he figures there must be some new, unnamed toy lurking somewhere, since I sent him looking, so when he finds something new that looks like a dog toy, he’ll assume that is the new, previously unnamed object? Really not sure, but I’d love to know what he’s thinking when he’s looking for something enthusiastically, with no idea what he’s looking for.
orietta says
I would like to know the way they understand human feelings. It looks like they get immediately to the point, understanding in a fraction how the human being in front of them is feeling. Is it through smell or posture? For sure we are sending more signals that we are aware of but sometimes is seems too quick to understand. I’ve tried to observe myself and my dog but I’ve not succeed in finding a common pattern of behaviour.
ps: pls continue to write about your dogs, it’s useful, interesting and also comforting to know that also experts experience real life! tks!
Pam says
I always have people saying ‘Wow…your dog’s so smart’ and thinking that I’m joking when I reply “That’s not necessarily a good thing.’ Obviously the dingo roots come through loud and strong in my Cattle Dog……he is a great problem solver and I have had to spend a lot of time convincing him that he actually needs to look to me for direction {Agility has really helped this:)}. One thing I watched him work out was how to get the frozen food out of his Kong faster. My BC is content to lay and lick at hers for hours and never quite gets it all out. Kash, the ACD, licks at his for a bit then picks it up and keeping his neck very stiff he throws it into the floor as hard as he can and cleans up the pieces that come out. After doing this for a bit, I guess he considered the physics of it, and jumped on the couch and threw the Kong at the floor….getting much better velocity and more pieces coming out. I’m sure glad his brain is mostly working for me and not against me…lmao.
Everything about canine cognition fascinates me. I would love to understand how they perceive grief, death and just generally how they think of us.
Ravana says
I’d like to know why they are so forgiving of humans and not of other dogs (or at least why my guy is!). I already know that they can count. If I tell my guy he has 3 treats coming to him and then I give him 2 he will not move from the treat area and will glare at me until the 3rd is given. My guy can read 5 words “sit”, “down”, “up”, “paw” and “stand”. His memory is a lot better than mine. He remembers every piece of road kill he has ever found, going back to the spot up to 2 years after he first found the thing. In the 2 year thing he found a horse’s hoof in a trail parking lot two years later we went to the same trail parking lot and he RAN right to the spot where he had found the hoof. On a vacation he started barking at me 5 minutes before we reached the gas station/ice cream shop where I had stopped and bought him an ice cream on the same drive 3 years earlier.
Kim says
I wonder if dogs grieve their pack members dying. I wonder if dogs love one owner more than the other. I wonder if they can read our minds! I wonder if they
think about us when we’re gone…..and if we didn’t come back, or came back several years later would they remember us. Do they feel hate.
I think you’re wonderful, and so thankful for your blog!
Barb says
Speaking of thinking, I’ve been sitting here for about five minutes doing just that! My topic is not a straightforward one. It revolves around my three year old who has been a “different dog” for me from the beginning (she’s been mine since 8 weeks). The behaviors that she presented to me all indicated unease and a lack of trust in me. Trying all that I knew, I developed a relationship with her that vasciliated between ultra clingy and frantic, shut-down behavior and driven behavior. My conclusion (which broke my heart) was that she didn’t trust me.
Recently I’ve been trying some training games from Susanne Garrett. Well well. They are working! I am getting calm obedience, channeled drive, and the frantic/clingy behavior is fading. Shut-downs are all but gone. I am getting trust. (I realize that trust may be considered more of an emotion than a cognition, but at some point the emotion must turn into a thought or understanding, right? “I do trust this person” must be a cognitive reality to the dog?)
So I would like to see research on trust. Is there a universal set of conditions that helps the dog think, “I can trust this person. All is well.” If so, what are those conditions (besides the obvious be kind and patient and clear and consistent).
Pamela says
I wonder where dogs get their rudimentary understanding of physics from. For instance, how is it that nearly every dog in the world knows how to twist their way out of a leash and collar?
We’ve all seen it. When they don’t want to go somewhere on leash they duck their head, turn to the side, and dig in their front paws until they’re able to twist against the taut leash and slip their collar. Even as puppies! They’re using leverage but who taught them?
Or how about Pam’s example above of Kash throwing his Kong? Another example of a dog knowing physics?
This must be a very exciting time to be a researcher in animal cognition. We’re just at the beginning of knowing how the brain (any brain) works and there is so much out there to be discovered!
Good luck on preparing your talk for the symposium.
Robin says
I will be in Atlanta and can hardly wait to hear you. I would like to echo the comments already made about how it might be possible to deepen the communication between us and our dogs. Does my dog remember a previous owner? Do they grieve? Why does one dog seem to hate another and is that really the case? Do they love us or just see us as a resource? Is there really communication going on with animal communicators? Does each dog understand when I make them take turns at something that he/she will get their chance/turn? All the whys and hows. Is it remotely possible to teach them to tell us what they want in a way we can understand. I could go on and on.
Kait B. Roe says
I think my question would be more about canine communication with each other than our communication with them. I know it sounds hokey, but sometimes I swear dogs are telepathic with each other. Or are they vocalizing things we can’t hear? or is their body saying more than we know? or … or … or… ya know?
Drives me crazy to see dogs all standing around, milling really, at the dog park and then SUDDENLY, all of them move at once to start a game of chase. I am fascinated by this ability to seemingly communicate seemingly without signals or vocalizations.
And BTW. I am not in the habit of judging your behavior around Will and Hope. I think there is no one so well positioned to know what you, and your family (all of it, JIM, WILL, HOPE and the sheep) need in a new dog. And as I know that you will give Hope the best upbringing possible one way or another, I have no fears that he will be “damaged” by your decision. I offer support knowing you need it reather than judgement. And offer goodwill, because it is what I believe is appropriate in your struggle. Blessings on you and your family and I hope the decision becomes clear, without too much heartache involved.
cheers,
Linda says
My Corgi/Keeshund is always ‘working’. She herds our cats; she guards our house and yard; she herds my partner and myself. I would like to know how to communicate to her that she can take some time off. As you know, it’s finally gotten cool the last few nights and we hurried to open the windows. We are awakened throughout the night when she hears an unfamiliar sound outside and needs to bark her alarm.
Also, as the others have said, please continue sharing your life with your animals with us. I bring home many ideas from reading your interactions. Thank you so much.
Jackie says
I’d like to know why my dog seems to remember bad experiences 100 times better than good experiences. Somebody can give him treats every week for months and he’s still very nervous of them. One bad experience with someone makes him aggressive towards them and it takes a very long time to claw back to ‘just’ nervous.
However it’s not all bad as he’s also very good at remembering things I’ve trained him to do!
Also, the differences between feral domestic dogs (not dingos), regular dogs, and dogs reared in isolation from other dogs and or humans. Is it possible to socialise the feral or isolated dogs once they are past their critical period? Does it vary with breed?
(My dog is a BC cross rescue, known to have been feral for several months, and distinctly challenged in the socialisation department.)
Crystal says
Ha! I have one of those smart dogs, and while she’s thankfully quite biddable, she also has her moments of training ME instead of the other way around. Here’s her latest escapade:
http://reactivechampion.blogspot.com/2010/08/whos-training-who.html
As for what I want to know… I agree with Jennifer Hamilton and JJ. I’d love to find a way for my dog to communicate better. (Probably explains my fascination with pet psychics, even if I can’t bring my tight-wad self to actually consult one.) I also wonder what she thinks about me. Her behavior seems to imply that she likes me, I guess, but sometimes I wonder if that’s just because I am The One With Thumbs And Access To The Food.
I’d love to know about the long term affects on the health (physical and mental) of single-dogs vs. multiple-dog families. Is not having a canine sibling detrimental to my dog? Is it offset by the fact that our cat seems to think he’s a dog (or at least, that he plays like a dog)?
Alexandra says
Thank god for my loveable idiot of a hound. Compared to y’all with the high-intensity herding type dogs, I am so grateful to have a beagle. He does show brief flashes of insight, though – like some beagles, he’s an incredible escape artist: he can jump or climb fences, chew through harnesses, and open supposedly locked (!) doors with ease.
I’d love to know why my dog will only eat kibble out of my hand, and not out of his bowl, but I think that’s just a gripe…
Amy W. says
Would love to know if my dogs understand how spoiled they are.
Okay, joking aside, can dogs grasp the concept of how other dogs live and what their lives must be like. Empathy, if I’m using that correctly? Similiar to how humans can imagine what is like to be super-rich or homeless.
Amy W. says
Thought of one more thing, and then I’ll stop clogging up your blog –
Would love to know what my dogs are dreaming about when they are either:
1) twitching and bark/growling – or –
2) wagging their tails
Amy says
I can testify that my corgi Winnie when frustrated will often look to me to “fix it” for her. I just posted a great video on my blog of her playing with the Kong Wobbler for the first time. When she can’t get the treats out after the first few trys she barks at me to do it for her. It took about 5 min for her to do it herself.
Anyway, when it comes to thinking, I often wonder how dogs process time. Do they know exactly how long we’ve been out of the house at work today or are they just on a schedule? Or both? Is a short absence (1 hour) the same as a long one (8 hours)?
Beth – How did you get Jack to learn the names of toys? Just show him and say the name? Seems like a cool “thinking” game I could teach my Winnie.
Anna says
I want to know about communications but rather than making them comform to something we get I would like to know how we can better understand what they do say to us on a regular basis. If we get a truly good understanding of how they communicate with each other we could learn to listen to what they are saying. I would think it would be helpful if just once in awhile we learn to be dogs instead of asking them to be like humans.
Lacey H says
Like several above, I don’t believe you can firmly separate cognition from emotion. Many of my fosters, like my current one, are clearly inhibited by fears from learning things that would otherwise come easily. My little one now has overcome (at least partway) quite a few of these anxieties; one of his biggest challenges at the moment is learning to take a treat from a hand – he regards this as scary, though petting is safe. He will even hesitate to pick up a treat dropped in front of him, though he will eat it from his food bowl with relish.
JJ says
I happen to have a dog that I do not think is all that bright. Luckily Duke’s average or below average intelligence is exactly what I wanted. I had done the research up-front and knew long before I got Duke that a smart dog would be able to run circles around an inexperienced owner like me. At the same time, there has been many a day that I longed for a dog who could pick things up faster and remember them longer. There is only so many repetitions I can stand.
I tend to define smart in a dog as being a combination of a) how quickly (how few repetitions) the dog picks up new tricks/skills and b) how long the dog can remember things, especially things that have been trained and are not innate behaviors, c) the ability to problem solve – which I am currently defining as: manipulating him/herself and/or the environment in order to achieve something she/he wants.
I wonder about what the range of dog intelligence is out there. Based on the stories already posted on this thread, it seems like a wide range. Is dog variability in intelligence similar to human variability? What would count as a mentally challenged/developmentally disabled dog? It’s almost spooky reading about dogs who remember things three years later, know how to count, and can find specific toys. On the other hand, there’s my dog who doesn’t seem to remember “stay” if we haven’t practiced it recently. (Despite him being interested and motivated in just about all our training sessions. Duke’s “slowness” (says me who loves Duke like no other being on this planet) does not appear to be solely a matter of lack of will on Duke’s part or just my probably poorish training skills.)
Kat says
When we were discussing what we wanted in a dog before going to the Humane Society to look for one I specified that I wanted a smart dog–be careful what you wish for! Of course, I meant smart as in a dog that learned quickly what we wanted him to do; instead, we brought home a canine genius that has kept us on our toes. In the first week after we brought Ranger home we realized just what we’d let ourselves in for. We had a lot of different treats on hand looking for what would be the gold standard of treats. My then 14 yr old daughter left her school notebook out one day and Ranger picked it up, carried it to her and lay down with his paws crossed over it in an unmistakable resource guarding pose. When she approached to take it away he curled his lip in a threat. She backed off and he acted like he was going to chew the notebook. I pointed out that she was going to have to trade him something he wanted for the notebook. She went in the kitchen and grabbed a treat. When she brought it back he sniffed it then hunched back over the notebook looking intently at the kitchen. She went back and got another, different treat. He agreed to trade that one for the notebook. I don’t know how else to describe it, he was negotiating with her and the first treat didn’t meet his price but the second did. The level of abstract thinking that it seems to me was inherent in this exchange amazes me. Did he know that the person whose smell was strongest on the notebook would attach the most value to it? That one I can also explain as simply matching the smell on the notebook with the smell of the person, but the refusing to relinquish the notebook in favor of waiting for a “better offer” I can’t explain except that he knew there were other treats available and “reasoning” that if an offer had been made another one would be if he rejected the first one. He had to have knowledge that alternatives existed and the ability to” imagine” a different outcome occurring if he refused the first treat offered. Fortunately, I’m raising two very bright children and have dealt with lots of bright creatures over the years so Ranger didn’t come as too much of a shock but he does keep me on my toes.
Like so many others I’m interested in the extent to which dogs can learn to communicate with humans in a way humans can understand. We joke about Ranger ordering off the menu when he asks for a chew. I name the various possibilities and “guess” which one he wants by how he holds his head and ears. I haven’t been able to articulate what it is I “see” that I interpret as meaning he wants the treat I decide he’s asked for but most of the time he settles down to chew it. Sometimes he takes it out and buries it in the yard then comes back in and asks for something to chew; I interpret that as me not having understood his choice the first time. I keep threatening to create photographs of the various choices and let him choose from a real menu. It probably wouldn’t take him long to figure it out. I know from early on when we taught him it was possible for him to “tell” us what he wanted with the “choose” command he’s been finding more and more ways to communicate with us. When the senior cat got out without our noticing when we were going to run some errands we came back to find Ranger staring intently at the gap under the porch. As we got out of the car he ran toward us then back to the gap under the porch (think all the episodes where Lassie tells the humans to follow her) when we walked through the gate he herded us to the gap under the porch. It was pretty unmistakable that there was something important under the porch that he wanted us to know about. He was right the indoor cat isn’t supposed to be out doors.
One more communications story and I’ll stop. Ranger and I went to a class on canine massage and the instructor borrowed Ranger to use to illustrate some points about larger dogs. He was clearly enjoying the experience and when she was done illustrating the points she wanted to the instructor stopped massaging and indicated he could get down from the heated massage bed. Ranger obediently stood up but then turned around, looked her in the eye and lay back down. Everyone laughed because no one had any doubt that he’d just told her that she might think she was done but he didn’t agree. She gave him a few more minutes and he contentedly relinquished his spot to a long backed Corgi so the instructor could talk about the particular needs of long backed breeds.
Carrie says
My husband and I are very active in our local border collie rescue and we are a foster home. I would like to know more about how a dog can so easily move on with life. Our foster dogs are so willing to love and be a apart of our lives, and they seem to transfer with relative ease into their forever homes. I always know the one who will do most of the “missing” is me. When we have rescue events, an alumni of the rescue come up they are always so excited to see their ex foster home family.
Sharon says
My parents have two dogs: a Border Collie/Australian CattleDog mix, and an unknown variety of birddog. The ACD/BC gets plenty of credit for smarts; he learns so readily it seems like he’s showing off. The hound… well one of his nicknames is “bird brain”. In nine years, he hasn’t learned much beyond “sit” and “down”. Sometimes I wonder though: is he just putting on the dumb act to get more treats for less work?
Like Ravana, I’m convinced that dogs can count at least to four. We have a game where our dog is required to sit and stay while several treats are tossed past her. Once they are all scattered, she is released to “go find it!”. If there are only4 or 5 treats, she’ll stop looking once she’s eaten every single one. Much more than that, and she’ll just go on sniffing until we tell her “that’s it”, or the territory is covered.
Would you consider things like touching a leash to request a walk, or shaking (as if wet, but while dry) to refuse going out in the rain to indicate symbolic communication?
LynnSusan says
What great questions! They make mine seem so silly.
What I really want to know is when Gracie watches TV is she learning things, living vicariously, acting out a fantasy life? (I wondered this before I read “The Art of Racing in the Rain”)
She gets really excited watching “Animal Planet” and other nature shows—does she perceive these animals as interlopers in her home? Competitors for my attention? Unsniffable friends? (embarrassingly, and hilariously, she will frequently try to sniff the nether regions of TV animals—the most hysterical instance was during an episode of “Cake Boss” when the cake was a representation of a Boxer, and there was a long shot of its tail end) She knits her brow and looks at me, completely befuddled. Then she appears to get insulted by my laughter, and will walk away grumbling, or make a show of lying down with a grumpy sigh.
And when she vocalizes–a whine, a whimper, a bark, and I mimic her perfectly–what does she think? I know how she reacts–sort of delighted surprise—ala Sally Field: “You like me! You really like me!” But what does she THINK.
There is no doubt my dog is thoughtful. She deliberates, and I can see her wheels turning as she solves a problem.
Once, we were playing in the backyard when the automatic sprinklers turned on.
I was on one side of the spray, and she was on the other. I called her to me—and she wanted to come—but was hesitant to run through the spray. I continued to call her and she barked and sat down. Then I realized she was watching the sprinkler heads. She timed her run to me when the sprinklers were all pointing away from the path she chose. I couldn’t have figured that one out. I marveled.
Another time at playgroup ,one of the dogs stole a water bottle and the whole pack took off in wild pursuit. Gracie started to run with the pack,but then I saw her just standing under a tree. I was afraid she hurt herself, until I realized she was watching the pack. When they rounded the bend and headed for her tree, Gracie shot out, stole the water bottle from the lead dog ,and then out distanced them all, because she had chosen to preserve her energy. How did she figure that out? When she presented me with the slobbery prize I could swear I heard her say “I won! I won!”
So, how do dogs become so creative to figure out original problems? Does she learn these things from TV 🙂 ?
LynnSusan
Beth says
To Amy, who asked how I taught Jack the names of his toys:
First, I used shaping to teach him what “Get your keys” meant. When he was a puppy, his Nylabone keyring (the one with the big colorful nylon keys) was his favorite toy. He could chew it, he could carry it, he could shake it and the keys banged against his face in a most satisfying way! So I would sit him down, put the keys about a foot away from him, and say “Jack, get keys! Keys, get keys!” If he even touched the keys with his nose, I’d say “Good!” Once he mastered touching them, I would continue to tell him “Get keys!” after he touched them, so he would offer other behaviors and the first time he actually picked them up in his mouth, we had a huge praise party. Clapping, lots of good boys, a big old run to the treat jar. Once he knew “Get keys” meant to pick them up, then I would send him to get them when they were farther away. The longest part of the training was getting him to pick them up that first time, but once he did he quickly understood what it meant to go get them from a longer distance.
When he mastered getting his favorite toy, I then picked up a new toy. Let’s say it was “tennis ball.” I held the ball, said “Tennis ball! Tennis ball!” and put it down and said “Get tennis ball!”
Predictably, he ran and got keys. At that point, I said something like “No (I don’t use no to discipline my dogs, I use it in training to let them know they’ve offered me something wrong.). Anyway, I said, “No, those are KEYS. Get TENNIS BALL.” and showed him tennis ball. It only took a few times for him to realize “Get” did not always mean “keys” and the word that was important was the SECOND word. Once he knew the difference between “Get keys” and “Get tennis ball”, he now knew the concept: “Things have names.” Once he got the concept down, the rest was easy. I can now pick up a brand-new object, tell him the name twice, throw it and say “Get xyz” and after that, he remembers the name. At any one time he has about a dozen toys and he knows them all.
He also knows “Tennis ball” means any of a particular size ball with a fuzzy coating, so if we find a new tennis ball he immediately knows that is tennis ball too, without my telling him. Same with bone, same with piggy (fuzzy non-stuffed fleece toys with a squeaker).
I will say that he is the brightest dog I’ve ever had. Stubborn as all heck, but very sensitive and very handler-oriented. I am not at all sure I could teach the idea to my other Corgi.
Liz F. says
Do dogs feel loneliness?
Neuroscientists have studied reportedly lonely humans, and found them to have higher cortisol levels than non-lonely individuals. Feeling lonely can apparently measurably increase the production of this stress hormone, and a person
em says
What wouldn’t I like to know about how my dogs mental gears turn?! (I also think it’s interesting to see what people want to know about their dogs’ thought processes, too).
Otis on the clever end of the spectrum, I’d say. He’s a good problem solver with a great memory. Like many of the other commenters, and as Trisha noted in her post, this can be a double-edged sword. It’s nice that he figures things out easily and it’s great that he remembers a cue even if it’s been months since he practiced it last, but I, too, know the aggravation of a dog who remembers EXACTLY where the dead things are.
He’s a bit unusual in that I’ve seen his behavior and learning style change significantly since I adopted him almost two years ago. Then, at approximately eighteen months old, he acted a lot more like Trisha’s description of a dingo than a dog (since he’s pretty obviously a great dane, I doubt there’s much in the way of wild canid genetics in his background). While he’s never lost the capacity for independent problem solving (he never needed to be shown how to ‘go around’), over the past two years he’s become dramatically more attuned to vocal communication-when we first brought him home, his lack of response to vocalization was so extreme I actually tested him for deafness on the first day (his hearing is excellent). He’s also much, much more likely to solicit ‘help’ when faced with a frustrating situation.
Observing the transformation, I can’t help but speculate about his beginnings in life-despite a positive attitude toward people, he showed no indication of ever having lived as a pet-not housebroken, no basic manners, no concept of ‘words’, etc. Yet he adapted rapidly, learning all of these things easily once exposed to a normal human household(though it took nearly four months of daily practice before he ‘cracked the code’ and realized that words have significance. After that, he began learning words exponentially faster, though it still is not his strength).
So chalk me up alongside Jackie-I’d love to know how exposure to humans affects the cognitive processes of dogs-I might never have wondered about this, but after seeing how much my own dog changed, I’ve really begun to speculate about how much of a dog’s ‘natural’ behavior is a result of adapting to human social behaviors and expectations. There are some very curious ways in which Otis still differs from most pet dogs (he doesn’t way his tail when happy, for example) and I’d love to unravel how much of that is nature and how much nurture plays a role.
Alexandra says
I’m going to agree with Amy W. I’d love to know what dog’s dream about.
I’d also like to know if they have any ability to learn communication skills and concepts like Alex the Parrot. Obviously dogs can’t talk, so it would be through another forum, but there are so many tantalizing hints that dogs have so much more capabilities than we give them credit for (thinking of Rico the border collie who proved dogs could “fast map”).
Alexandra says
One last thought – Trisha I very much enjoy your writings about your dogs. The stories of your various canine (and feline and sheep) pack members has always been a very enjoyable part of your writing. I think it adds a lot of authenticity and credibility to your voice as an expert, and I’m glad that you’ve decided to continue to do it. After reading so many thoughtful essays in your books, in the Bark, and here on the blog, I can’t imagine that you wouldn’t make a very thoughtful decision about what is best for you and Jim, Will, Hope, and your farm.
Melissa says
Well, I could plug my own PhD project on dog cognition. 😀 It’s super interesting and I dream that it might be useful to dog trainers and owners everywhere who want to know what their dog is feeling, although I think in my wildest dreams the best I can hope for is “life is good lately” and “life has been pretty disappointing lately”. I feel sure there was a paper about pigs that were taught to vocalise when they were unhappy about something so the humans would know. My dogs have kind of learnt that one on their own, anyway. 🙂 My hare spent the better part of a year working out ways to talk to the stupid human he was dependent on. He is very good at telling when I’m going to do something mean to him like catch him, but I wish so badly that I could tell him when I’m NOT going to do something mean to him. I have taught him a safety signal that means I’m going to back off, and it works to a degree, but he’s never going to completely trust a safety signal. He’s a hare!
What I’d really like, though, is for someone to quantify the variables that dictate how dogs will get along with each other and whether they will form some sort of hierarchy or how competitive they will likely be with each other. It would be so useful, I think, to be able to predict whether particular dogs are likely to live in social harmony or are likely to clash and how much they might clash.
Maybe that’s not really cognition, though. As far as cognition goes, I’d like to know whether dogs look out for each other and if they do, why. Several times I have witnessed my older dog interrupt a game that is getting too rough with my younger dog. He will go over and amicably shoulder the other dog aside and lead them away on a chase. I’ve also seen him lead his little brother away from two large, intact male dogs that were thinking about having a barney. He led the little guy away from the big boys twice. And just yesterday at the dog park, I was getting him out of the car and a dog got her foot caught in a bench and started yelping. My lazy, mellow dude was suddenly trying to lunge right past me. Was he upset because another dog was crying, or did he just want to know what was going on? Does he get upset about a dog crying because it indicates possible danger, or because he wants to aid them? He certainly doesn’t avoid crying dogs. He’s over there in a shot.
Lydia says
I’m the one with the “old shoe” comment. I guess since I don’t live/work on a farm, I don’t get it. Maybe working farm dogs are more like farm animals or farm equipment. They have a specific function and if you can’t do it, I’ll find someone who can. There’s nothing wrong with rehoming a dog but with so many homeless dogs out there, it’s just one more.
carolyn says
Are dogs capable of having Theory of Mind (ToM)?
Gardner proposed humans are capable of having 8 different types of intelligence. Besides the two types you mentioned above, what other types might you hypothesize dogs have?
Beckmann says
I really would like to know their communication to each others. Yes, we all know they mainly use body languages but there seems to me more than that.
Maybe
mungobrick says
I’d like to know how my dog makes associations. She’s a fearful dog by nature and it would be really nice if I could figure out why she’s afraid of the kitchen, but only at certain times of day; why she will sometimes sit in the yard and stare at me until I come to escort her inside (she comes with me immediately and happily) and other times will come on her own. Why she won’t get out of the car sometimes. I’m not sure I really want to be inside the mind of a neurotic dog, but it might help me to figure out how to work with her on some of her issues!
On the subject of smart dogs, my mother in law is about to leave from a visit to us with her part Duck Toller, who has my MIL very well trained. Lucky barks when she’s bored. And barks and barks and barks. She stands in front of my MIL and just goes on barking. And, after being told to be quiet three or four times, she gets: a dog treat, or a bit of what Mum’s eating, or to go outside. Mum asked me why she barks and I said “because whenever she barks, something fun happens.” Mum agreed, and then took Lucky outside because she was barking…
There are a lot of people who react in a kneejerk way (especially on the internet, I find) to something that strikes an emotional chord. On proper reflection, I suspect many of them would actually understand and sympathize wih you – so don’t take those first remarks too much to heart, they may not even accurately reflect what the poster, on sober thought, would actually say. And if they don’t understand – well, you know what is best for your dogs. Period. And pffft to them.
Rose T. says
Hmmm, I wonder why my dog has recently become afraid of weird things – such as flies, food frying in the pan, a dishwasher running. Things that she has been exposed to in the past and never had a problem – But now, has become so panicked that she actually ran out the door and across the street and was so scared that she didn’t want to come home? Sad – I love to have some answers.
Rose
s says
haven’t taken the time to read other comments so apologize if this is a duplicate, but I’d love to understand a couple things that are of course centered on my own dog experiences – what is the memory of dogs, especially rescue dogs – does early trauma or hand offs impact them? One of my dogs changed homes at least 3 times plus a stint at a boarding kennel…is this why he has SA and if so, why didn’t any signs occur at his foster home? (his crate hatred did but not his SA so I don’t feel they were withholding or lying).
Why do some dogs develop SA and why with a particular home vs a previous? Our vet indicates my rescue may never have exhibited these signs until he came to our home.
On the smart dog subject – I don’t think either of my dogs is particular brilliant (case in point, a door was left ajar and one dog was out and the other in and both wanted to be with each other but couldn’t think to backtrack to the open door at the back of the house to reunite???) but I wonder if some dogs are smart but just un motivated? My male does learn things but I wouldn’t label him eager to learn – he’d rather hang out and chill.
Beth says
Regarding going around objects:
My kitchen has two internal entrances: one from the dining room, and a second from the entry hall. If you were to exit the kitchen into the entrance hall, you could then turn left into the living room and left again into the dining room; my house is set up very much like the old four-square houses.
When we brought Jack home at 10 weeks, I only had one baby gate to gate off the kitchen. Since he was too young to leave alone even in a gated room, I figured that would suffice for a couple weeks. If I was in the kitchen and watching puppy, I could use one gate to block off the dining room, and just catch him if he ran the other way towards the hall.
We were in the kitchen. I stepped over the gate into the dining room to grab something; I could still watch the puppy and was only going to be in the dining room for a minute or two.
Jack tried to follow me and realized the gate blocked his way. He took one look, then ran out the other entrance, turned into the living room and ran through the living room into the dining room to come find me.
Since he’d only been in the living room exactly once when we first showed him the house, I was absolutely amazed that such a tiny puppy could so quickly realize to go the long way around to reach me. Any other puppy I’d had would have jumped and whined at the gate.
Both of mine will go around things to get to food, toys, etc that are out of reach.
If something is behind the couch near one end and the squeeze is too tight to fit, they will run around and try from the other end.
However, Jack was trained to not bother things that are not his, and THAT impacts his behavior. if you put a treat down and cover it with one of HIS toys, he will knock the toy away to get the treat. If you put the treat down and cover it with one of OUR cups, he will look at us and bark.
It’s not that he does not know to move the object out of the way. It’s that he knows he is not meant to knock over our stuff.
Cognitive tests are difficult, because they don’t always test what we think they test.
Kelly Schlesinger says
Hi,
I wonder if dogs think about things they don’t have or are not doing, for example, does a herding dog think about sheep when she’s away from the fields, or an agility dog think “I’d rather be running through tunnels than sitting here at home”. What brought this to mind is that our border collie will be lying peacefully in the kitchen, then get up, go to another room, find a toy, and bring it back for me. Did that toy just occur to him as he lay there? And sadly, when dogs get older, injured, or ill, do they think about what they like to do but can’t?
And, I am one of the many people who loves reading about your dogs and learns from your step-by-step descriptions of your training experiences and analysis of what works and doesn’t work and why. Even more important, my dogs get a lot from your sharing your experiences although they must cope with my translations.
trisha says
WOW. Just one day and already a gazillion great questions. I’ll add my vote in for all of them. The most common question has been about communication between us and our dogs (8 so far), especially related to our dogs communicating with us. Ah, that’s illustrative of the great irony, isn’t it? After all, isn’t part of why we love them so much because they can’t talk, and that makes our relationship deeper and richer in some primal way? But oh, yes, how often I’ve wished I could ask a question. “Willie, do you miss Lassie? How do you feel about Hope? Do you like it when I …..” And of course yes yes, we can all interpret their expressions and postures, but that’s not always enough. There’s a book out by someone who DID teach her dog to communicate: Dogs Can Sign Too by Sean Senechal. I haven’t read it yet, but now I’m inspired. According to the author, you ask “Which toy do you want” and get “Ball” back, or “Who is at the door?” and be told it’s Katie. Oh my. I’ll write a post about it soon.
To Robin, asking if dogs remember previous owners: I saw a Poster Paper at the Animal Behavior Society Mtgs once that had tested whether young adult dogs acted differently around a stranger than to the person who bred them. They’d been apart for a least a year (if I remember correctly). The dogs did spend significantly more time with their breeders than the strangers, so that at least suggests that they might. I have certainly seen dogs go crazy with excitement when greeting someone they clearly loved after years apart. Same with other dogs. It’s hard to imagine that an animals as social as a domestic dog doesn’t have a memory for specific individuals.
To Rose T and mungobrick: Ah, those inexplicable fears that seem to come out of nowhere. No one understands exactly how/why that happens, even in people, but we do know that genetics, early experience and current physiology (including effects of diet) can play a role. You may recall that Willie became afraid of my turning out the light in the BR at night, and would slink out of the room as if ghosts were appearing. I finally localize it to the light and the sound associated with pulling out my nightstand drawer, and gradually he got over it. I did some CCC’g, mostly lying on the floor and giving him belly rubs before I turned off the light and he is back to normal now, but it took months.
To Wild Dingo, Pam, LynnSusan & Kat with examples of strategic thinking in dogs. Wow, what great stories. Thank heavens they are your dogs! The story of Ranger negotiating for the right treat is just mesmerizing.
To Lacey H: You are right, you can NOT separate emotions from cognition. I talk about that in For the Love of a Dog and in my emotion seminars — the function of emotions are to help the associational part of your brain make decisions, and without emotions you can’t make even the simplest of decisions.
One last comment before I take a break and walk the dogs:
To Jackie, about why do dogs remember bad experiences 100 times better than good ones: For the same reason, probably, that we do, because negative experiences are potentially far more dangerous than good ones, and are brain are hard wired to pay particular attention to them.
And lastly, to Lydia, of the “old shoe” comment (now revised to “working dogs must be like farm equipment”): Your comments illustrate an interesting phenomenon that I think is important–the fact that some people simply can not accept that a dog is like a person, in that they can not thrive and be happy in every possible environment. I remember watching a wedding once during which I was absolutely sure that someone I loved was marrying someone who was exactly the wrong man for her. It broke my heart that I was right, and she was miserable for years. I cried tears of joy when they separated, and later when she married a wonderful man who is the perfect match for her. I’ll relate this back to our original question about how we wish we our dogs could communicate with us more than they can now: I wonder how many of our dogs would ask to leave?
Frances says
I look forward to your comments on the Sean Senechal book – if they are positive I suspect there will be a sudden surge in demand!
I have every sympathy with the idea of dogs – and cats – that would ask to leave. I took on an adult cat as a companion for my beloved Toby. Toby was a very sociable cat – she hated him. She eventually came to more or less tolerate him, but they were never friends. Nor was mine the best home for her – she would have far preferred a constantly available lap by the fire to a working owner who was often away, despite the careful arrangements for feeding and playing and comfort that I made. Looking back, I kept her because I felt I had made a commitment and should see it through, when it would have been far better for her to find her a home that suited her better. It was a lesson to me – sometimes we have to make tough decisions in the best interests of our animals, and this is one of them. I hope I never have to face it, though.
em says
Another quick thought, and then I’ll shut up and give everyone else a chance 🙂 I wonder, did the Smith and Litchfield study observe differences in the behavior of dogs among different breed types? I know that conclusions in most studies of this type are based on averages and general trends that take into account variations in individual behavior-I just wonder, purely out of curiosity, how many dogs/dingoes fell somewhere outside the typical reaction.
Independence seems like one of those qualities that varies hugely from one dog to another but is at least somewhat consistent within breed types. I’d be curious to see if there are types of dogs that would predictably test more like a dingo- less skilled at understanding humans, but also better able to problem solve on their own.
I wonder about this particularly because it seems that some dogs have been selected for their ability to cooperate with humans(herders) while others have been selectively bred to function independently (hounds). My great dane is adept at using human ‘tools’ for domestic comforts but when he faces challenges in the field, whether they be obstacles or animals or confrontations with other dogs, he NEVER looks for help from the humans.
Since many dane owners note a tendency to independence (sometimes referred to as ‘stubborness’), especially outdoors, this always made sense to me as a ‘throwback’ trait reflective of the great dane’s original purpose- a dog who hesitated or looked to humans for help or guidance when confronting a wild boar would quickly become a dead dog. So I wonder, did the original breeders of independent dogs have to specifically select for this quality among a group that tended to be human-dependent, or did they simply not select for dependence, the way that the breeder of a herding, sporting, or lap dog probably would? Maybe that’s a historical question more than a biological one, but it is interesting- to me, at least. I’d love to know how dogs came to differ from their wild cousins in the ways that they do.
Can a predisposition to depend on and communicate with people be repressed by lack of socialization, only to re-emerge when the dog is in a nurturing environment? How hard-wired are these tendencies? Can a wild canine without this predisposition eventually learn some or all of the behaviors that seem to come ‘naturally’ to most dogs? What about domestic dogs raised in isolation from humans, how do they score?
Jennifer says
I would love to know more about why dogs will sometimes offer a play bow to another dog (mine will do it on the leash alot, apparently almost everyone should be her buddy as far as she’s concerned). Other times it’s this tiny tiny bow, and then the initiator runs away, and a game of chase insues. I’d love to know whether this is only seen as a kind of doggy “shorthand” for play between familiar playmates, or if they’re just able to read each other quickly enough to know that they can skip the full bow, their playmate is all set to go. Or maybe something else is going on?
Frances says
I think I have changed my mind. I’ve been reading the preview of Sean Senechal’s book, and I suspect that in the unlikely event I succeeded in teaching my two to sign, I would not get the “Timmy’s in the well” sort of messages, but firm communication that they want chicken AND liver AND tuna cake AND … together with repeated requests that I put down the laptop and do something more interesting. They are pretty good at getting those messages across already. Much more, and they will be able to argue with me, and I am not sure I want to let that particular genii out of the bottle – what would be the canine equivalent of a barrack room lawyer, I wonder?!
Laurie says
I echo Orietta’s interest. I would love to know how my dogs pick up on my feelings. Is it the body language I am using, tone of voice, intuition? They are fantastic at knowing what’s going on in my head.
I would also like to make a comment somewhat related to the “old shoe” remark. What I haven’t heard from anyone is anything about the difficulty in finding a good home for the dog that needs to be rehomed. My two male dogs clearly don’t get along and I think the younger one would do well in another home but he is highly reactive to other dogs and I simply can’t find a suitable home. That would be someone who wants to adopt him and has some skills, the interest and the energy necessary to handle a difficult dog. So we are in management mode .
Elizabeth says
I think my question is related to Barb’s question about trust – What do dogs think when we “torture” them with medical procedures? I have three anecdotes that flesh out my question:
1. I currently have a hard luck dog who seems to end up at the vet’s office all too often. We recently had to do the “cone of shame”. He quickly and clearly understood that licking his foot meant the cone went on. But he behaved as if he thought he’d done something wrong and was being punished. His behavior was heartbreaking. Now that the cone is off, he’s clingy and somewhat submissive/concilliatory. What was/is he actually thinking/feeling?
2. On the other hand, I had a wonderful cat who needed subcutaneous fluids (for five wonderful years). It was absolutely obvious that the procedure was, at best, uncomfortable and, probably downright painful. Malcolm could have easily avoided the procedure if he had wanted to. But, for the most part, he didn’t run away when I got out the giant needle and the bag of fluids and he would allow me to restrain him. Nor did our relationship change (although he always loved the dog better than me…) What did he think when he allowed me to perform this painful procedure day after day? Why did he not avoid me afterwards?
3. If I recall correctly, Dr. Pepperberg reported that Alex, the parrot, said “I’m sorry, I love you, I’m sorry” when she had to leave him at a vet office. It’s hard not to jump to some pretty strong conclusions about what Alex was feeling and extrapolate to our dogs and cats. But I don’t know if there was any research to try to determine what Alex was actually communicating. I’d love to know what our dogs and cats think when we leave them at the vet.
I also second other’s interest in if/how dogs grieve. My 11 year old rescue dog clearly grieved for his first family for 6 months. And then he seemed fine. During that first six months, his first family visited him from time to time and he was always overjoyed to see them and heartbroken when they left. After six months, he acted as if they were just any other person coming to the house. This same dog completely stopped eating for the six days that his pet cat (the same one in the anecdote above) was at the vet’s being stabilized (when he was first diagnosed with kidney problems). The dog was even having trouble holding down water. When the cat finally returned home, the dog was overjoyed, followed the cat around the house for a minute, and then went to his food bowl and chowed down and had no further digestive issues. But when the cat passed away 5 years later, the dog was, perhaps, somewhat subdued (it’s hard to tell with a 16 year old dog!), but not obviously grieving. Did it matter to the dog that I was able to bury the cat in our yard (rather than have the vet handle the body) – i.e., did seeing/smelling the body bring some kind of doggy understanding of death and finality?
Carolyn in Belize says
I just finished Susannah Charleson’s wonderful book “Scent of the Missing.” Was awed at the power of a dog’s scenting ability in so many applications. Got to wondering how my moods, and thus chemistry and subsequent scent changes impact my dog and how much she keys off these changes in her own behavior.
BTW, loved all the previous posters suggestions and stories.
AnneJ says
Laurie, you’re right. Unless the dog has a specialized skill, like herding, or the owner has good connections or is very lucky, it is hard to find just the right home for an adult dog, even a pretty well behaved and trained one. If a dog has a serious behavior problem, it can be almost impossible.
I have a smart pup story from the other day. I was training one of three pups I have here as of last week (long story) and had a mix of hard biscuits and cheese. One of the pups started out eating both, but quickly figured out that if she spit out the hard biscuits, which took time to chew, she could get back to earning the tastier cheese more quickly. It’s not my first time around the block though- the next training session I only brought soft biscuits and cheese for her. The start of her successful human- training career has begun!
I’m very glad my dogs aren’t dingos, or wolves for that matter. I have enough trouble keeping ahead of ones like little miss Sprite who goes where ever and does whatever she wants. Instilling in her that she really “should” stay in my fences, leave chickens alone and wait for me before herding sheep has been a series of challenges. This is my 4 pronged approach to Trouble Dog
1)always keep her with me
2) Sprite proof the chicken house
3)remind her with “leave it” when she runs up to their fence
4)After months of taking her inside every time I went, I’d leave her out for a short time, but frequently pop out and spread treats on the front porch, encouraging her just to hang out by the door and wait for me.
So far it’s working pretty well.
parlance says
I’d be interested to know what dogs think about pain. I hear it said that dogs don’t show pain because to show weakness in a pack is to invite attack. Given the thousands of years in which dogs have lived with humans, I’m inclined to wonder about this. To me, a lot of the pain we humans suffer is the anticipation of pain when we know we have something wrong with us, so for instance I stiffen up in anticipation because I know I have a disk problem. i’d love to know more about how dogs react to an injury or illness.
Heidi Meinzer says
Having Sophie, my skittish Shepherd mix, I would love to know more about fear and the nature versus nurture debate. I wonder if her fear stems from genetics, the fact that her mother wasn’t very nurturing to her and her two litter mates, the fact that I didn’t get her until 4 months old, whether I could have done more to socialize her….
Please disregard the old shoe comment as stemming from pure ignorance. Your work with Will is nothing short of amazing. Prior to getting Sophie, I adopted Sye from our local shelter, and sadly had to return her. She had full blown fear based aggression towards men that was far beyond my abilities to turn around. Ultimately, it was likely the right and humane thing to do, but I made the decision with such a heavy heart that there is no way a comment like that person made came anywhere near the truth of the matter. I’m so happy our new pup, Boomer, is working out with Sophie. But I wouldn’t hesitate to weigh the decision like you are if that were not the case. Thanks again for all you do.
Pike says
I couldn’t resist the Dingo challenge. Yesterday, when my neighbor came to visit with her dogs, we did our own version of it.
Ronja, my hound mix, hit the plexiglass, backed off, immediately went around the right barrier and got the food. I am video challenged and did not get it on camera.
Baxter, the Poodle/Schnauzer mix, was as fast – just he went around the left barrier instead of the right. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V4aSuf0LOQ
Pearl, the Bichon, took longer (about 40 seconds) as she tried to convince her owner to help her out, paw the plexiglass, look back at me, etc. before also going around the right barrier to the food.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ik3LImeTf2Q
What a fun experiment!
I concluded that Ronja and Baxter are more independent problem solvers whereas Pearl first tried what she has perfected: to let her people work for her. Like em, I believe that the genetic background plays a large role in the behaviors seen.
These three dogs actually cover a broad spectrum of “trainability” in dogs.
Baxter is a trainer’s dream: Extremely smart, moderately independent, medium to high energy, stays reasonably close when off leash, loves to please his people, high human and low canine social skills and loves to work.
Pearl is somewhere in the middle: Also very smart, very independent, medium to low energy, stays close off leash, loves to please herself, low human and high canine social skills and about as biddable as a cat, though she will work for food.
Ronja is at least this trainer’s never ending challenge: Extremely smart, very independent, medium energy, huge radius when off leash, loves to please herself, low human and canine social skills and about as biddable as a cat.
They all appear quite true to their breeds to me with varying social skills due to nurture as well.
Sarah says
I own a Staffordshire Bull Terrier bitch, almost 9 years old, who is one of the scary smart dogs. She’s actually very trainable and willing to work with me. But she is a problem solver, and that’s a problem. She opens things. She has pretty much always known how to grab a crate door with her paw and pull it open if it’s not latched, and she knows that works with anything she can catch with her paw. We used to go to this one off leash area to play, they installed a fence there with a ranch gate, that would only swing in one direction, the idea being that the dogs couldn’t push it open to leave. Except that my dog apparently saw somebody pull it, as from the first time we went in there, she never tried to push it open from inside, she’d just grab it and pull.
A while ago, she learned to unscrew the lid of the Vittles Vault I keep kibble in, and ate herself sick. I thought I’d not closed it properly, so the next day, she did it again, but didn’t eat so much. I started putting it behind a door she couldn’t open (she hasn’t figured out how to turn a doorknob without opposable thumbs yet), but she soon figured out that she could hop up on the counter and get the cat food Vittles Vault, which was smaller and a different shape, but had the same kind of lid.
So I put that in a cabinet. I know she can open those cabinets, though (there was a raisin eating incident), so I put a dog collar through the handles of the cabinet. I knew she could chew through the nylon dog collar, but she’s not a bad chewer, so I didn’t think she would. However, what I had not foreseen was that while chewing through the collar was time consuming, it would only take a moment to chomp on the plastic buckle and destroy it. At which point she could remove the collar, open the cabinet, take out the Vittles Vault, unscrew the lid, and have a small snack. She apparently wasn’t very hungry, she didn’t eat much. I think she just likes the challenge.
Most recently, she knocked 2 cans of tuna off the counter and chewed them up to eat the tuna. I’m assuming she knew there would be food in the cans since she’s seen me open cans and get out food. I had to take her to the vet for an X-ray to be sure she hadn’t eaten too much of the cans (just a few little pieces). My friends tell me it’s all my fault for not leaving her a can opener.
What I would like to know is what I could possibly do to entertain a dog like this. Leaving food in food dispensing toys doesn’t work, they don’t provide enough challenge.
Anne Gibson says
I have 2 rescue GSDs. One was a breeder in a puppymill and was therefore deprived of human contact b4 she was 15months old (and had already had 1 litter and was pregnant with her 2nd). The second lived with a human in the most ‘luxurious’ home but was ‘diagnosed’ as “dominance aggressive” at only 3 months old. He was a menace bc he was not given ‘structure’ and a good foundation of what was expected of him. Their hardwiring ‘focus’ is to please, to have structure and to be part of a human pack. They LIVE for a job. Is that ‘intelligence’ or selective breeding?
I always say to ppl “When you mean ‘smart’, do you mean that they learn commands humans teach them and are unusually connected to human direction, because, if so, what you REALLY mean is that they are hardwired to be dependent on human input for their sense of security and to realize their genetic potential, in which case, I don’t call that ‘smart’. I see it as reflecting their genetic predisposition.
I also see any failings in their behaviour as having picked up-from where-ever- as behaviours they learned inadvertently rather than a conscious decision to make and independent ‘choice’ to behave that way.
Having said that, I also see the constantly changing, growing etc. etc. They ‘adapt’ to humans exceedingly well.
It seems to me that the definition of “smart” in this case is SO anthropomorphic in that they are so ‘human focused’. Take out of the equation that they are ‘bred’ to be teachable and I would like to know what they think quite apart from their ability to feed human’s ego by being so darned good at being trained to behave in a certain way either by intend or by accident.
Problem-solving for its own sake. Thinking ‘outside’ the box in terms of what either we trained them to do or they are predisposed to do is of more interest to me that simply that we can train them to do incredibly complex tasks we teach them.
Betsy C says
I’d like to know what is happening between a dog’s thinking mind and the power of his nose and how it effects behavior. (for example, “hey there’s a pile of poop. Interesting information. I’d like to think about that. Hmmm….Now I think I’ll eat it (or roll in it!!) Is it the size of human’s prefrontal cortex that has more control over our more ancient brains (is it 36% for humans and 6% for dogs?) so that we supposedly have more control over our impulses, can communicate and can live in complex societies? But we also frequently follow our ancient brains (sex, food etc.) Sorry, just rambling….bottom line I’m interested in the prefrontal cortex and the % of the brain in different species and how it effects behavior. Thanks. Please write more about beautiful Southern Wisconsin, I need my midwestern fix! 😉
Frances says
Sarah – I love the stories of your Staffie problem solving! Perhaps what she needs are squirrel proof feeders, to really challenge her! (Although Staffie jaws may make short work of the flimsier ones)
Amy says
To Beth – Thanks for the demo on teaching different toy names. I’m going to give it a try. Winnie has a few favorite toys that she’s always ready to play with so I’ll start with those to make it fun. We’ll see how it goes. THanks again!
D in NH says
Fascinating and fun responses! Is it too late to chime in?
I’d love to know how much dogs understand the concept of past, present and future, and also their perception of time. All trainers tell us that dogs live in the immediate present, and rewards or corrections must occur within three seconds of an event/behavior. But we also know that dogs remember things, people and other dogs they have met before.
Every morning like clockwork at 9:30a.m., my BC tells me it’s time to go work sheep. Wake up, breakfast, dinner, and other events tell me he has a better internal clock than mine. But after he works sheep, can he anticipate that tomorrow he will do it again at the same time?
My older BC is quite a tattle-tale. If the cats have a fight while I’m gone, she’ll lead me to the piles of fur, “talking” the whole way “roo roo roo”, until I say “Was there a cat fight?” and then she wags, as though she knows I’ve grasped her message. Likewise, there have been multiple occasions where a friend or neighbor who has a key has stopped by while I am gone and left a package for me where they thought I’d see it…but…the BC has led me to it instead, again “roo-ing” the whole way, and I’d say “Oh was Sue here today?” then she wags, as though happy I noticed the new item, and used the correct word for the visitor. (I have purposely used the wrong name once or twice, and she has not stopped her “roo-ing” until I said the right one. Honest. But is this repeatable for a scientist? Don’t know.)
Back to the younger BC – yesterday I was doing some work a few hundred yards away on the farm. I thought I heard the dogs barking, indicating a visitor at the house, but could not see the house from where I was working. When I finally got back, I greeted the dogs in the sunroom – a jut out with three sides. My young guy was face-to-face with me, and I said “Was someone here?” and he instantly lifted his head, perked his ears, looked out the south window, turned his head and looked out the north window, then relaxed his expression and looked back at me as if to say “no one here.” And that made me realize he did not understand the “past tense” but he did understand the “someone here” part.
Again…love the responses to this post, and am going to try some of these fun experiments with my dogs. 🙂
Kathy says
I have always been curious as to how my dog decides so quickly which dogs she seems to like. When I take her for a walk she will walk by some dogs as if they aren’t there and yet for others she wants to go over and meet them. There is a corgi that she just can’t resist and others don’t interest her at all. She is a therapy dog and seems to really like the miniature horse that visits in the hospital too. When she see it, she will give it a lick on its muzzle and then they will keep looking at each other. I just don’t know how she makes these judgements so quickly.
Anaheed says
I have a special-needs dog with aggression issues. We live in Manhattan. A few weeks ago my husband and I took him to Montauk, where he spent a week off leash, running around on empty beaches, splashing around in the ocean and playing in big backyards. I’ve never seen him so happy or content. When we got back, we took him out for his usual evening playtime with two of his canine friends in a local playground. What we wanted to know was: When he got home and was returned to his routine, was he thinking about the week he just had? Did he, like, want to tell his dog friends where he’d been all this time, and how much fun he’d had, and what they missed? I know this is unanswerable, but it seems impossible that he wouldn’t want to be like, “You guys! You will NEVER BELIEVE where I’ve been.” Did he remember his vacation, or did he just let it go, and focus on what was before him?
Molly says
To parlance: take a look at Temple Grandin’s book Animals in Translation and she talks a little about how she thinks animals view pain in relation to fear. Its a great book if your interested in animal perception at all!
What would I like a study to be done on: how to correct your dog so that she knows its just a correction and that she’s not in trouble, she just needs to stop and listen.
I keep hitting a wall with my little bc; her window of correction is tiny…
Irma says
The following are questions from fellow trainers, colleagues and dogs lovers. Carolyn would like to know if dogs are in tune to changes in our lifes. She is probably interested since she is expecting her first child. Shirley does a lot of rescue work. She would like to know if dogs miss a previous home/owner after resue or home replacement. Marylouise owns Capitan, a very protective GS. He has come a long way with socialization and CC. Marylouise would like to know where the protective instinct comes from? Why does it differ from one dog to another? I’m always puzzeled by the fact the a dog knows who his birth mother is but he never hesitates to try and mount/breed her when she comes into season. Why is that? Is it just animal instict?
Many thanks for your wisdom and efforts!
Irma
Molly says
Okay – I have more ideas! I bet there is a way to incorporate smell into training – I just don’t know how. With dogs viewing/smelling the world through their noses why cant we use that to both of our advantages when training?
And one more – I know dogs are trying to say something when they make eye contact and tilt their heads up and slightly away while maintaining eye contact. I assume they are asking for something and humans use a similar movement at times but I think there is a lot more to the gesture. I’ve had people say that it is a ‘dominance’ thing and, well, we all know what we think about that term…
Thanks again!
lytha says
One of the things I remember from my animal behavior classes at UW (WA) was about different kinds of intelligence. The professor said comparing smartness is difficult; species exhibit different behavior to suit their individual needs.
I remember the experiment he used as an example. A dog was tied so he could not reach his food because the rope was diverted around a pole. Instead of backtracking to the pole to lengthen the rope, the dog fixated on the food and pulled on the rope. A squirrel in the same situation backtracked almost immediately to the pole, which allowed him to reach the food.
The professor explained that dogs being predators, eyes forward, are forward motivated. Squirrels live in a 3 dimensional world where they continually navigate tree branches, and travel back and forth if one branch didn’t reach the goal.
He said that we can’t infer that the squirrel is smarter than the dog, just better suited to solving this type of problem.
I find it interesting that the wolves and dingoes did better than dogs on the sideways “going around” tests. Makes me wish I was back in that class today.
LS says
What I would like to know about dog cognition: Do dogs think about past and future and/or ponder things that are not immediately present in their environment? I have seen a thoughtful dog get up from the couch and go to retrieve an item from another room to play with it. I’m curious about the cognitive process that leads to that.
Bret Baum says
I have a dog named miracle and I love her, she certainly is a miracle.