Sunday, August 09, 2009

Dogs Smarter Than Toddlers

As a dog lover, I was NOT surprised to read that dogs are smarter than toddlers. As the article on MSNBC states:
"...average dogs can learn 165 words (similar to a 2-year-old child), including signals and gestures, and dogs in the top 20 percent in intelligence can learn 250 words. While dogs ranked with the 2-year-olds in language, they would trump a 3- or 4-year-old in basic arithmetic"

What did surprise me was that Golden Retrievers ranked 4th in intelligence and Shetland Sheepdogs ranked 6th. I know that our Sheltie was much smarter than any of our Goldens.

This news makes me think that Cooper does understand the commands he is given, but is smart enough to know he can ignore them without punishment.

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