Dogs Are as Smart as Humans -- Albeit Young Humans

Studies Indicate that Dogs Have the Average Intelligence of a 2-Year-Old Child

Ever wonder why your dog seems to be a bit smarter than your child? Stanley Coren, a canine expert and professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia, says that, according to a study he has conducted with various breeds of dogs, the average dog is as developmentally intelligent as the average 2-year-old human child. Studies that include modified tests for children have been used to gauge the relative intelligence of dogs of later and the animals may actually be a little more intelligent than many people have thought. According to the article in Live Science, Coren collected data from 200 dog obedience schools in Canada and the United States and found that the smartest canines averaged in intelligence with a 2-and-a-half-year-old child.

On average dogs can learn approximately 165 words. The more intelligent dogs can acquire a vocabulary awareness of around 250 words. In math skills, dogs are aware of numerical differences up to five digits and can calculate the difference. The word and math skills are equivalent to that of a child of 2 to 2.5 years of age.

Yet, as far as socialization is concerned, dogs are as intelligent as the average teenager. Coren says their socialization is "complex" and their concerns center around being "interested in who is moving up in the pack and who is sleeping with who and that sort of thing." (If one is surprised to hear these findings, it should be noted that Dr. Drew Pinsky, host of the popular radio talk show "Loveline," relates in his book The Mirror Effect that the mind of a teenager is much like the mind of and infant child, going through radical changes in growth, chemical composition, and overall cognitive development.)

"We all want insight into how our furry companions think, and we want to understand the silly, quirky and apparently irrational behaviors [that] Lassie or Rover demonstrate," Stanley Coren said. He will present the findings of his studies at the American Psychological Association's annual meeting in Toronto. "Their stunning flashes of brilliance and creativity are reminders that they may not be Einsteins but are sure closer to humans than we thought."