Pablo’s IQ skyrockets whenever food is involved. Seconds before this photo was taken he was snoring away on the sofa atop his favorite pillow. Then K went into the kitchen to make himself breakfast. Pronto, Pablo is on full alert.
Pablo’s IQ skyrockets whenever food is involved. Seconds before this photo was taken he was snoring away on the sofa atop his favorite pillow. Then K went into the kitchen to make himself breakfast. Pronto, Pablo is on full alert.
Filed under Canine intelligence
So Pablo and I are not as deeply bonded as I’d thought. Sob. According to a recent NY Times article on canine intelligence, one way to test if you and your dog are strongly bonded is to yawn and see if your dog reciprocates. Well, I’ve yawned until my lips ache and Pablo just looks at me as if to say, “What is that crazy person doing?”
Above is a shot of Pablo yawning–just to show that he does know how!
Filed under Canine intelligence
When Pablo first received this IQ toy from his grandma he found it a bit of a challenge. It’s really meant for a much bigger dog, one that can remove the yellow lids with its mouth. Pablo tried and tried, but his jaws only open so wide. Ever resourceful, he hammered at the lids with his paws. At first it took him anywhere from three to five minutes to remove a single lid and retrieve a tasty bit of duck jerky tucked underneath. Practice makes perfect, though, and he’s whittled his time down to three and a half minutes to remove all four! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. When food is involved, this pug is a genius!
Filed under Canine intelligence
Dear Grandma,
Thank you for coming to my birthday party last Thursday. And thank you for my presents! I loved the Happy Birthday biscuit. I would have gobbled it up by now, but a Certain Someone insists on doling it out in little bits each day. Maybe you could have a talk with her…..?
The spiffy new puzzle you got me also gets me treats. Except it’s a little hard for me. It’s not that I’m a dope, Grandma! You see, my mouth just isn’t big enough to lift off the lids the way you’re supposed to. I try and try, because I know that a yummy treat’s inside.
And I’m resourceful, Grandma. I am! I knock it around and bang it with my paws until a lid pops open. Sometimes I make so much noise I can hardly hear the big folks screaming at me to stop it already. So Grandma, once again,your plan worked! You present is driving those guys nuts and it’s getting me more treats than before. I love you, Grandma!
Your very smart grandpug,
Pablo
Filed under Canine intelligence, pugs
For the past month I’ve been taking a continuing-ed class in American Sign Language (ASL). I’m writing a book on the subject for a client so I thought it would be useful if I could learn some basic signs. And it has helped. Enormously. If nothing else, I’ve discovered how hard it is to contort my hands into different shapes, not to mention memorizing the manual alphabet and all the many signs.
To reinforce what I’m learning, I decided to teach Pablo some simple signs. BTW, teaching dogs ASL is not unheard of. A few breeds, such as Dalmatians, are genetically prone to deafness and older dogs can become deaf as well. The first sign I taught Pablo is SIT, which I fingerspell. SIT has its own sign, of course, but fingerspelling seems to work better with Pablo.
After a few tries, Pablo caught on–and here’s the amazing part, he’ll sit even when I don’t have food! He doesn’t do that when I give him the verbal command–just looks at me as if he’s thinking “What’s in it for me?” I wish I had known ASL when he was a pup. Think of all the commands he would know by now!
Filed under Canine intelligence, health, pugs
Watched the Nova scienceNOW episode on animal intelligence on PBS last Wednesday and it was pretty good. The hour-long show featured dogs, dolphins, octopuses, and Alex, an African parrot. The highlight of the dog section was a border collie named Chaser. What an amazing dog! As mentioned previously in this blog, Chaser knows the names of more than 1,000 of her toys. In the special, she is told to fetch a specific toy from a bunch hidden behind a couch. Off she trots and time after time she brings back the correct one. Then comes the show stopper. A toy that she has never seen before (a plush figure of Darwin–clever!) is placed in the pile. Chaser is instructed to fetch Darwin, an unfamiliar name. Can she do it? It’s obvious the dog is befuddled. She noses around the pile of toys. All but one are familiar. Will she be be able to infer that the one toy whose name she doesn’t know must be Darwin? She’s called back and again told to find Darwin. This time, success! She grabs Darwin and bring the toy back to lavish praise.
While these feats of canine intelligence were being portrayed on the screen, Pablo snored by my side, unimpressed. Chaser was doing all this work and not getting treats? Pablo was having none of it!
My second favorite section was the one on octopuses. I’ve always found cephalopods to be fascinating creatures, the way they jet around, instantly camouflage themselves, and escape from predators in a blast of inky smoke. In this section viewers were introduced to Ruby, an octopus able to problem solve. In his home at the Biomes Marine Center in North Kingstown, Ruby was given a jar with a twist-on lid. Inside was a delectable shrimp. Not shown how to open the jar, the mollusk sometimes tightened it instead. Through trial and error, Ruby learned how to consistently open the lid and retrieve his snack. Sadly, Ruby died a year ago. His memory lives on.
Filed under Canine intelligence, Dog breeds, Other critters, reviews
Last summer I tested Pablo’s IQ, and while he did more than okay on some tasks (those having to do with food), in others he was sorely lacking. Well perhaps there’s hope for him yet! An article in today’s New York Times features a border collie named Chaser, and she knows more than 1,000 words. Not only that, she’s a wiz with grammar too, able to distinguish between nouns and verbs. Pretty impressive!
John W. Pilley, the scientist who taught the pooch her vocabulary, got Chaser as a pup in 2004. He worked with her four to five hours every day, teaching her a word or two a day. Chaser loved the challenge and still does, badgering him if they slack off. According to Pilley, “I’m 82, and I have to go to bed to get away from her.”
Chaser knows way more words than Rico, a border collie living in Germany, that was recently featured on the NOVA’s Dogs Decoded. A new NOVA episode, How Smart Are Dogs?, will air on February 9th, and this one will highlight Chaser. Can’t wait to see it. And, maybe, just maybe, Pablo will learn something to make his IQ go up a point or two.
Filed under Canine intelligence, Dog breeds
I watched a very informative NOVA show about dogs and genetics last night on PBS. Called Dogs Decoded, it covered a range of topics from how dogs evolved to how they communicate with humans. While a lot of it wasn’t new to me, for instance how wild foxes can be domesticated just like dogs, some was. There is an amazing scene of a border collie living in Germany that knows more than 300 words and that can retrieve an object in another room by looking at a two-dimensional image of it. Overall the entire show was very well presented and the focus was on the science and not on showing dogs being adorable (although of course they were). And a pair of pugs were among the pets featured!
If you can’t catch it on TV, watch it on-line here. The site also has some cool interactive features, such as trying your hand at interpreting barks and matching breeds to where they originated.
Filed under Canine intelligence, Dog breeds, reviews
Now that Pablo’s IQ test is finished, what are the results? Let’s add up his test scores:
Test #1 5 points
Test #2 5 points
Test #3 4 points
Test #4 4 points
Test #5 5 points
Test #6 1 point
Total: 24 points
Scoring
More than 25 points Your dog is a genius
15-15 points Your dog is smart, but won’t go to Harvard
5 to 15 points Your dog isn’t too bright, but most likely very cute
Below 5 points No comment, but check for pulse
Pablo missed being a genius by 1 point!
In conclusion, I have severe misgivings about this test. As others have commented, a lot depends on how motivated a dog is. If a dog isn’t a fiend for treats the way Pablo is, he/she might not score as high on some tests. Does that mean the dog isn’t intelligent? Not necessarily. Also, Pablo did very well freeing himself from the towel (test #2). But ever since he was a puppy, after a bath we’ve played a game where I chase him and throw a towel over him as he wriggles away. Did this game give him an unfair advantage?
Now that you know your dog’s IQ, do you wonder about your own? After spending a week testing Pablo’s, I know I question my own intelligence (and sanity). Here’s a quiz from Mensa. While not a valid IQ test, you will still find out how you measure up in the brain department. So go on, what are you afraid of?
Filed under Canine intelligence