The side convo in the "what not to call your dog thread" reminded me of some articles I'd read quite awhile ago regarding dogs and whether or not they learn to understand the language of the people they live with.
Seems the old "dogs only understand tone and body language" school may be going the way of alpha rolls and newspapers?
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2004/06/63792
This one's even more impressive
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/science/18dog.html?pagewanted=all
Interesting, although I question whether they're measuring actual intelligence in their rankings as much as they are desire to please/perform, especially since it doesn't seem to take into account understanding and using cause and effect, problem solving, inductive or deductive reasoning or initiating actions based on observation of situations.
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/personal/08/07/smart.dogs/index.html
Seems the old "dogs only understand tone and body language" school may be going the way of alpha rolls and newspapers?
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2004/06/63792
This one's even more impressive
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/science/18dog.html?pagewanted=all
Interesting, although I question whether they're measuring actual intelligence in their rankings as much as they are desire to please/perform, especially since it doesn't seem to take into account understanding and using cause and effect, problem solving, inductive or deductive reasoning or initiating actions based on observation of situations.
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/personal/08/07/smart.dogs/index.html