Who's smarter...your toddler or your dog?

The following story is from today's "Vitals" in the Calgary Herald.....compiled by Lisa Kadane, Calgary Herald.


Who's Smarter -- Your Toddler Or Your Dog?

Pets - Psychologist and leading canine researcher Stanley Coren of the University of British Columbia recently spoke at The American Psychological Association's annual convention. The subject of his talk? How Dogs Think.

According to Coren, dogs are as smart as two-year-old children, can understand more than 150 words, and can count up to four or five. But with brains comes manipulative behaviour (something any toddler has figured out). Dogs are "consciously deceptive" and trick people into giving them what they want. "And they are nearly as successful in deceiving humans as humans are in deceiving dogs," Coren said. Coren studied data from 208 dog-obedience judges in the United States and Canada to determine the differences in working and obedience intelligence across different dog breeds. Here are the results of which dogs are smartest.

1. Border collies

2. Poodles

3. German shepherds

4. Golden retrievers

5. Dobermans

6. Shetland sheepdogs

7. Labrador retrievers

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