AUSTIN (KXAN) — How smart is your dog? New research out of Duke University, presented at the University of Texas later this month, is exploring this question.
Dr. Brian Hare’s new book, “Puppy Kindergarten,” includes what he calls the “first time that anyone’s done a longitudinal or a deep dive into how puppies develop during the last period of rapid brain growth.”
Dr. Hare will present his work as part of UT’s Hot Science Cool Talks lecture series. On September 20, “The Genius of Dogs” will highlight the evolution of dogs, how their minds expand during the puppy years and some tricks you can use to train your dog.
One trick highlighted in the book and lecture series: locking up their food.
“Between eight and 20 weeks of age, you can double the amount of eye contact your dog makes just by putting food in a container and locking it. And some dogs try to just get it on their own and keep trying. But a lot of dogs start looking up and asking for help,” Dr. Hare said.
Doing this four or five times every other week will increase their eye contact, according to Dr. Hare.
The genius of dogs
“Dogs are very highly socially and emotionally intelligent beings,” said Chelsea Riseman, a behavioral specialist at Austin Pets Alive!, an animal shelter located near Lady Bird Lake. “They pick up on a lot of social cues.”
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Riseman said that through her work, she’s seen some of the amazing intelligence of dogs. For one, dogs are one of only two known species to understand pointing at things. Humans are the other.
“Dogs are remarkable at this understanding of gestural communication that we think is so important for our species,” Dr. Hare said.
Bark!
Dogs also have an amazing vocabulary. “On average, I believe it’s about 165 words that they can retain their vocabulary,” Riseman said.
Dr. Hare observed that not only can dogs learn words, they can also teach themselves new words without our assistance.
“Like you say, ‘bring the red frisbee and the blue ball.’ But then you say, ‘oh, bring the blicket.’ The Blicket?!? They don’t bring something that they already know a label for, they bring the new thing. And then they even remember weeks later, when you say ‘Blicket’ again, that that’s the thing that’s called the blicket,” Dr. Hare said.
Breed and intelligence
Another cool discovery, breed has nothing to do with intelligence. “There’s tremendous individual variability in cognitive performance within every breed,” Dr. Hare said.
Riseman also saw this through her work. “The saying you can’t teach an old dog new tricks is not true. They are able to adapt learn. They’re a very resilient breed. While that may have factors here and there, it doesn’t have to do with intelligence.”
As part of the Clear The Shelters event, Austin Pets Alive! will offer half off of all pet adoptions through September 10th.
The Hot Science Cool Talks lecture on “The Genius of Dogs” is Friday, September 20. The lecture starts at 7 p.m. at Welch Hall on UT’s campus. The event is free.