Pet Smarts | Tell Tale Signs Your Pet is Smart
October 12, 2014
Pet Smarts | Tell Tale Signs Your Pet is Smart
Is my dog smart? Is my cat smart? More generally - is my pet smart? Or, should I be a bit concerned about my pet!?
Do you find yourself asking yourself the above questions about your pet? Yes? Then this post is for you!
Pet IQ isn’t really something that can be divided into schools of study, like we’ve done with the study of human intelligence – but, there’s certainly quite a bit of information circulating the web about pet smarts and there’s even whole university programs dedicated to animal psychology. I would imagine that the study of pet smarts (if there is a specific study at all) would happen through the study of animal or pet psychology.
If you want to know if your pet is smart, you first have to realize that what it is for a pet to be smart is different from what it means for a human being to be smart – animals are very different from human beings in the way their minds work. Even more, how one species of pet thinks is very different from how another species might think; what it means for a dog to be smart might be entirely different from what it means for a cat or hamster to be smart and there probably isn’t a one trick fits all solution to determining whether or not your pet is a smarty-pants.
For example, some people might think that parrots are incredibly intelligent because they can actually learn to communicate with their human friends using actual words from different human languages. Although you could say that parrots are very smart, there’s a bit of the story that often gets over looked – parrots are equipped with certain anatomical parts that allow them to make noises that mimic human language; whereas other animals don’t have parts that allow them to make those noises.
So, when your dog just sits there and barks at you and you ask yourself “is my dog dumb?!” because he can’t communicate with you – just remember that he wasn’t made to speak your language and he’s probably wondering the same thing about you.
While there isn’t one general question that you can ask about all pets to determine their intelligence, there are probably a couple tell tale signs that will at least give you a clue:
Can your pet be potty trained?
If an animal can be house broken and learns to go to the bathroom in a specific spot or outside, and it’s able to do this quite quickly – then your little friend certainly isn’t too dull. If your pet is supposed to be potty trainable, but just doesn’t seem to be getting it – maybe there’s some room for concern; but, before you worry, make sure you’re training your little pet the right way!
How quickly does your pet learn tricks?
Many types of animals can learn tricks, although some are probably better at it than others – dogs and monkeys are incredibly good at learning tricks for example, whereas cats and hamsters don’t really seem to be too keen on entertaining their human friends. So, if your pet is generally the type of animal that can learn tricks – then see how well and how quickly they can learn. This is one of the main things that set border collies apart from other dog breeds on the intelligence scale – collies are incredibly quick at learning and can learn up to 1,000 commands!
Here are some fun doggy intelligence tests, if you’re really curious about your pooch friend in particular!
7 Fun Tests To Help You Determine How Smart Your Dog Is
The Animal Attraction - Dog IQ Test
I hope you found this post helpful! And remember not to be too hard on your furry (or not so furry) little friend - we're not all made the same and sometimes you might be communicating incorrectly. Even if your pet doesn't seem to be too smart, at least they're cute!
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Author: Aileen Schultz