"My dog is stupid! He does not understand anything, I can not educate him! "
As a canine educator, I heard this phrase very often from teachers who came to school with their dogs. And most often, the dog in question was actually difficult to educate because very intelligent precisely!
This may seem surprising, but it is finally logical to understand that the more intelligent a dog will be, the greater his adaptability will be and therefore his education will be complicated to put in place!
What is intelligence?
Intelligence, though often difficult to define, is an individual's ability to adapt and solve a problem using skills acquired throughout his life.
In reality, there are several types of intelligences.
In humans, it is easy to understand that some individuals are, for example, very adaptable in society and communicate easily with others, while others are excellent at solving a mathematical problem, but are struggling to maintain social relations.
Finally, judging a person about his or her academic achievements is fundamentally reductive because it only judges a part of human intelligence. In other words, a person may have academic difficulties, but be much more adaptable and therefore intelligent in another area.
The difference between human intelligence and Canine
The main difference between the intelligence of a human and that of a dog lies in the dog's inability to conceptualize.
In other words, the human is capable of concept, that is, of verbal thought. He can solve a problem without experimenting empirically with the solution and thus understanding abstract or imaginary notions.
For example, the human is able to understand and reflect on spiritual notions, such as God, because he is apt to conceptualize an idea and think about it without having to experiment with it.
Another nuance is that a human can solve a problem by observing a situation and thinking about it, and that the dog is just unable to do so.
The Dog needs to try and / or concretely observe a solution to understand it.
So, the difference between human intelligence and Canine comes down to the dog's inability to set up a concept and therefore its need to experiment to learn and solve problems. This is also why we say that the dog learns by "trial / error".
So, my dog is smart?
The dog is smart, of course, but there are many nuances!
First of all, we must understand that the environment (the house, the city, etc.) in which the dog evolves, is created and thought to suit Humans. If one had to compare the human intelligence with the animal intelligence, the dog will leave with disadvantage because the environment in which it lives is not thought, nor adapted to its species. It is therefore up to the dog to adapt to our environment of Human and this is already a mark of intelligence in my opinion and evolution of this species.
In a second time, the intelligence also develops according to the motivation to solve a problem. Indeed, if something is really important to you, your investment and your skills will logically be more exploited.
To give you a more "canine" example, a dog who lacks food, will develop strategies to find food and his intelligence will be exploited to its fullest in order to survive.
But beware, this point is directly related to the instinct and sensitivity, ie the temperament of the dog, but also with his physical abilities. In fact, the more fearful or sensitive your dog is, the more scared and the less curious and enterprising to solve problems. Regarding this last point, it is obviously necessary to also take into account the type of problem that the dog in question will have to manage.
In conclusion,
Thus, each dog will have his level of intelligence, according to his instincts, his temperament and his motivation to solve a problem.
In addition, the smartest dogs will be the most difficult to educate in the sense that they will easily find a way to adapt to take advantage of their environment sometimes to the detriment of the will of their master.
And finally, it is by adapting to the dog, stimulating enough from a young age and understanding it as accurately as possible that we will manage to cultivate his skills and intelligence.
This subject is vast, let's not forget that each year we discover new areas on the intelligence of the dog and his ability to adapt! To be continued…