Is Your Dog Smarter than a Toddler?

Dogs are cuddly, playful, loyal -- and smart. But you totally already knew that. Now science tells us just how smart they really are.

The average dog has mental abilities akin to those of a two-year-old child, according to Stanley Coren, a dog expert and professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia. Coren presented an overview of dog-intelligence studies at the American Psychological Association's annual meeting this week.

In tests of language development, Coren said, the average dog can learn 165 words, including signals and gestures. That's comparable to the performance of a two-year-old toddler. The brainiest breeds can do even better, with some smarty-pants mastering a whopping 250 words (we're guessing half of these are synonyms for dinner).

Dogs are also impressive when it comes to crunching numbers. Pups can count to four or five -- a skill on par with a three- or four-year old child, reports Livescience.com.

Other studies have found that dogs have good spatial problem-solving skills, and can show basic emotions such as happiness, disgust and anger. One emotion man's best friend doesn't suffer from? Guilt. What may seem like a guilty look is actually a dog's fear, according to Coren.


Not all canines are created equal, and Coren weighed in on which breeds are smartest -- and which aren't exactly the sharpest knives in the drawer. He surveyed more than 200 dog-obedience judges to rank 110 breeds by intelligence. The top five smartest dogs, in order of their scores, were border collies, poodles, German shepherds, golden retrievers and doberman pinschers. The five breeds that aren't the sharpest spikes on the collar? Borzois, chow chows, bulldogs, basenjis and, in dead last, Afghan hounds (ouch!).

Coren noted that the dog varieties which scored lower on intelligence tests were often older breeds developed for skills like hunting. They might do better on tests of instinctive intelligence, such as in locating something by sight or smell. The craftier canines, meanwhile, are more recent breeds that were likely bred to be more human-friendly.

Today, people often go for the smartest breeds when adopting a new pooch. "We like dogs that understand us," Coren told Livescience.com. But having Einstein for a pet has a downside. Super-smart dogs will easily learn precisely what they can get away with, Coren warned. And on the flip side, Coren said, some dimwitted dogs like beagles make popular pets, thanks to their sweet and sociable natures. "Sometimes people love the dumb blonde."

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Tags: Coren, dog-intelligence, intelligence, language, psychology