Warning!

My journey into dogs’ mental abilities starts with a crucial warning: let us keep in mind that the idea of “intelligence” refers inevitably to humans. Any kind of explanation or measure of canine abilities has to take into account our human point of view. 

Let us consider a paradox: imagine a world dominated by dogs that want to measure human abilities to perform canine tasks. Would it be fair for us to be “measured” on our ability to find a bone? For the same reason that this would be unfair, it is unfair to measure a dog’s intelligence based only on human signs.

After this clarification, I think it is appropriate to report that canine research proves that dogs’ mental abilities are similar to a two-year-old child. Canine researcher Stanley Coren concluded that dogs have the ability to solve complex problems, and they are more similar to human beings and to other primates than what the scientific world has so far recognized. 

 To visit Coren’s web site, click on this hyperlink: The Intelligence of Dogs

Dogs solve problems mainly through smell, their strongest sense to interact with the world. It is thanks to their smell and their ability to detect particular scents that humans have used them for centuries for different purposes, from finding truffles or drugs, to hunting for lively game or human remains.

 For a better understanding of dog’s smell, watch this video: