Praise for The Intelligence of Dogs "For those who take the dog days literally, the best in pooch lit is Stanley Coren’s The Intelligence of Dogs. Psychologist, dog trainer, and all-around canine booster, Coren trots out everyone from Aristotle to Darwin to substantiate the smarts of canines, then lists some 40 commands most dogs can learn, along with tests to determine if your hairball is Harvard material.” —U.S. News & World Report "Fascinating . What makes The Intelligence of Dogs such a great book, however, isn’t just the abstract discussions of canine intelli­ gence. Throughout, Coren relates his findings to the concrete, dis­ cussing the strengths and weaknesses of various breeds and including specific advice on evaluating different breeds for vari­ ous purposes. It's the kind of book would-be dog owners should be required to read before even contemplating buying a dog.” —The Washington Post Book World “Excellent book . Many of us want to think our dog’s persona is characterized by an austere veneer, a streak of intelligence, and a fearless-go-for-broke posture. No matter wrhat your breed, The In­ telligence of Dogs . will tweak your fierce, partisan spirit . Coren doesn’t stop at intelligence and obedience rankings, he also explores breeds best suited as watchdogs and guard dogs . [and] does a masterful job of exploring his subject's origins, vari­ ous forms of intelligence gleaned from genetics and owner/trainer conditioning, and painting an inner portrait of the species.” —The Seattle Times "This book offers more than its w7ell-publicized ranking of pure­ bred dogs by obedience and working intelligence. The author, a psychologist, has cleverly combined scholarship, opinion and an­ ecdotes to ‘promote understanding of the behavior and intelli­ gence of domestic dogs' . Read this book with your best friend.” —The Dallas Morning News “Everyone thinks that their own dog is brilliant. Coren has writ­ ten an intriguing study that will help dog owners to gauge realis­ tically their own dog’s intelligence. After discussing the evolution of the dog from its wolf ancestry, Coren looks at the canine and what it has meant in history, its influence on religion, and even its image as harbinger of death. But the meat of the book lies in the author’s evaluation of intelligence ... An interesting, at times stimulating, manual for the intelligent dog owner.” —Kirkus Reviews “This highly informative book is packed with new data as well as confirming present knowledge of canine sensibilities. It con­ tributes to greater understanding of how dogs think and is also a useful reference wrork in selecting and training dogs.” —The Ottawa Citizen "Let's assume you like dogs. Let’s further assume that a friend has taken you to a bookstore, and offered to buy you any new dog book that you care to get. I’d say, go for Stanley Coren’s The Intelligence of Dogs. ” —Chicago Sun-Times “Coren . firmly lays out the three aspects of a dog’s intelli­ gence that matter to us: instinctive intelligence, the innate skills for retrieving, fighting, guarding, pointing, hunting, herding and hauling that vary wildly from breed to breed; adaptive intelli­ gence, a dog’s ability to cope with its environment; and working intelligence, or trainability.” —The New York Times Book Review “Maybe he should have written about something less controver­ sial, like the national health-care plan. But, no, Stanley Coren had to step right into the buzzsaw by doing a book ranking dogs’ intelligence.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer fp ALSO BY STANLEY COREN Sleep Thieves The Left-Hander Syndrome What Do Dogs Know? (with Janet Walker) Why We Love the Dogs We Do How to Speak Dog The Pawprints of History How Dogs Think The Intelligence of Dogs A Guide to the Thoughts, Emotions, and Inner Lives of Our Canine Companions STANLEY COREN Free Press NEW YORK LONDON TORONTO SYDNEY f p FREE PRESS A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. 1230 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020 Copyright © 1994 by Stanley Coren Copyright © 2006 by SC Psychological Enterprises, Ltd. Cover photo copyright © 1995 by Dave King All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. First Free Press trade paperback edition 2006 FREE PRESS and colophon are trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc. For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales: 1-800-456-6798 or [email protected] Manufactured in the United States of America 13579 10 8642 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Coren, Stanley. The intelligence of dogs: a guide to the thoughts, emotions, and inner lives of our canine companions / Stanley Coren. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Dogs—Behavior. 2. Dogs—Psychology. 3. Animal intelligence. I. Title. SF433 .C67 2006 636.7'0887—dc22 2005052198 ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-8087-7 This book is dedicated to the instructors of the Vancouver Dog Obedi­ ence Club. It is especially dedicated to Barbara Baker, Barbara Merkley, Emma Jilg, and Shirley Welch, who were my first instruc­ tors. It is also dedicated to their wonderful working dogs, April, Mori, Meg, Wylie, and Noel, who were the role models I wanted my puppies to emulate as they grew up. Since the first writing of this book some new instructors—Ward Falkner, Christie Ulmer, and Doug Field— joined us, along with their wonderful dogs, Slater, Trooper, and Elvis, among others. Each has brought me additional insights and made my life brighter. This revised edition is a tribute to them as well. Contents Preface to the Revised Edition xi 1. Do Dogs Think? 1 2. The Natural History of Dogs 17 3. Early Views of the Dog’s Mind 45 4. Modern Views of the Dog’s Mind 61 5. The Nature of Dog Intelligence 81 6. Linguistic Intelligence in Dogs 97 7. Varieties of Dog Intelligence 125 8. Instinctive Intelligence 137 9. Adaptive Intelligence 169 10. Working or Obedience Intelligence 183 11. The Personality Factor 199 12.' Increasing a Dog's Intelligence 221 13. The Dog’s Mind and the Owner’s Happiness 251 Further Reading 275 Index 279 Preface to the Revised Edition When the first edition of this book came out in 1994, I was trying to address a problem that most of the books that were being published about dogs at the time did not. There were only veterinary guides, obedience-training books, and breed books that were not concerned about how dogs think. These books had other purposes and thus did not try to describe dogs’ intelligence or mental capacity. It was my hope that The Intelligence of Dogs would help to fill that gap in the literature by giving readers a picture of how a dog’s mind works. As a psychologist, dog trainer, and avowed dog lover, I set out to de­ scribe the mental abilities that are present in every dog. I also went one step further—namely, to explore how various breeds differ in their capacities and behaviors. Before I could do this, though, a bit of groundwork was in order. I began by looking at the origins of dogs, because any animal’s mental ability is shaped and limited by its bio­ logical makeup and the forces of evolution that have worked on it. Then I briefly examined how scientists have viewed dogs’ minds and detailed some of the controversy about the nature of the canine mind and consciousness. Finally, I looked at the various types of dog intelli­ gence and described how dog owners could actually measure their own dog’s abilities. While I hoped to make it clear that no breed of dog is without merit or purpose, I also pointed out that not all dog breeds are created equal in terms of their cleverness and mental skills. The enthusiastic reception of the first edition of this book indicated that many people wanted and needed this kind of information, and since then some other competent dog experts, researchers, and writ­ ers have followed in my footsteps by trying to provide information about the thought processes and abilities of dogs. Each has added to our knowledge of the canine mind in his or her own way. Since The Intelligence of Dogs was first published, a lot of new re­ search has been completed, and it has helped us to better understand the behavior and origins of our dogs. This revised edition therefore became necessary in order to update the original material with some of these new insights. Included in this revision is new material about the wild ancestors of dogs, how dogs came to be domesticated, their communication, thinking, and problem-solving abilities, and their personalities. I have even included some new techniques for expand­ ing your dog's mental capacity-—in effect, how to make your dog smarter. Finally, the ranking of working and obedience intelligence has been expanded, and now includes 140 dog breeds. This book would not have been possible without the assistance of many people. Most particularly, I must acknowledge the help of 208 dog obedience judges. This is more than half the total number of these specialists in all of North America. Each of the 208 took the time to fill in a very complex, involved survey. The completed surveys provided me with much of the information I give in the book. Many of these busy experts also took it upon themselves to independently pro­ vide me with extensive written insights into the minds of dogs. More than two dozen of these trained observers of dog behavior also al­ lowed me to interview them in depth, and most of these interviews lasted several hours.