by Heather Hamel

Created on: April 13, 2010

How do you judge a pet’s intelligence? How does one even define intelligence? The ability to learn, to comprehend, to understand and profit from experience. The faculty of thought and reason. Animals have this. 

With all the different personalities, how can one really determine how intelligent a creature is? If someone has a multitude of mostly indoor pets, they will see different forms of intelligence, from immensely different personalities. So much of how we judge is subjective, that is, in the eye of the beholder. 

A cat is an animal that is hard to judge how intelligent they are. They are naturally aloof, stubborn, and mischievous. They don’t like to do what they are told, unless it is in their interest. They are instinctively clean animals so it takes about two tries, if that, to litter train a kitten. They know how to sneak up on a bird wearing multiple bells around their neck. They will come when they are called, only if they want to. They might even fetch, but usually only one object, and why they pick that particular object, well, they have their own reasons. When you watch a cat interact with other pets, cats or dogs; you see them plan and strategize their moves, attacking just at the right moment.  

Some dogs will know the names of all of their different toys, and be very trainable, knowing and really caring about what the owner wants them to do. They will do everything in their power to do what they are told, and even figure out what they should do without being told first. These dogs are often the ones that are judged to be more intelligent. But then you put a new stuffed animal down in front of the dog, wiggle it around a bit, and your dog thinks it is alive, and runs and hides. You put a stuffed animal down in front of another dog, one that won’t do what it is told, like the cat, and it just knows that the animal isn’t real. Is one of these dogs more intelligent than the other? Probably not, just very different. This could be because of the breed of the dog. Different breeds have different personalities. Small dogs often behave differently than large dogs, because they have to rely more on their owners for safety.  This is another form of intelligence. 

Sometimes impartial observation can show it is the owner that is lacking. Some people will talk about their “dumb dog” always peeing in the house. You look after their dog for a couple of days for them when they go on holidays, and notice the dog goes to the door when it wants to go out. Here it turns out the owners just weren’t picking up on the clues the dog was giving. 

There is a Pooch IQ test which has various tests for your dog to score points on. You hide treats under different objects, each taking varying skill levels to get the treat out. Your dog will lose points if it turns to you for help if the test gets too hard. I don’t think the test is very reliable, because good communication, knowing to ask the owner, knowing the owner will do what they can for the dog, is also a strong form of intelligence. 

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