Doggone intelligence

A Canadian psychology professor has ranked dog breeds in terms of intelligence and found your pooch may be smarter than your 1-year-old baby.

Stanley Coren, a professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia and dog behavior researcher, used tests designed for toddlers to determine how smart dogs are.

He presented his study at a meeting of the American Psychological Association in Toronto Saturday.

See this article from USA Today.

Coren's presentation included a review of numerous studies that show how dogs are more like humans than previously thought. He says dogs can learn about 165 words, including signals; they can count up to four or five and have a basic understanding of arithmetic. Also, he says, dogs can intentionally deceive other dogs and people to get treats they want.

CNN reported Coren found "that average dogs can count, reason and recognize words and gestures on par with a human 2 -year-old."

"They may not be Einsteins, but are sure closer to humans than we thought," Coren said.

As far as which dog breed is the smartest, he said border collies lead the pack, followed by poodles, retrievers, German shepherds and Doberman pinschers.

At the bottom of his list are the borzoi, chow chow, bulldog, basenji and the Afghan ("Don't hate me because I'm beautiful" hound.

Coren said his findings show dogs have more sense than scientists previously thought but less than many doting humans are willing to assume their dogs have.

"There are some people who think that dogs are just little human beings running around in fur coats and there are other people who sort of think that they're unfeeling biological mechanisms," he said. "The truth of the matter is really that dogs are neither extreme."