Posted on 11/28/2007 7:54:46 PM PST by blam
Dogs display aspects of human intelligence
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
Last Updated: 6:01pm GMT 28/11/2007
Dog lovers have long claimed that their pets are smarter than many of us realise.
New evidence to back that view comes from research published today which concludes that, like us, our canine friends are able to form abstract concepts.
Friederike Range and colleagues from the University of Vienna, Austria, show for the first time that dogs are able to learn how to classify complex colour photographs and place them into categories in the same way that humans do.
Training stimuli: Images of dogs and landscapes are used to test dogs' recognition of abstract concepts
"Dogs were for a long time considered to be just pets - so showing that they are able to also form abstract concepts maybe gives their cognitive abilities more credit," she said.
However, the abstract concept they were able to grasp in this pioneering experiment was rather familiar, that of "dog."
The team reports in the journal Animal Cognition a clever way to show that the dogs are not picking up subtle signals from their handlers: the dogs successfully demonstrate their learning through the use of computer touch-screens, eliminating potential human influences.
Four dogs were shown both landscape and dog photographs simultaneously and were rewarded with food if they selected the dog picture on the touch screen.
Then they were shown a new set of dog and landscape pictures. They continued to reliably select the dog photographs, demonstrating that they could transfer their knowledge gained in the training phase to a new circumstance, even though they had never seen those particular pictures before.
In a second test, the dogs were faced with a choice between a new dog pasted on a familiar landscape and a completely new landscape with no dog, In this case, they reliably selected the landscape with the dog.
"These results show that the dogs were able to form a concept, that is 'dog', although the experiment cannot tell us whether they recognized the dog pictures as actual dogs," said Dr Range.
"Using touch-screen computers with dogs opens up a whole world of possibilities on how to test the cognitive abilities of dogs."
The dogs that took part were a Border Collie (Maggie), one Border Collie mix (Lucy), one Australian Shepherd (Bertl), and one mongrel (Todor). Two dogs were male (Bertl, Todor), two were female (Maggie, Lucy).
In earlier work, the team showed striking similarities between humans and dogs in the way they imitate others, showing they do more than copy. They also interpet what they see.
There's GOT to be another great dog out there, maybe from similar bloodlines.
I know it. And she was just great, period, smart or not. Very stable and totally reliable and trustworthy in any situation (a great “willing” guard dog with no true aggression issues). Never had a problem with her. My pride and joy.
Shana died 12 years ago this past 21st (last week). Not a week goes by I don’t think about that greatest of dogs. My dad came up to CT to help me with her when she fell apart suddenly (I lived all alone; we ended up bringing her dead body back to MD for Thanksgiving). Even my recently pregnant sister came with her 4-mo old twins to dig a burial hole for her when we came back.
I’m sorry about your Dal - I know what you mean. Look at my 12 years passing! We don’t forget easily.
But can he differentiate the balls from the strikes?
Well, he knows the difference between balls and sticks, so that's pretty close....
It’s been too long! And mixed lines. I could kick myself for so righteously NOT breeding her (she was never spayed until she was 10), because her conformation wasn’t perfect (flat stifles, crabbing gait). But everything else was and that’s more important than her lack of “type”. I now wonder if I ever could have gotten a good pup from her, much like her. Of course, it’s still a crap shoot, no matter how careful you are.
Otherwise, she was a rare deliberate breeding of American lines and German working - something neither of the snobsets would ever normally condone! They’re not easy to find, carefully & seriously bred.
I think next time I’ll be looking for a “BYB” farm dog like our 1st GS was. They seem much closer to what a GS should be, anyway. I’ve seen too much of the crap put out by the snobs.
Same here—just a great dog. Broke my heart. And it’s been 12 years not 11. Where does the time go?
Wow, 12 years both!
It so often seems like yesterday.
How long did you have the Dal?
11+ years. At the time,longer than I’d had my two oldest kids. I’ve thot about getting another one but it would be like your spouse dying so you go out and marry someone that matches his description perfectly. Outside might be the same, but the inside is what matters.
Stupid to hurt this much over a dog. Stupid dogs! In a perfect world, they’d live as long as we do.
Our beagle is actually a grandpuppy who comes to visit a couple days a week. We have had beagles or grandbeagles for many years and both are kids have beagles now. Thanks, I will show my son and daughter the picture of Barkley.
I love dogs. They are veery special animals.
Yes, I think he’d still eat even when he was hurting that bad. We have to crate him now when we leave him alone. He’ll break into feed bins, cupboards, garbage, anything!
Actually I’d disagree! Most dogs actually aren’t *that* great, and I’d be really more disposed to dispose if they live that long! Aye carumba!
Now, if you could say “this dog is great so he needs to live all my life” or so, then yes. Pick & choose who lives very long would be great. ;-)
So true! I’ve had a few I didn’t want to spend a day with, much less the rest of my life!
Ah, how I love dogs! My wife taught our dog to ring the doorbell (actually bump a metal ball with his nose) whenever he wanted to come in. This prevents him from jumping up and clawing the wooden door. Took her about 2 hours to teach him.
For all those that have never met Skidboot:
http://www.classbrain.com/artteenah/publish/skidboot_the_dog_video.shtml
When I got my second dog, I wanted another one that blended the field and show lines -- that's just about as uncommon as GSD breeders crossing US and German -- but with just a little less 'show' than my first dog, because she doesn't have the drive to go big time (300 yard retrieves).
But I also had hoped to get a puppy from my good friends' Lab Tori - just the prettiest little black Lab bitch you ever saw, around 50 pounds, tons of drive, beautiful temperament, neatly built and very agile. But Tori had allergy issues and they spayed her, much to my dismay.
Well, I discovered that probably the No. 1 breeder of field trial Labs in the country had a litter by FC/AFC The Man In Black (a Lean Mac son) out of a yellow bitch who is half show and half field, with some great dogs in the field half (Abercrombie & Fitch, Honest Abe). And the show dogs are "dual purpose", meaning they also hunt, like the English show dogs are required to do.
So I got a little black girl from that litter.
Now that she's growing up, she is the absolute spittin' image of Tori -- both in looks and in temperament. I think whoever the patron saint of dogbreeding is did me a nice favor! (St. Hubert? St. Roch? St. Antony the Abbot?)
Anyone who’s lived with a Malamute knows they observe, decide, act...and enjoy the humor in the chaos they’ve just caused.
When our son comes over with the beag we have to lock up the garbage and move food back from the counter edges. She is well behaved otherwise but food distracts her.
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