In theory the mental age, or perhaps capability, of a dog is equivalent to a three year old human. Now, this figure is all well and good, but not all dogs are the same. I know that in fairness not all human three year olds are the same either, but I think we vary a little more than humans. Here I am discounting the odd child prodigy who rather bucks the trend and thinking about the more normal dog and child. Your average Pomeranian might just about manage the understanding of a human toddler, at least if the lap dog is having a good day, but when you start to think about the working breeds I think we deserve a little more credit. We may not have the dexterity of a ten year old child or be able to write using a biro or a fountain pen, but we can work things out for ourselves and learn to do a wide range of jobs both with instruction and simply by observation. How many three year old humans do you know who could accurately sniff out explosives or work in an assistance capacity to someone blind or deaf?
I think that rather than humans coming up with these generalisations they should be setting up a more effective IQ testing programme to see how we compare. Now I’m betting if we could go head to head I could beat Donald Trump’s IQ score for starters and that’s not me saying I’m a genius either! I am bright, but possibly not a genius. The name Aristotle was just a happy coincidence. I was named at birth and could as easily have been called Dumbo or Donald – although that doesn’t start with an A and I was part of an A litter.
Have a great Sunday
Aristotle
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