My Dog's so Smart!

A few weeks back Ikan sent me a link about this lady who gave her dog an IQ test because she wanted to confirm her suspicions about whether or not her dog was mentally challenged. (http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/07/dog.html) It was quite hysterical since I can relate to having had a dog like hers. So I decided to test my own dog, Thor. I know he’s intelligent, but I wanted to see how well he could solve these problems that are to measure his intelligence.

When I first tried it out on him, he had just spent the day at my mum’s clinic as a test subject for one of my mum’s interns. So he was drugged and dopey. It was pretty funny watching him try to get out from under a blanket, but he was pretty lack luster to please with the Ace still in his system.

Test 1 Today I decided as a fun activity for the boys I babysit that I’d do the IQ test again. First up was an easy one. One has to show the dog the treat and then place it under a cup or can. Thor had no problem observing me place the biscuit under a cup and knocking it over on his command ‘take.’ He scored a 5 easily.

Test 2  The next test was to place a towel or blanket over the dog’s head but not his entire body. The dog should be able to easily figure out how to get the blanket off itself. In the process of prepping Thor for the test, he figured it to be some kind of game and would make attempts at biting the blankets and starting a game of tug-of-war. After using my, ‘stop it now I’m serious!” tone with Thor, we were able to get him to start the test which he aced easily too and scored a 5.

Test 3  The 3rd test was a bit odd. The first time we did it before recording it was pretty hysterical. One is to sit away from their dog without telling the dog to sit or stay. Once you’re about 2 meters away, you should be able to make eye contact with your dog for about 2-3 seconds before smiling at your dog. The dog should recognize the smile as friendly and come over wagging its tail. In all honesty I found this test to be ridiculous, but I tried it anyways. It was a difficult task, the boys doing their best to distract Thor (many times I had to tell him to go away once he saw me sit down) while I got positioned. My dog loves me and just looking at him usually gets him to want to come over to me. So once he finally got the idea I didn’t want him to come over to me but to stay with the boys, he gave me a perplexed expression once I made eye contact with him. I could see in his eyes that he had no idea what I was expecting of him. After the few seconds ticked by, I gave a wide smile. My dog cocked his head to the side trying to figure out what trick I was trying to telepathically instruct him on. After smiling for many seconds I frowned again thinking I’ll try again. Right when I frowned Thor got up and came over to me which made me laugh. He kinda does the same thing in the vid except he comes over on my laugh. For his effort I gave him a 3 since he did come to me but not with a smile.


Test 4  The 4th test was entertaining. One needs a place that that can place a treat under that is high enough for a paw or nose to get under, but low enough that the head can’t get under. I made a make shift table and used the boys as weights so Thor wouldn’t push the board over. The first time he did it he just missed the 60 second mark and was given a 4. But once we tried recording it, he had lost interest in the game and would only keep focus with me and the boys periodically reminding him were the biscuit was and that he could take it. So the vid makes him look like a genius when he really did that task in 70 seconds.


Test 5  The 5th test was like the first. One needs to show their dog a treat and then place it under a dish cloth or towel. This is to test how well the dog could maneuver the object to get the treat. Thor just nosed his way through the task and got 5 points for completion. The second time he thought about picking the towel up with his mouth and moving it but then resorted back to how he solved it the first time.

Test 6  And the final task was name recognition. You are to call your dog by refrigerator and movie before calling it by its name. The dog shouldn’t make any attempts at coming to you with the first two names but come immediately when you call it’s name. Thor just scored 5 on it, but like with the smile test, sitting away from him and calling him refrigerator and movie while making eye contact with him had him perplexed, unsure what kind of trick commands I was giving him. He would cock his ears with each name, but he was good and didn’t come until I called his name. Note, I did use a gesture with each call of a name. I patted my leg to show the eagerness of I wanted him to come without saying come. My dog knows the word come. Thor though is just a name to get his attention, not to invite him over.

Over all Thor scored as a genius. I know he is one, that is when he wants to be. Thank goodness treats are incentive enough for him.