Domestication Dumbs Down Dogs

[mita]

I don't think one type can be called 'dumber' than the other both traits are desirable for very different reasons and while the more biddable dog may not be able to solve a complex problem his ability to read human direction so well is a talent and an intelligence in and of itself.

Agree. 'Intelligence' is adaptive behaviour. So behavour is relevant to whatever environment a person or dog has to adapt to, in order to survive & thrive.

[Sheridan]

I don't know if I could put up with Grumpy being more clever. I'm forever running around after him as it is. Mini is also very clever but she's far more easily distracted. That said, I could see her working out how to get something she wanted the other day and had to put a stop to it.

[WoofnHoof]

Whenever I have watched wolves interacting with each other on documentaries, or seen photos, I've always been struck by the complexity of their body language compared to dogs. It seems to me that there are layers of subtlety that just don't exist in dogs. Or at least, they don't seem to exist in most dogs, even the very well socialised ones. At around the time I was thinking this, it occurred to me that my hare was talking "baby-talk" to me because it was the only thing I was capable of understanding. He had taken to using really obvious, exaggerated body language whenever he wanted something. So then I get to talking to this Canaan Dog breeder and I was asking how they get along with other dogs. They have a reputation for dog aggression. She said most are never going to be social butterflies, but the problem is often that they "whisper", meaning they use very subtle signals and other dogs rarely notice and then get nailed because they didn't back off. That really struck a chord with me, and I wondered if the average dog speaks "baby" wolf, and the traits we see in natural breeds like dog aggression, territoriality, and whispering are traits of a dog grown up?

That's the thing I've noticed since getting my sibe his body language and expressions are so subtle that most other dogs simply don't pick up on it, I thought most dogs could understand each other pretty well but in actual fact there are a lot of 'crossed wires' (for want of a better word) in their communication with each other particularly between very different breeds. It actually made sense when I read the study which found that the more 'wolf-like' a dogs appearance was the more wolf behaviours the dog displayed as well, it suggested that those breeds further away from the appearance of the wolf showed more wolf pup behaviours whereas those closer to the wolf showed more adult wolf behaviours, the difference is really obvious when you see the sibe and the chi interacting which is why I watch them very closely but even then the sibes behaviour is often too subtle for me to understand!

Agree. 'Intelligence' is adaptive behaviour. So behavour is relevant to whatever environment a person or dog has to adapt to, in order to survive & thrive.

I also think we are so used to dogs being the way they are that we don't realise how truly remarkable it is that they are capable of communicating with an entirely different species with such incredible success, even taking into account the selective breeding element it's really quite astounding the level of communication that has been achieved between our two species and I think they read our behaviour much better than we read theirs!

Sheridan don't you love that moment when you can actually see the cogs turning!