this post was submitted on 25 Mar 2024
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Science

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[–] GONADS125@feddit.de 0 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

My German Shepherd knows the names of about 10 different toys. I can tell him "go get the cactus/pineapple/red bone/donut/basketball/blue ball (his favorite)/etc." and he'll even drop what's in his mouth to get the right toy.

I can ask him: "Where is [person]/[toy]?" and he'll run all over the house, upstairs and downstairs, to find them. He loves hide and seek.

People underestimate the intelligence of dogs and animals in general.

Edit: Here's a writeup on animal intelligence, cognition, and culture. (I have ads turned off and do not benefit in any way from my blog.)

Edit 2: My current dog hasn't mastered the open-ended question yet, but my previous GSD understood the question "What do you want?" I train them by asking it, and then presenting them with options I name (e.g., to play, go out, a walk, treat, water, etc.).

Sometimes I'd ask, and my dog would lead me to an empty water bowl. Sometimes he would go grab a toy. Other times he was bored and indecisive, and would test things like going up to his treats. Sometimes I would say "No.. you don't need them..." And he'd do a little amused wag before leading me to something else. I really miss him..

But it would blow people's minds to see that he was capable of comprehending that question and understood so many options. Dogs are smart as hell and we literally coevolved with them and domesticated them from wolves. They understand human body language far better than any other species, including great apes. Dogs are incredible.

[–] quinacridone@lemmy.ml 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

That was an amazing read! Thanks for writing and sharing it. Two things that struck me are

PTSD has been documented in canines who served in the military. [1] Additionally, it is believed that dogs are capable of suffering from autism

I'm on the spectrum so the fact that dogs can be autistic is really interesting, and it's unsurprising about the PTSD, given the fact that they can have really bad anxiety and trauma if they experience their owner dying

You have a fascinating blog which I'm going to bookmark and explore, cheers for the share!

[–] GONADS125@feddit.de 0 points 7 months ago

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it!

I haven't posted anything new in a while because grad school is keeping me busy. But I'm sure I'll post more in the future.

[–] Muscar@discuss.online 0 points 7 months ago