''The Intelligence of Dogs'' is a 1994 book on
dog intelligence
Dog intelligence or dog cognition is the process in dogs of acquiring information and conceptual skills, and storing them in memory, retrieving, combining and comparing them, and using them in new situations.
Studies have shown that dogs displa ...
by
Stanley Coren
Stanley Coren (born 1942) is a psychology professor, neuropsychological researcher and writer on the intelligence, mental abilities and history of dogs. He works in research and instructs in psychology at the University of British Columbia in V ...
, a professor of canine
psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
at the
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...
.
The book explains Coren's theories about the differences in intelligence between various breeds of dogs.
Coren published a second edition in 2006.
Coren defines three aspects of dog intelligence in the book: ''instinctive intelligence'', ''adaptive intelligence'', and ''working and obedience intelligence''.
Instinctive intelligence refers to a dog's ability to perform the tasks it was bred for, such as
herding
Herding is the act of bringing individual animals together into a group ( herd), maintaining the group, and moving the group from place to place—or any combination of those. Herding can refer either to the process of animals forming herds i ...
,
pointing,
fetching,
guarding, or supplying
companionship.
[ Adaptive intelligence refers to a dog's ability to solve problems on its own.][ Working and obedience intelligence refers to a dog's ability to learn from humans.][
]
Methods
The book's ranking focuses on working and obedience intelligence. Coren sent evaluation requests to