Are dogs smarter than cats?

[Catherine]

This is a touchy subject and people will tend to side with the pet they like best. However scientists have been studying the issue and have come to their own conclusions.

https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&ur...MdTXrccj2Q


I can see their reasoning and it does make sense. However, if dogs are smarter why is it that cats get a free ride?
No cat ever held down a job. Dogs have to go outside in all weather if they need to pee. Cats have nice indoor facilities that we their humans keep clean for them. Maybe cats only pretend to play dumb so they can continue to have a free ride.  So who is the smart one here eh?

[LPC]

The scientists seem to have based their opinion on the number of neurons in the brain - but that is questionable as a "be all and end all" final decider of intelligence. But I agree that dogs are more easily integrated into human lives (service dogs, etc.)

[Tobi]

I have heard that cats are technically supposed to be smarter than dogs....owing to something in their brains....I have forgotten what! Yes it might be neurons or something.

And yet from my own experience, dogs have a better time understanding what we say to them. They do seem to "speak English" (or whatever language they grow up with.) Mostly cats don't seem to have the same interest in communicating via words.

Both dogs and cats generally have a very devotional aspect to them, but I've noticed it more strongly in dogs. I think it's just that cats are more intrinsically "wild" at heart, whereas dogs are so integrated into family life and fit in with family routines very well. But it's hard to generalise, as all cats and dogs are not the same.

I never saw either species do anything I would call real work! lol! Even with cats who spend time outside, they mostly laze about in warm places until it's time for food again! Dogs really want to play frisbee or have sticks thrown for them. They think they are on holiday. But of course search and rescue dogs and service dogs really do work hard.

Yet what fantastic work our ordinary cats and dogs actually do. They are our faithful companions, standing by us through thick and thin, hardly ever losing patience with us, always being happy to see us, keeping our hearts in the right place and  our legs warm in bed. Many humans couldn't do that even if you paid them a yearly retainer of 100,000!

[LPC]

(12-01-2017, 03:19 AM)Tobi Wrote: Yet what fantastic work our ordinary cats and dogs actually do. They are our faithful companions, standing by us through thick and thin, hardly ever losing patience with us, always being happy to see us, keeping our hearts in the right place and  our legs warm in bed. Many humans couldn't do that even if you paid them a yearly retainer of 100,000!

So well put! Where's the "like" button?

[Catherine]

Quote:Yet what fantastic work our ordinary cats and dogs actually do. They are our faithful companions, standing by us through thick and thin, hardly ever losing patience with us, always being happy to see us, keeping our hearts in the right place and  our legs warm in bed. Many humans couldn't do that even if you paid them a yearly retainer of 100,000!

Is that 100,000 in pounds or dollars?

Seriously though, you can't buy that kind of loyalty. Cats and dogs both have their own style of loyalty. Dogs are more obviously devoted to us. Cats however will sit with you and purr and purr at a time when you really need them. They just know when we need that. 

Scientists do use neurons as their standard to judge intelligence. I am not sure that is the whole picture. It is not enough to have the neurons. You also have to make use of them. There are people who are clearly very intelligent who do nothing with their brains. They totally slack off. 

Dogs appear intelligent because they cooperate with researchers trying to test their intelligence. Dogs are more social and they do want to please humans. Cats are too independent to care what a researcher is trying to do. They are solitary by nature and cooperating with a group makes no sense to them.

They used to think that brain size alone could be used as a sign of intelligence. Even within the human species it didn't work. 
Some very intelligent people turned out to have small brains. They had just used them very well.

So cat vs. dog, I don't know. I have known slow learners in both species and I have know some very clever dogs and cats.

[Tobi]

Yes, just because some animals are solitary and don't relate to group dynamics doesn't make them less intelligent.

Brain size is obviously rubbish. A small woman 5ft tall is going to have a smaller head (i.e.brain) than a big man 6ft 6 tall. But that doesn't mean a small woman is less intelligent than a big man! And yes, like you say, it depends on what we do with our brains!

And by the way...(I think I mentioned this before) My Misty-dog could never pass any "intelligence tests for dogs". She failed miserably on each one. Well....she wasn't miserable and neither was I   Because I knew how intelligent she actually was by the way she lived her life. Oh my she was clever. So it goes to show the methods by which scientists measure animal iintelligence can often be way off the truth.

[Catherine]

Measuring intelligence is one of the hardest things to do. How do you judge what is a sign of smart and what is a sign of stupid.

If you rehearsed someone on the test even if they were not too bright they would seem to do well compared to someone who is totally unfamiliar with the test methods.

Misty was too smart to waste her time on silly tests. She was too busy getting on with the business of life.
I don't think being social is a sign of intelligence or not in any species. Dogs do well because they want to please us. Cats don't care so they can't be bothered with tests. I would think it would be better to judge how an animal handles the situations it has in life.

Ruth the cat was a bit brain damaged(I mean that literally). If he wanted to leave the room and the door was partly closed he would push it more and close it and then sit their confused just staring at the closed door. Junia my other cat was very clever. She would get up and go and open the door for him. Ruth would looked surprized at the now open door and not understand how it happened. Junia would come and get me if Ruth had managed to shut himself in a closet and she couldn't get the door open for him. I don't know how they would have done on tests, but clearly Junia had the brains and Ruth was cute.