Os cães grandes são mais inteligentes que os cães pequenos?

Os cães como espécie são incrivelmente diversos em tamanho. Existem raças de cães minúsculos, raças de cães gigantes e tudo mais. O tamanho de um cão afeta sua saúde e geralmente desempenha um papel na determinação da vida útil de um cão. Mas algumas pessoas se perguntam se os efeitos do tamanho são mais profundos do que isso:o tamanho de um cachorro pode prever sua inteligência?

Tipos de inteligência canina

Como medimos a inteligência em cães? É uma pergunta difícil. Em seu livro A inteligência dos cães , o professor de psicologia Stanley Coren divide em três categorias:

• Inteligência Instintiva:a capacidade de um cão de realizar as tarefas para as quais foi criado (agrupar, recuperar, guardar).

• Inteligência Adaptativa:a capacidade de um cão resolver problemas por conta própria.

• Inteligência de Trabalho e Obediência:a capacidade de um cão de aprender com os humanos e agir sob comando. (Coren observa que esse tipo de inteligência é o tipo pelo qual a maioria das pessoas parece interessada e o tipo de inteligência que os testes de obediência de cães medem.)

Os cães grandes são mais inteligentes que os cães pequenos?

Coren enviou uma série de questionários aos juízes de obediência do American Kennel Club e do Canadian Kennel Club, pedindo-lhes que classificassem as raças de cães por desempenho.

Com base nos 199 conjuntos completos de respostas que recebeu, Coren criou um gráfico.

crédito:Stanley Coren via Psychology Today

O gráfico mostra cães médios a grandes classificados como os mais inteligentes, com a inteligência caindo em cães muito pequenos e muito grandes.

Can size really predict intelligence?

To be clear, The Intelligence of Dogs is not regarded as immutable truth. In Coren’s own words, the book “received a lot of media attention and scientific commentary, both pro and con” when it was first published. But, assuming he is onto something, what could account for the relationship between size and intelligence in dogs?

In his article for Psychology Today , Coren brings up Theodosius Dobzhansky, a behavior geneticist and evolutionary biologist. Dobzhansky says that evolution favors the middle of a population. In other words, individual animals at the extremes are never as well-adapted as the animals with “average” characteristics.

We also have to take into account that humans tend to treat small dogs differently than they treat large dogs. It’s entirely possible that the way we treat our dogs has a bearing on the types of intelligence Coren tested for. For example, we have a tendency to forgive behaviors in small dogs that we reprimand in large dogs, such as jumping or barking. This phenomenon even has a name:small dog syndrome. A dog’s experiences with its owners could affect how the dog performs in such a test, especially in the area of “working and obedience intelligence.”

Does brain size affect a dog’s intelligence?

It’s tempting to theorize that brain size plays a part in a dog’s intelligence. Much fuss has been made about whether brain size — both overall, and relative to body size — is an accurate predictor of intelligence. Humans, historically, have wanted to believe that a large brain relative to body size equates to a more intelligent species. Por quê? Because that would mean we, as a species, are geniuses. However, it’s simply not true:brain size has very little to do with intelligence.

Alexandra Horowitz, author of the book Inside of a Dog:What Dogs See, Smell, and Know , points out that the brain of a wolf-sized dog is roughly 30 percent smaller than the brain of its ancestor, the gray wolf. Does that mean that the domesticated dog of today is less smart than its ancestor? Horowitz doesn’t think so:“When the mere gaze from the dewy eyes of a member of this species causes you to get up from the couch, repair to the refrigerator and retrieve a hunk of cheese for your charge—well, you tell me who is smarter.”

So, what was their conclusion?

Professor Coren’s research suggests that medium to large sized dogs are the most “intelligent,” based on the three intelligence categories he used in the study. However, those categories are limited, and his research was based on questionnaires from obedience trial judges, who are human and thus subject to biases. Additionally, many factors in a dog’s life, both genetic and environmental, could contribute to its intelligence. We don’t have nearly enough evidence to definitively say that size affects intelligence one way or the other.

Want to learn more about your pup? Check out Smallest Dog Breeds, Really Big Dog Breeds, and Do Herding Dogs Need to Learn How to Herd? at Cuteness.com!

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