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Proof that dogs are getting smarter?
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There is a new study published in New Scientist that may change the way people view the cognitive abilities of dogs. Dog guardians around the world might now have scientific proof to back up their comments that their dog is extremely smart and knows what their guardians are thinking. The experiments have taken the argument a step closer to proving that dogs have a limited "theory of mind", or the capacity to understand the desires, motivations and intentions of others.
In the past most scientists said that dog guardians that said their dogs had a deeper understanding of the emotions and intentions of their human counterparts were foolishly applying human emotions to animals. Now that dismissive view has been challenged by studies presented a few weeks ago at the first Canine Science Forum in Budapest, Hungary, which back the idea that the 10,000 years that the descendants of grey wolves have spent evolving alongside humans have had a remarkable effect on dog cognition.
In one experiment dogs mimicked the scientist's behavior in order to obtain a reward. The fact that the dogs chose this path for obtaining the reward showed the cognitive ability to understand what benefits them and to perform this behavior.
Barking is also mentioned as an adaptive technique to communicate with humans. Wild dogs do not exhibit the same barking behaviors.
Meanwhile, Dr Juliane Kaminski at the University of Cambridge has examined how dogs can use human gestures such as pointing and gazing to find hidden food or toys and concludes that dogs do understand that we are trying to tell them something. "Domestication seems to have shaped dogs in a way which enables them to use these gestures from as early as six weeks," she tells New Scientist.
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