Decoding woof power

Dogs are super intelligent. For confirmation, tune into DogCast Radio, a podcast on everything about the 'canine-do' spirit. Hosts Julie and Jenny cover all the basics of dog life, including interviews with authors who write about dogs and experts in canine history.

In the hour-long episode, Dog Intelligence and Introducing Cats and Dogs, author Jennifer S Holland talks about various aspects of dog intelligence - what types of intelligence dogs possess, how we measure it, the difference between intelligence and instinct, and how we can encourage our dogs to become more intelligent.

Holland, author of Dog Smart: Life-Changing Lessons in Canine Intelligence, speaks heartwarmingly about genius dogs who embody all types of smarts to do very difficult tasks. She notes that while we all want to know what's going on inside a dog's head, we often miss the mark. Instead, she suggests we should delve into their world and consider how they experience life.


So, how do we gauge a dog's intelligence? We need to step away from the command-and-control perspective and appreciate the natural, adaptive intelligence a dog uses to survive independently, using their big superpower: olfactory intelligence.