Have you ever wondered how smart your dog is or just what he’s potentially capable of knowing and doing? If so, you’re not alone. People everywhere ponder the same question. In fact, if you are like the majority of dog moms and dads all across the globe, you probably want to know as much as possible as you can about your dog. Well, with the help of a few good books and the very intelligent authors that wrote these books, you can gain a little more insight into your dog and what he knows.
The Genius of Dogs: How Dogs are Smarter than You Think
This best seller, by Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods, explores the idea of how intelligence is directly linked to how well an animal survives. While populations of other mammals are drastically declining, there are now more dogs than ever! In fact, people are having less kids in some areas of the world, yet the pet dog is being welcomed into more homes than ever. It doesn’t stop there, either. Domesticated dogs now have more service roles than we’ve seen historically. We all know about dogs that assist the blind, drug dogs, and therapy dogs, but did you know that there are dogs that can detect things like cancer, oncoming seizures and even bed bugs?! It’s true! In “The Genius of Dogs”, the very idea and definition of genius centers on the fact that a person, or dog, can be highly gifted in one area while being average or below average in all other areas. This is the result of the cognitive revolution. This research has been guided by two specific pieces of criteria in determining the intelligence, or genius rather, of dogs. 1. A strength in one mental skill compared to other, or similar specials and 2. An ability to make inferences. Read this book to learn about this and other common wonderings such as: Does my dog want affection? Or does my dog feel guilt?
Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell and Know
This book was written by Alexandra Horowitz, a cognitive scientist. In her book she leads to understand everything you thought you knew about your dog. She points out that our dogs are the animal we love the most, but know the least about. She takes you on a journey to explore what it’s like to be a dog and how they take in the world around them. Topics such as hearing vibrations of insects, smelling sadness, and even using mouths as hands are explored. If you want to really get to know your dog on his level, this is the book for you! Recent research on multiple topics is written about including body language, how dogs
“read” us, the effects of bonding with your dog and the ever intriguing topic of disease detection. Also, while this is not a training book, there are also some practical application tips you can take and apply right away using insight gained from the science behind the author’s research.
Are you intrigued yet? You should be! Check out these two books to get to your know your dog better than you ever thought you would or could. You’ll be enlightened and pleasantly surprised just like we are.
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