A new study suggests that smarter dogs, such as Border Collies who learn words for 100 toys, are more playful than other dogs. A link between playfulness and problem-solving abilities isn’t new. Still, animal behavior researchers from Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary wondered if “gifted” dogs really showed a tendency for more playfulness.
So, are playful dogs smarter dogs? Findings say maybe.
Studying Playfulness and Intelligence
The Hungarian researchers asked the owners of 165 Border collies to fill out dog personality questionnaires, reported NBC News. Only Border Collies took part because earlier experiments found that the breed is typically better at learning new words compared to other breeds.
Researchers already identified 21 of the dogs as “gifted” from prior research. These “smarter dogs” were able to learn as many as 12 new words per week and then retain them for months. Researchers randomly selected the other 114 canines with no testing for word learning ability.
The researchers compared the survey responses of pet parents from both groups.
The Personality Questionnaire assessed the personality of the animals in five categories:
- Fearfulness, including fear of people, nonsocial fear, fear of dogs, and fear of handling.
- Aggression toward people, including general aggression and aggression in certain situations.
- Activity, including excitability, playfulness, active engagement, and companionability.
- Responsiveness, such as trainability and controllability.
- Aggression toward animals, including aggression toward dogs, prey drive, and dominance over other dogs.
To evaluate playfulness, dog parents rated their dogs in three areas:
- Tendency for quick boredom during play.
- Enjoyment in playing with toys.
- Tendency to retrieve objects, such as balls, toys, and sticks.
The Results
Although playfulness was the only personality trait that was consistently different between the two groups, it’s not clear whether it’s the playfulness that helps the dogs learn more words. Rather, the extra playful ones may have more opportunities to learn, Claudia Fugazza, the study’s lead author, told NBC.
Fugazza added that gifted dogs tend to learn words for objects when their people are playing with them. “Intelligence is the result of diverse cognitive traits that allow individuals to flexibly solve different types of problems,” she said, “Giftedness refers to an extremely good capacity in the case of a specific skill.”
Follow-Up Studies
If your pup doesn’t learn words easily, they can still be “gifted” (aren’t they all?). According to Adam Boyko, an expert in canine genomics and associate professor at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, it’s “not surprising that the more playful ones exhibit better learning in the domain of learning human words. And it’s not surprising that Border Collies, who are bred to respond to human cues, show the propensity to learn words more than other breeds.”
Boyko said that other breeds of dogs might show intelligence in other ways. Wolves are great escape artists. They see a human unlock a door and figure it out for themselves. He hopes to take the study further and focus on the genetics of the gifted dogs.“This is a tantalizing correlation that might be meaningful if you are trying to build better service dogs,” he said.
Additionally, Dr. Nicholas Dodman, professor emeritus at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine and one of the world’s most noted and celebrated veterinary behaviorists, also weighed in on the study. He said that the study doesn’t determine whether the playfulness trait spurred pet parents to interact more with their dogs. This may teach them more words. He believes that researchers should replicate the study with a larger number of dogs and a variety of breeds.
Regardless, this latest study might be a good indicator for people considering a puppy. “The playful ones might be more likely to interact with a person, assimilate words more easily, and be more intelligent,” said Dodman.
