How to Test Your Dog's Intelligence

Like humans, dogs have various levels of intelligence. Some breeds are smarter than other breeds, and some dogs within that breed are going to be smarter than other dogs. There are a number of different ways to judge intelligence as well. How easily a dog can learn new tricks is one method that some dog owners and trainers like to use. However, another method of testing your dog's intelligence has to do with testing its ability to solve problems. Canines with problem solving skills tend to show more intelligence than other dogs. Below are some methods of testing your dog's intelligence.

Dog IQ Testing Games

• Find the Treat 
One of the most common ways to test your dog's problem solving abilities is to see if your pet is able to find and uncover a treat that has been hidden. First you put the treat in front of your dog's nose so that it smells it. Then you put the treat a few feet away and cover it with a bowl or can. The faster your dog is able to knock it away and find the treat, the better your dog did at this test. Smart dogs can complete this exercise in 5 seconds or less, though this number varies depending on how difficult the cover is to knock over.

• Where'd You Go? 
This test can be a lot of fun, though make sure that you place your pet in a safe location. All you need to do is take a regular sized towel and throw it over your dog's head so that the towel covers your dog's line of sight without easily falling off of its face. The faster your dog gets out, the smarter your dog. Anywhere from 5 to 15 seconds is considered "fast."

• Pick a Can, Any Can 
Another exercise involves using 3 cans. Place a treat under one can at random and show the treat to your dog before covering the treat up. Leave the other two cans empty. If your canine goes to the can with the treat first, your dog has performed this exercise correctly.

• Use Your Paw 
Find a location within that is thin or small enough that your dog's head cannot fit through it, but that is not too far away for your dog. A popular choice is underneath a chair. Show your pet a treat and put it in that location. If your dog uses its paws to get the treat out within 30 seconds or less, your dog has performed well. If your dog tries to get it out with its paw but fails, this is still a good sign. If your dog only tries to use its head or it gives up, then it did not perform this exercise well.

• In Touch With Emotions 
Dogs that can pick up on the actions of their owners are known to be more intelligent than other dogs. There are different ways to test this. Some recommend simply smiling at your dog and seeing if its tail wags. Other people recommend picking up a leash and seeing if your dog notices it as a cue to go outside. There are ways to see if your dog can pick up emotions, and if it can it is likely to have greater intelligence than those that cannot.

Testing Procedures

There is no true IQ test, only different exercises that you can give your dog to see how smart it appears. Still, if you would like to see how intelligent your dog is, the above exercises should do the trick.

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Dog Training Tricks - Cool Dog Tricks To Teach Your Dog

   Dogs are smart animals that can learn fun and cool tricks easily when properly trained. Teaching your dog tricks does not only make your dog smarter, it's also a fun thing to do for the owner. Good news is that training a dog is not really that difficult. You can begin with simple dog training tricks before proceeding with advanced dog training. Here's how owners can start with simple training:

Giving treats. Dog food is one of the most helpful things that trainers can use for simple dog training because these pets react easily to food. The trainer can begin with giving treats for dog behavior training until the dog becomes more obedient to commands even if there's no more treat.

Repetition. When teaching dog tricks the trainer has to be patient because pet dogs understand better from repetition. In this way, there is more consistency and the behavior or actions that they have learned become more solid.

Regular training. Like regular exercise for optimum results, dog agility training should be done every day so the pet will not forget the tricks they are taught. Doing this will make the lessons such as the training process, the commands and the dog's obedience stick with them and continue on.

Dog clickers. Using a clicker to teach dog tricks is also very helpful especially because the hearing sense of dogs is very sensitive. They respond to the sound that the clicker makes and it will be easier for them to familiarize the command and the sound so clicker dog training tricksare essential.

Hand motions. Aside from using dog clickers, the trainer can also use hand motions to teach fun dog tricks. When they see physical commands such as rolling over, they can associate the verbal command with the hand movements.

Basic commands. One way of curing dog aggression or unwanted behaviors is to teach them basic commands like sit stay fetch. They serve as the fundamental ways that make toilet training dogs easier to achieve. Moreover, the basic commands also pave the way for advanced dog training for more difficult or impressive tricks.

The Benefits of Teaching Dog Tricks

It is important for trainers to keep in mind that training your dog to do tricks should be safe for the pet and any training technique that may hurt them is not advisable. Training your dog should not be too stressful also which means you don't need to spend the entire day to do the training. Keeping it short will make the pet more focused and willing to get back to it the next day.

Some trainers may want to enroll their pets in group trainings so their dog can socialize with other pets while some prefer individual training. Both methods for teaching dog tricks are highly effective so the owners can choose whichever suits them.

The importance of simple dog training and teaching dogs the basic commands is that it improves their behavior and trains them to avoid doing unpleasant behaviors such as chewing on shoes or carpets or peeing on the wrong places. While training your dog to walk on a leash, you can also teach them proper toilet training. Further, basic training and teaching them to come, sit, stay or stand can promote bonding and play time between owner and pet. Treats can also be used to lure the dog to do the commands and should be given to pets every time they do a trick successfully

Advanced dog training often makes performers out of dogs and people become more impressed or entertained with them because of this. Learning the basics will prepare the dogs to do more complicated tricks such as backing up, catching something, crawling, dancing, playing dead or shaking. Compared to basics commands, training your dogs to do tricks like these also require more persistence from the trainer and the training doesn't need to be every day.

If they teach dog tricks to pets, trainers can develop better communication with dogs and in return, the pets will open up more to trainers. The pet may also gain more confidence from the training and their high energy can be put to good use. Moreover, some people are afraid of dogs and one way to make them feel less threatened around these pets is if they see the dogs performing impressive and fun dog tricks.

Dog training tricks can be quite a lot of work, require a lot of patience and need sufficient time but returns rewarding experiences both for dogs and trainers or owners.

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