Express View: Who’s a clever dog?  

Who has a tail that never stops wagging, ears that perk up at the mention of a walk or chicken, and a brain that can remember the names of toys, years after those toys get lost and/or chewed up and thrown out? As those who have spent any time with one would attest, the good boys and girls of the world — doggos and puppers, as they are known on the internet — are also very clever boys and girls. A study at the Eotvos Lorand University in Hungary has found that dogs can store up to a dozen object names in their long-term memory, correctly identifying toys that they have not seen in two years.

For scientists, this is an important finding which could lead to a greater understanding of the parts of the brain connected to the mechanics and evolution of language, given the connection between long-term memory and linguistic skills. The fact that dogs are capable of such feats of memory — on top of their incredible emotional intelligence and ability to “read” humans — also opens up greater possibilities for their deployment as service and emotional support animals, as well as in search and rescue operations.

Dogs, of course, are not unique in their startling displays of intelligence — other species, like squirrels, octopi, rats and crows, too have demonstrated problem-solving skills and the ability to retrieve information from their long-term memory. What makes canine intelligence special, however, is that it seems to have developed as a response to the close, millennia-long relationship between dogs and humans. In other words, it is because of domestication that puppies, even when they’re mere weeks old, are better at understanding humans and using that knowledge to infer information about the environment, like where the treats are hidden. So humans can, perhaps, claim some credit for the intelligence of their furry companions. But dogs’ seemingly unending store of love and loyalty? That’s entirely down to their own selves.