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Dogs and Cats

The World’s Smarted Dog

John Ege
5 min readFeb 19, 2023

Sometimes, the world is just too complex. We should focus on the simple things in life, like just how smart dogs are. I remember seeing this when it first aired, how long ago now? The world’s smartest dog and science confirming it. This is a must watch. But yes, I do have questions. Do you ever wished you lived at a University so you can just ask experts questions all day long. Of course, I don’t want to just ask questions. I want to argue with some folks. :)

In this 60 Minutes episode, you get to see a dog that has a vocabulary of a small toddler. It’s really not quite fair to compare. In many ways, a dog is more sophisticated and capable of independent functioning. A toddler will quickly increase and surpasses the dog’s ability. Scientists are measuring dogs using fMRIs and engaging with other ingenious tests, revealing there is a lot more going on with dogs than most people think.

Well, maybe not most people. That sentence needs qualification. There are pet owners who are well aware of their pets’ abilities. In that, we usually can discern stupid dog from smart dog. If you have a pack of your own, not every breed seems equally present, and even within the same breed, some seem a little smarter than the others.

When it comes to scientist measuring functional interaction patterns, though, given the number of videos by pet owners that seem to suggest pets are doing more thinking than we appreciate, my question is why hasn’t this conversation already escalated to, “of course pets think.”

Take this cat video.

This video isn’t just cute. The cat is clearly wanting to keep the toddler safe. That’s not just John’s interpretation. If you watched the Chaser video, you know it’s a smart breed, a sheepherder. You would expect Chaser to keep a toddler safe, but a cat? Is this just instinctive? I wouldn’t say that. Clearly the cat knows ‘that’s a fall that will kill you.’ It doesn’t want the kid hurt. It’s blocking kid from falling.

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John Ege
John Ege

Written by John Ege

LPC-S, Director for MUFON, TX, and father of 1... Discovering the Unseen through Art, Word, Thought, and Mystery.

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