Do dogs get smarter with age?

Some owners wait until their dogs mature, hoping that they will “get smarter” with age. Do dogs get smarter with age?

Photo: pixabay

What is dog intelligence?

Intelligence and its development is a question regarding which scientists are still breaking their spears. And this applies even to the human intellect, not to mention the canine. And if earlier ratings of the “smartest dog breeds” were compiled, now these ratings are recognized as incorrect, because intelligence is a heterogeneous thing, consists of several components, and each of these components is developed differently in different dogs depending on their purpose, training and life experience.

Simply put, the intelligence of a dog is the ability to solve various kinds of problems, including applying knowledge and abilities in new conditions.

Can dogs get smarter with age?

If we take the above definition of intelligence as a basis, then yes, they can. If only because every day they gain more experience, skills and master new behaviors, which means that the scope of more complex tasks that they can solve is expanding, as well as the number of ways to solve these problems, including the choice of more effective ones.

However, there is a nuance. A dog gets smarter with age only if it has the opportunity to receive new information every day, enrich experience and learn new things.

That is, the dog gets smarter if the owner creates an optimal balance of predictability and diversity, trains the dog, and trains the dog with humane methods that involve the development of initiative and interest in learning new things, and simply plays and communicates with it.

However, if a dog lives in an impoverished environment, does not learn anything, does not communicate with it or communicates rudely, so that either learned helplessness or a fear of new things and manifestations of initiative is formed, then, of course, it does not have the opportunity to develop its cognitive abilities and show them.

So, she is unlikely to become smarter with age. 

But it’s not the dog’s fault.