Dogs 'as bright as a 14-month-old child'

Dog lovers have long argued that their pets are practically human.

Just how close they are to the truth is revealed by research showing that the creatures have the intelligence of a toddler.

As with humans, they have the capacity to decide whether to copy others' behaviour, depending if it makes sense to do so.

Researchers at the University of Vienna trained a female border collie called Guinness to use her paws to push a bar that released a treat, rather than using her mouth as dogs prefer.



Two sets of mixed breed dogs then watched Guinness pushing the bar - one set when she had a ball in her mouth, the other while her mouth was empty. Eight of 10 dogs in a third group that had not seen Guinness perform pushed the bar with their mouths as expected.

The set that saw Guinness perform with her mouth empty copied her action and used their paws, thinking that it must be the best way to achieve success.

However, the group that watched their canine instructor with her mouth full overwhelmingly used their mouths, apparently reasoning that she had only used her paws because her mouth was full.

Before dog lovers start drawing up a list of challenges for their clever pets, however, there is one crucial caveat - a dog's intelligence is estimated to be equivalent only to that of a 14-month-old child.