If you're a dog owner, you probably hear the lines "Good Dog, you're so smart!", or "Excellent, here's a treat for that trick!" more often than not. These people are into the impression that Dogs who can do tricks such as "rolling over", "fetching", and other cool tricks others' will be very much impressed about is to be considered "smart". Well, at times yeah, those tricks are indeed cool to see, but if one takes a deeper look at it, he'll be able to see the flaw.
The misconception everyone keeps on seeing
What can you observe before dogs begin with performing the trick? Do they do tricks voluntarily? No they don't actually. They will always need a human to direct and tell them commands to do those tricks. This will always be the case because they were trained to do that, and that's what they've been doing since they're gotten by their trainers.
Now that you see what happens before the trick, can you observe what happens after? There is always positive reinforcement involve after a successful trick, whether be it a treat or praise, surely the dog will get it after performing. This then makes the dog even more proud of himself, making him think that he is indeed "smart". That's where they're wrong, they're obedient and good followers all right, but smart? I don't think so!
Which dogs are the real smart?
To simply put it, dogs that don’t rely on human for them to survive are the dogs that are to be considered as "smart". They don't need anyone but themselves, they don't need any command for them to do something, and they don't need reward to make them feel good.
Going more specific, Street Dogs (if you can see one) are the real smart dogs. They manage to survive in the wild, finding food for them, avoiding trouble and all. These dogs have a mind of their own, going about in their own way.
Why say such trivial things?
Think for a second, what really does smart mean? Try googling "smartest people of all time" and look at those people mentioned in the list. Albert Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci, Nikola Tesla, Sir Isaac Newton, and several others that will if we mention will make a long list. Imagine if these people opted to just follow their superiors, professors, or someone else's commands perhaps. Do you think we'll have the "Three Laws of Motion" that's the basis of Physics at all? Will we ever get to see the beauty of Mona Lisa if Da Vinci never painted it by himself?
This then is what kind of smart I'm talking about, those that don't follow but lead, those that have a mind of their own, not those that follow orders. They did things their way, not allowing anyone, or anything to affect their decision, simply because they relied on only themselves.
What now then?
To simply put it, what I'm trying to voice out here is that people should never base a dog's "Smartness" base solely on the fact that they can perform tricks for us. After all, there's more to man's best friend than just a simple "fetch" or "sit". They also can perform "Love" and a whole lot others that enables them to be a good companion for us humans. Treat your dogs with love and affection - whether they rollover or not.
As for the 3 reasons, I'll leave that for you to find out!
