Dogs are smarter than cats.

[Holycannoli]

How many dogs have been trained to use the toilet?

 

[classical_hero]

They can be trained to do that, whereas cats cannot, therefore dogs are smarter than cats.

 

[Vordeo]

Dogs are also far less evil than cats.

That doesn't really have anything to do with the report, but it bears as much mentioning as possible.

 

[Formaldehyde]

Many dogs do not retaliate against cats since it gets them into trouble; it is like cats get the invincible star from Super Mario. With that said, if that is how you want to measure intelligence, I commonly see raven chase and attack cats, so I guess ravens are top dog...so to speak.

I've seen a Pekinese try to attack a Rottweiler and lose an eye as a result.

 

[Cutlass]

They can be trained to do that, whereas cats cannot, therefore dogs are smarter than cats.

Link to video.

 

[bigdog5994]

Link to video.

dogs can be trained to do it better

 

[Cutlass]

I'd like to see a dog climb a 20 foot pole better

 

[Formaldehyde]

Link to video.

Ha. I had a cat who, when he was a kitten, used to climb a wooden support beam all the way to the ceiling with his forepaws by digging them in opposite sides. Then he'd schooch up the pole, dig in his hind legs, and repeat the process until he got to the top. Then he'd hurl himself off backwards, do a flip in the air, land on the ground, and do it all over again. He wasn't encouraged to do so in the least.

I used to take him to Central Park on occasion so he could be outside. He'd sit on my shoulders and check everything out as I walked around. He once got thrown out of Sheep Meadow by a park ranger. No cats allowed...

 

[Left]

Dog intelligence

Link to video.

Cat intelligence

Link to video.

 

[Cutlass]

My father used to vacuum his dog every Sunday.

 

[Atlas14]

There's no point to having a cat. Get a snake or something instead, so at least when you tell your future girl friend, or friends, you sound somewhat cool, not some future crazy old cat lady.

But on topic, I know some dogs that are very bright and others that have nothing on cat intelligence.

 

[ParkCungHee]

As much as I prefer dogs, brain size alone is not a complete indicator of intelligence.

Yes. Just think of all the things you can teach a cat compared to a dog. I mean, a Dog can learn to herd sheep, hunt animals, haul sleds, lead the blind, detect seizures and so on but a cat...

 

[bhsup]

I'd like to see a dog climb a 20 foot pole better

Dude, you have GOT to watch this video, particularly from 36 to 48 seconds!

Link to video.

Now, that seen, I still stand by my previous post in this thread, and back it up with this...

 

[Formaldehyde]

Dude, you have GOT to watch this video, particularly from 36 to 48 seconds!

I'm not believing that skateboarding dog...

Here's another one who isn't too bad:


Link to video.

Friends of mine tried to teach their cat to use the toilet. He started using their waterbed instead.

 

[bhsup]

Now that is freaking amazing. That's...well that's use of tools, right?

(I meant the dog on the skateboard...)

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Yes. Just think of all the things you can teach a cat compared to a dog. I mean, a Dog can learn to herd sheep, hunt animals, haul sleds, lead the blind, detect seizures and so on but a cat...

And that is why I am not so impressed by cats and are far less likely to tolerate their shenanigans.

 

[cardgame]

Perfection is right.

 

[Trajan12]

In a word, he had rather admire and respect than effuse and dote; and does not fall into the fallacy that pointless sociability and friendliness, or slavering devotion and obedience, constitute anything intrinsically admirable or exalted. Dog-lovers base their whole case on these commonplace, servile, and plebeian qualities, and amusingly judge the intelligence of a pet by its degree of conformity to their own wishes. Cat-lovers escape this delusion, repudiate the idea that cringing subservience and sidling companionship to man are supreme merits, and stand free to worship aristocratic independence, self-respect, and individual personality joined to extreme grace and beauty as typified by the cool, lithe, cynical and unconquered lord of the housetops.

In the matter of intelligence we find the caninites making amusing claims -- amusing because they so naively measure what they conceive to be an animal's intelligence by its degree of subservience to the human will. A dog will retrieve, a cat will not; therefore (sic!) the dog is the more intelligent. Dogs can be more elaborately trained for the circus and vaudeville acts than cats, therefore (O Zeus, O Royal Mount!) they are cerebrally superior. Now of course this is all the sheerest nonsense. We would not call a weak-spirited man more intelligent than an independent citizen because we can make him vote as we wish whereas we can't influence the independent citizen, yet countless persons apply an exactly parallel argument in appraising the grey matter of dogs and cats. Competition in servility is something to which no self-respecting Thomas or Tabitha ever stooped, and it is plain that any really effective estimate of canine and feline intelligence must proceed from a careful observation of dogs and cats in a detached state -- uninfluenced by human beings -- as they formulate certain objectives of their own and use their own mental equipment in achieving them. When we do this, we arrive at a very wholesome respect for our purring hearthside friend who makes so little display about his wishes and business methods; for in every conception and calculation he shows a steel-cold and deliberate union of intellect, will, and sense of proportion which puts utterly to shame the emotional sloppings-over and docilely acquired artificial tricks of the "clever" and "faithful" pointer or sheep-dog. Watch a cat decide to move through a door, and see how patiently he waits for his opportunity, never losing sight of his purpose even when he finds it expedient to feign other interests in the interim. Watch him in the thick of the chase, and compare his calculating patience and quiet study of his terrain with the noisy floundering and pawing of his canine rival. It is not often that he returns empty-handed. He knows what he wants, and means to get it in the most effective way, even at the sacrifice of time -- which he philosophically recognises as unimportant in the aimless cosmos. There is no turning him aside or distracting his attention -- and we know that among humans this is the quality of mental tenacity, this ability to carry a single thread through complex distractions, is considered a pretty good sign of intellectual vigour and maturity. Children, old crones, peasants, and dogs ramble, cats and philosophers stick to their point. In resourcefulness, too, the cat attests his superiority. Dogs can be well trained to do a single thing, but psychologists tell us that these responses to an automatic memory instilled from outside are of little worth as indices of real intelligence. To judge the abstract development of a brain, confront it with new and unfamiliar conditions and see how well its own strength enables it to achieve its object by sheer reasoning without blazed trails. Here the cats can silently devise a dozen mysterious and successful alternatives whilst poor Fido is barking in bewilderment and wondering what it is all about. Granted that Rover the retriever may make a greater bid for popular sentimental regard by going into the burning house and saving the baby in traditional cinema fashion, it remains a fact that whiskered and purring Nig is a higher-grade biological organism -- something physiologically and psychologically nearer a man because of his very freedom from man's orders, and as such entitled to a higher respect from those who judge by purely philosophic and aesthetic standards. We can respect a cat as we cannot respect a dog, no matter which personally appeals the more to our mere doting fancy; and if we be aesthetes and analysts rather than commonplace-lovers and emotionalists, the scales must inevitably turn completely in kitty's favour.

/Thread

 

[Joecoolyo]

Cats are smarter about asocial things, dogs are smarter about social things.

DUH!

That's why the internet is so obsessed with cats!

It all makes sense now!

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

/Thread

It's really hard to be impressed by traits hard-coded into genes. A human humming a tune is definitely more impressive than even the most melodic tunes of a songbird. It takes far more to create de novo neural connections than just merely expressing mRNA transcripts.