Dog Smart

March 4, 2024
In this winning report, Holland (Unlikely Friendships), a former National Geographic journalist, investigates what goes on in dogs’ minds. Focusing on the extraordinary abilities of “working dogs,” Holland explains that guide dogs must exercise keen judgment in deciding when to follow or disobey their owners. For example, she recounts accompanying trainers as they taught dogs to refuse dangerous commands by praising them for resisting orders to walk off the edge of a subway platform. Dogs’ excellent sense of smell lies at the heart of their intelligence, according to Holland, who cites studies that show canines can “sense some substances at concentrations as low as parts per trillion” and describes how Auburn University’s Canine Performance Science Center trains explosives detection dogs in a mock airport terminal. The author also explicates research on the ways in which dogs express themselves and communicate with each other, writing that canines growl differently based on the type of threat (“Food-guarding growls were different from those emitted during a ‘threatening stranger’ situation”) and wag their tail more on the left side when upset. The mix of scientific research and reporting comes together to offer enlightening insight into canines’ “social and olfactory intelligence.” This is a treat. Agent: Alice Martell, Martell Agency.

June 21, 2024

Dogs do so much, and there's no question that they can be smart. They can track missing persons, detect disease, alert for seizures and panic attacks, retrieve items for people with physical disabilities; guide people with low vision, count, "speak" (using preprogrammed buttons), find corpses, comfort witnesses during court proceedings, calm patients at nursing homes and hospitals, share their humans' grief and joy, make them laugh, and so much more. Imagine what could be accomplished if humans and dogs understood each other even better. Author Holland ("Unlikely Friendships" series) offers compelling evidence from expert studies, along with field experiences, interviews, and anecdotes, to demonstrate the overwhelming level of intelligence possessed by dogs, showing how their anatomy and physiology combine with instinct, breeding, and training to create the animal that we know and love. When humans define canine intelligence based on the way dogs process information and their subsequent assistive response, we can tap into their talents and harness powerful mutual improvements in the quality of life for both dogs and people. VERDICT An engaging, compelling synthesis of the ways scientists study and document canine cognition; this will be enjoyed by all dog lovers.--Susan Riley

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