Is Your Dog Smarter Than a 2-Year-Old?

I heard that, in intelligence, dogs are like 2-year-old children.”

One of my psychology students recently lobbed this statement at me. It’s an assertion I have heard — and dismissed — dozens of times, the reiteration of what must seem a profound, pithy truth about dogs’ mental abilities. From my perspective as a researcher of canine cognition, it at once overstates and understates dogs’ abilities to claim that they are equal in some unifying, cross-species “intelligence” to 2-year-olds.

But then the other day, sitting at home with my family, I was reminded of why the dog-child comparison is so often made. There was my 2-year-old child. Next to him lay our 4-year-old dog. There are undeniable similarities in their behavior.

For instance, they are both moderately impolite: my son stares unyieldingly at the large hairdo on an obese man on the sidewalk; my dog greets my friend at the door with a sniff right in his crotch. They both love many of the same things — squeaking objects, bagels, other dogs — and share a hatred of loud noises.

So I decided to get fully quasi-scientific about it. How are dog and child alike? How are they not? Herewith I report anecdotal instances of their behavior over one week, with some cherry-picked research to complete the story.

MONDAY Child (hereinafter “C”) rolls over in bed and into the dog (hereinafter “D”), also in bed, causing both to jump out of bed and commence running down the hall. In the bathroom, we all look in the mirror together: “Who’s that?” I ask. C identifies himself with a smile. D stands behind us, alert to his own reflection, but not, research indicates, identifying it as himself. Dogs don’t pass the “mirror mark test,” which examines if a subject looking in the mirror can identify that a secretly placed colored spot on his reflection’s head is actually on his own head.

Children pass this test around 18 months of age; it is part of their growing sense of self, of an “I” who is different from other people. C found the sticker I placed on his head one day by looking in the mirror and then touching his head. Dogs either do not care about the mark, or do not realize that the dog in the mirror is themselves.

Cardinals claim 11th World Series crown

Cardinals claim 11th World Series crown
Greg Heakes
October 29, 2011
Allen Craig blasted a home run and Chris Carpenter scattered six hits over six innings as the St Louis Cardinals defeated Texas 6-2 on Friday to capture the team's 11th World Series title.

The Cardinals won Major League Baseball's best-of-seven championship final four games to three to take their second World Series in five years after trailing the series 3-2 heading back to St Louis for game six.

David Freese, voted the World Series Most Valuable Player and the hero for St Louis in an epic game-six victory, had a two-run double in the first inning for the Cardinals.

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St Louis parlayed solid pitching, an explosive start at the plate and some clutch defensive plays into a game-seven victory at Busch Stadium.

Right-hander Carpenter, starting on just three days rest, struck out five while the Cardinals scored two runs in both the first and fifth innings and tacked on single runs in the third and seventh.

Craig hammered a 379-foot homer in the bottom of the third off Rangers' starter Matt Harrison for the go-ahead run, which would prove to be the last run the Cardinals needed.

The Rangers' bullpen, which carried them through much of the post-season, stumbled in game seven.

Both St Louis runs in the fifth came without the Cardinals getting a hit as the Rangers pitchers took a walk on the wild side, dishing out walks and hitting batters.

It marked the first time since late August the Rangers had lost two games in a row.

The Cardinals' post-season resilience was on display once again in game seven. It is only the fifth time in the last 23 World Series that it was extended to a seventh game.

Their improbable game-six victory included twice being down to the final strike, but the Cardinals survived with a pair of season-saving hits, including a walkoff homer by Freese in the 11th inning.

The teams picked up Friday where they left off by scoring four runs in the first inning of game seven.

On a cool evening with a temperature of 10 Celsius (50F), the Rangers got on the board first.

Michael Young and Josh Hamilton hit back-to-back doubles off Carpenter to make it 2-0.

Freese continued his torrid hitting streak by belting a two-run double to tie it 2-2 in the first.

Craig's solo homer to right field off Texas starter Matt Harrison gave St Louis a 3-2 lead.

Carpenter, who settled into form after a shaky first, got plenty of support from his teammates.

Freese also contributed on defence, racing over to catch a Hamilton pop fly in front of the Rangers' dugout before hitting the railing and falling down.

Craig then made a leaping catch at the wall in deep right field to take a potential homer from Rangers' slugger Nelson Cruz in the top of the sixth.

The Cardinals got two more runs in the fifth on some shoddy pitching by the Rangers. Craig scored on a bases-loaded walk by Rangers' reliever Scott Feldman to make it 4-2.

Cardinals' batter Rafael Furcal was hit by a pitch in the fifth with the bases loaded, allowing Albert Pujols to score from third and give St Louis a 5-2 lead.

The Cardinals played without outfielder Matt Holliday, who injured his right wrist in game six.