[foonlesse]

Male dogs are from Mars, female dogs are from … Pluto?

True, dogs aren't exactly a fertile market for self-help manuals. But a new study finds that the brains of male and female canines are not the same — and in at least one task, the females have an edge.

The researchers aren't sure of the root cause of these doggie brain differences, but the study points to the need to take sex into account when trying to understand how animals think.

"When you start looking, you get some very interesting and instructive results," study researcher Corsin Müller, a cognitive biologist at the University of Vienna, told LiveScience.

Peering into the canine mind

Müller and his colleagues tested female and male dogs — "completely normal family dogs," Muller said — to see whether they understand a concept called "object permanence," which is the realization that objects don't disappear and don't change form just because they go out of sight. Children learn this physical law around the age of 1 or so. The question, Müller said, was whether dogs understand it too. [Read: 10 Things You Didn't Know About the Brain ]

The researchers set up a wooden board and a system of blue tennis balls attached to strings. The dogs, 25 female and 25 male, watched one of four scenarios: A small ball disappearing behind the board and re-emerging; a large ball disappearing and re-emerging; a large ball disappearing and a small ball emerging; or a small ball disappearing and a large ball emerging. The first two experiments were the "expected" conditions, which didn't break any laws of nature. The second two events, in which a ball would seem to shrink or grow while out of sight, were the "unexpected" or impossible conditions.

The researchers measured the dogs' ability to understand that something impossible had just happened by measuring how long they stared at the emerging ball. The experiments are similar to those used to understand infant cognition.

"If something unexpected or, say, impossible is to happen, children and animals will look longer at the event," Müller said.

Who's smarter?
At first glance, dogs did seem to look longer at the event when the ball seemed to mysteriously shrink or grow. But when the researchers broke the results down by dogs' sex, they found that male dogs hadn't noticed anything odd at all. Female dogs, on the other hand, stared at the "unexpected" conditions for more than 30 seconds on average, more than three times longer than the 10 seconds or so they spent looking at the balls when they didn't change size.

The sex difference emerged across breeds, which ranged from large to small, purebred to mixed, Müller said.
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There are three possible explanations for why male and female dogs — or any animal — might show sex-based brain differences. The first is that evolutionary pressures in the past might have subtly shifted male and female brains. If one sex hunts while the other builds nests, for example, the nest-builder might gradually become better at spatial reasoning, while the hunter might evolve to be better at navigating through unfamiliar territory. Another possibility is that brain differences arise because of childbearing duties; a female solely responsible for rearing her offspring might show greater nurturing skills than a male that has little to do with his offspring after mating.

Neither of these is a good explanation for dogs because their sex-specific differences seem very limited, Müller wrote. Instead, he suspects a third possibility: That the sex differences in the brain are a side effect of other biological sex differences.

"[Most likely,] this is just a byproduct of sex hormones working on the brain, without necessarily having a function," Müller said.

Although this experiment gave female dogs the cognitive edge, Müller said it's likely that future findings of sex differences would even the intelligence scale.

In humans, Müller said, "there's tons of differences you can find, but for everything where you find men are better than women, you can find something where women are better than men."

* 10 Things You Didn't Know About Dogs
* 10 Things Every Woman Should Know About a Man's Brain
* 10 Amazing Things You Didn't Know about Animals

Female dogs smarter than males? Maybe - Health - Pet health - msnbc.com

[Agedprepdoock]

Interesting.. I can see it being true with my two dogs. My female lab is the type who will stare at things and think them through before doing it (such as going down stairs the first time, she wouldnt, so I went up and down myself a few times, and she watched, then I had her do one step at a time with me, then she was fine, up and down like there was never an issue. Same case with a steep dirt hill. I did the same thing and then she was fine). While Harley, he will just plow into anything head first, whether he can do it or not, not knowing it it will hurt/kill him. (He cant swim, but he jumps right in. Hes almost drown a few times but every time we fish him out he turns around and wants to jump back in... he does NOT think things though at all)

Could just be my two, but my female definitely uses her brain more than my male I often wonder if Harley knows how to use his...

[cewIdeatovace]

My males seem smarter than my females. lol...Or maybe my females are so much smarter than my males, they refuse to learn, as easily as the males do. lol.

[Agedprepdoock]

My female is far harder to train than my male. She will sit there staring at me, decide she doesnt want to listen and try to walk off. I dont take it as her being dumb I see it as her thinking about it, deciding she wants nothing to do with my stupid 'commands' and walking away (well trying to, I have to leash her to get her to stay with me). Shes very food motivated... when she wants to be. If she feels like working for me she will learn just as fast as Harley (who catches on quick as long as I explain things in a way he understands, otherwise its just the blank stare lol)

[Slintreeoost]

I feel like my female is much more "in tune" with the world around her, she is always watching whats going on with the family, she is also a bitch. While my males just seem more dopey. lol

[cewIdeatovace]

I feel like my female is much more "in tune" with the world around her, she is always watching whats going on with the family, she is also a bitch. While my males just seem more dopey. lol

True, Tess and Locus are always on the watch. They hear everything. Tess is a worry wart. lol.

[BgpOoGI2]

Not the case with my 2...Boss has shown me he can figure out most things better than Amber. I think most of our male dogs have been smarter than the females we've had over the years.

[foonlesse]

My males seem smarter than my females. lol...Or maybe my females are so much smarter than my males, they refuse to learn, as easily as the males do. lol.

I agree with ya!! Im cant decide if Jesse is just dumb, or if shes just stubborn.

[EvonsRorgon]

idk, in our family the 2 females are VERY dumb but Peanut is smart you can talk to him like a person and he responds very well.

[Grzqbmhy]

I have always felt that my females used their brains a lot more than the males. However, this is not to say that that is necessarily a good thing. While the girls always seem to be better at problem solving, they also tend to be much more manipulative and deceaving than the males.

[kazinopartnerkae]

well, from my experience I believe it is true in humans, so why should it not be true in dogs?

[Cerilopasei]

Well females are damn sure more stubborn
As for smarter, well yea I think id have to agree, I had Eagle trained faster than I did lucky. But I had lucky house broken wayyyy faster than I did Eagle.

[Desflahd]

That's some of the dumbest shit I ever did read LOL

The study gets scientifically flushed down the drain with their very first sentence.

Müller and his colleagues tested female and male dogs — "completely normal family dogs," Muller said

This is an subjective statement and nothing factual about it so therefore anything that happens afterward is not factual either.

[Fetowip]

Jezebel is way to smart for her own good.

[tomsmuidh]

I think it has more to do with the dogs environment, how they were raised, and genetics... a combination as all should play exceptional roles in the way a dogs brain thinks and reacts to certain situations.

If you have a well bred dog, that grew up in a good environment, that had proper training from a young age.... then they are probably going to succeed at tests.

But if you have a dog that was bred horribly, grew up in an abusive or neglected type environment, that had no training what-so-ever...... probably isn't going to do very well at any tests.

I know if that test was done on our dogs..... our male would def. win the stare down because he is so toy motivated he would never look away. Our female eventually wouldn't care, because it's not food.

[chootsonege]

My female has been MUCH easier to train than my male. Not sure if she's smarter, or just more willing to please. My male is stubborn.

I've noticed the same thing in horses. My mares were easier to train and seemed more willing to please. All the geldings I had were thicker skinned and more stubborn...and lazier.

[hwood]

We could be crazy, but of all the dogs we've had, the girls have been easier to train. The boys either don't care or get distracted easily.

[TimEricsson]

Interesting...

However my male was a lot smarter than my female. To be honest I think he was smarter than me. However his attention span sucked. We always joked he had adhd. My female always seems to be thinking and is very observent and aware of he surroundings, where my male was very unaware and could never sit still or pay attention.

My male learned every trick and command in one night that took my female 8 weeks of classes to learn. However it stuck with her, him not so much

I have had both males and females and its my opinion there is no smarter sex, it depends solely on the individual dog However females tend to be calmer and more observent.

[GinaGomesz]

I'm not sure if ease of training is such a measure of intelligence. I have had dogs super resistant to training which some might say were plain dumb. I could see them sitting thinking about a situation though and it could well be that I just wasn't smart enough to find the key to their best method of training. More than likely just not patient enough!

[voksveta]

This is interesting. Thanks for sharing! Dixie is by far smarter than Rudy and Buster..