The site was last updated on

24 Aug 2000

If you have lived in the stone age, 14,000 years ago, and looked over the burning fire, you might have seen a dog who looks much like the dogs today in the streets or at your home. For about 14,000 years men and dogs shared their food and living space, and their lives are a part of each other since then until today. Dogs make an unseparately part of the days that we live, they work as hunting dogs, sheepdogs, herding dogs, show dogs, toy etc. Dogs have always look a big part of many people's life. The most common pets are the dogs, cats and birds when the dog stand's in the first place. They help us with all that we ask, and well known of many stories about dogs that gave their life to men when needed help. Who of us never heard about Lassie, Rin-Tin-Tin, Beethoven, Shadow and Chance, and many other stories about dogs who's friendship was all above all they ever asked.

Although this relationship through the years that we had with the dogs, still at many places there are different thoughts about the dogs, at one place they might be treated at kings, with nobility, kind, brave and smart K9s, but the same time then, they might look at other places as  critters, fearful, dirty, dangerous and sick K9.We live with dogs, play with them, and with all that we still have questions that haven't been answered, even owners with their own dogs. These are the most common questions that have been asked by dog owners, dogs psychos, and vets:

* Do dogs think or are they nothing but biological machine that react to the things around them?
* If dogs do think, do they have a conscious of it? If they do, is it they same as the men has?
* Do dogs remember things from the past, and are they able to predicted the future?
* Can dogs understand men talk?
* Do dog s has a machinery of communication with us (or other dogs) ?
* Can dogs have feelings as happiness, gilt, loyalty or sadness?
* Is there a different between the dog breeds at what men call "Intelligence" ?

We have a very good story about showing that dogs might be a thinking critter, this story is about Penny, a mix of Boxer, this is a very interesting story that dog lovers and owner might want to take a look at. Penny's Story can show that dogs can think, even if its not the way that people do.
It might be that this behavior signs looks very usual to many dog owners and other people, but there is much we can learn from it. If it was a 2 years old child, we would have said that he knows that the keys are the thing the cause him the pain, More then that, we might have thought that he could have gusset that it might hurt him again, and by hiding it, it might not happened again. These thing that we just did, called predicted thoughts, planing and thinking.

At these days, in the British Islands there are more than 9 million dogs, and north America more then 52 million dogs. At Britain, one of every 4 families hold a pet, and half of these pets are dogs. In north America 20% of the people share their lives with dogs. Although this, many of us know very little about dogs. When we were little kids, we've been taught not to hit the dogs, than petting them. When we became older, we had the dog's food bole in our hands when we've been told "Feed the dog", after that was the walking and cleaning after the dog. Then we got older, on our own and might have adopted our own dog. Now, some of us take the dog to obedience classes, and being taught how to teach the dog to come when told, sit, lie down, stay etc. With all of that, we have never been taught about the dog's thinking, besides that the tail wag mean that the dog is happy and that barking is bad.
After all, we do think that we know what the dogs think. This fact is because many times at TV or books are told to us from the dog's side, this is what we mean: "My dad was a Saint-Bernard and my mom was a Collie, but I'm a Presbytery, that's what my mom said; Me my self never knew what she meant". We think that we know dogs, their thoughts.
To learn about the dogs' intelligence you can do by looking at dogs in their work or even by watching dogs on TV. All have began with the German Shepherd Dog Rin-Tin-Tin. Rinti (friends called him that) was born in Germany at- 1916. He was saved out of a lake by Captain Danken and after the war went to LA with his new owner. Danken trained him there to be a TV dog. In all of his movies Rinti would have his owner's revenge, by going after "Cactus Kid" and his friends.
Rinti have had a very good carrier, even when the Warner Bros. have gave the movies his name, but he have died at 1932. His tradition few dogs have made. The first was Rin-Tin-Tin Junior, all the other dogs that took his place weren't related to him, they only got his name. The movies that Rinti have made taught people that dogs can think as mankind. Rinti have solved problems, got over tricks and made very smart actions. After all of that, some new member became famous, Lassie...
The movie was based on a story written by Eric Night at 1938. This story became to the movie by 1943 who was called "Lassie come home". Lassie, the most famous Collie in the world, wasn't just lovefull and brave, she was smart and human. Lassie wasn't a dog but a long list of jokers. The bitches that have been Lassie in the movies were nothing but 7 generations of male dogs. All are from the family of the first Collie star, a male dog called Pal. To star in the movies males were chosen because they are larger, and look better on the screen. The crowd never noticed that. That made us think that dogs can do think. That dogs can feel, pain, happiness, sadness, joy, loyalty and more. The movies dogs made us think that our own dogs can never be smart as they are, even if they can. In every dog there is the potential of this intelligence. All is depends on the owner, but sure that there are difference about the intelligence in the dog breeds.